Early in the morning
of the 6th of June 1944 Combined Allied forces embarked upon the great
crusade for which they had prepared for many months. In their way, Hitler’s
Atlantic wall stretching from Norway to the south of France and bristling with
defensive positions along the entire coast of Western Europe. It was an
invasion that had been debated and planned for more than two years as Stalin
was desperate for the British and American’s to launch a second front in
Northern Europe. Yet, the German war machine simply too much for the combined
allied forces to take on at that stage of the war so invasion was continually
postponed until finally in winter of 1943 Churchill and Roosevelt together with
their chosen military leaders decided that an invasion could finally be mounted
in the late spring to early summer of 1944.
Once the Allied forces
made landfall at Normandy and established a beach head, the push to Berlin was
on. Despite a fierce resistance by the Germany army over the next year and a
half the rest of the war was, as they say, history!
For the millions of
people who travel to Normandy every year this trip is a chance to see where one
of the most pivotal battles of the second world war took place while paying
tribute to the thousands who fought and died in order to end Hitler’s reign of
terror across northern Europe. Before we
left on this trip I expected to be overwhelmed as we toured the beaches,
monuments, bunkers and cemeteries that dot the French coastal region of Bayeux,
yet I was also rather surprised by the consideration I felt towards the German
defenders who played a critical role in one of the bloodiest of dramas to
unfold in human history. It’s odd really, when one considers what each side was
fighting to protect, to stand atop the hills of Normandy which overlook miles
of beaches and not marvel at what must have been the scene the defending German’s
awoke to that morning. The D-Day invasion, even after nearly 70 years,
represents the single largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare and
as dawn broke on June 6th 1944 a German soldier stationed atop those
very hills would have laid eyes upon the nearly 7,000 vessels and some 160,000
troops floating their way.
One of those vessels
contained the leader of a handful of Army Rangers bound for Pointe du Hoc. As a
longtime admirer of Texas A&M University, Pointe du Hoc represents
something of a pilgrimage within a pilgrimage for me as it is the location of a
monument to the Army Rangers commanded by James E Rudder who went on to become
Vice President in 1957 and then President in 1958 of Texas A&M University
where he is credited with leading efforts to end compulsory enrollment into the
Corps of Cadets, allowing women to attend the university and pushing the campus
towards overall integration. The inscription on the monument reads:
Of course a trip to
Normandy cannot possibly be considered complete without spending some time
strolling along the beaches and imagining the immense task the invading forces
faced as they traversed more than half a mile of sandy exposed beachhead while
a fierce and determined enemy poured artillery, machine gun and small arms fire
onto the beaches from more than 100 feet above. It truly is an awe-inspiring
site that I can’t possibly due justice with my feeble command of the English language.
Not even the photos below can provide
the kind of impact one feels standing at the edge of the beach as the Atlantic Ocean
laps at your feet and you realize there is absolutely no cover between where you’re
standing and where the German Army was positioned among the fortifications so
very far away.
Is it any wonder that
so many of the brave soldiers who took part in the liberation of Europe now
rest among their compatriots at the Allied Cemeteries? We of course toured the
American Cemetery and Memorial and despite the cold and blustery weather it was
an incredibly touching and beautiful monument to America’s fallen sons and
daughters.
Our trip to Normandy
was one of my most anticipated journeys of our time in the UK and I have to say
that thanks to my amazing wife who endured two unbelievably cold and rainy days
while I meandered through battlefields and across beaches, it truly surpassed
all of my highest expectations.
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| Hat tip to Mr. Rick Steve's and his excellent guidebooks! |
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