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D Day Landing Beaches : Normandy, France.

The planning and logistics behind the Normandy Invasion were unparalleled in history. On 6^th June 1944, the largest and most powerful armada ever, part of Operation Overlord, landed on the shores of occupied Normandy, to begin the liberation of Europe from the west.

Overall, Overlord required a total of 3 million men in 47 divisions, 6,000 ships to transport the troops and equipment, with aerial cover provided by 5,000 fighter planes. It was some achievement. On D Day itself and subsequent days, the plan was to move about 130,000 men, nearly 13,000 vehicles and take a uniquely designed artificial harbour.

Why was the gathering of equipment and men, needed for the invasion, such a huge logistical challenge? Where could they be gathered without attracting the attention of spies? How could they be kept in areas in the south of Britain without the Germans discovering exactly what was intended? How could the thousands of boats needed for the invasion be assembled, readied and loaded without making the invasion too obvious?

Come and learn more about the how the Overlord was conceived, planned and executed. See the places where the major events of D Day unfolded, from the airborne invasion by elite paratroopers to the mass landings of infantry, local transport and military equipment on the beaches of Sword, June, Gold, Omaha and Utah.         

This Tour consists of:

2 days study in England: 1 night at a 3-4* hotel with pool and spa near Maidstone.

3 days guided visits to key D Day sites in Normandy. 4 nights at a 2 or 3* Hotel in Caen.

Honfleur is a beautiful, old port, characterized by tall, narrow picturesque houses. It has been painted many times by artists, including Courbet and Monet. The Honfleur School contributed to the development of the Impressionist movement in art. The Church of St Catherine is the largest church made out of wood in France, with a roof that was designed to look like an upturned boat on the inside. Originally a fishing and trading port, it is, today, one of the prettiest coastal towns in France.

Late lunch stop in Honfleur on outward journey

         Saturday

• 9 – 10 am. Arrive at hotel. (Friday night’s accommodation can be arranged at an extra cost of £50 per head for a double room.)

• 10am start. Icebreaker activities. These are important as we want the group to get to know each other and interact before starting the course itself.

• 12:30 Lunch.

• 1:30   Introduction to the study module. All course materials provided.

• 3:30   Tea – Coffee Break. (Bedroom allocations, where required).

• 4:00   Study activities.

• 6:00   Free time. You can use the pool and/or spa facilities

• 7:00   Dinner

• 8:30   Fun study activities to reinforce earlier learning.

• 10:00pm  Finish

Sunday

• 8.00 Breakfast

• 9:30 Course begins

• 10:45 Tea-Coffee Break

• 11:00 Study activities.

• 12:30 Lunch

• 1:30 Guest speaker. A Normandy veteran. Questions after talk.

• 3:30 Tea- Coffee Break

• 4:00 Study activities.

• 6:00 Free time. You can use the pool and/or spa facilities

• 7.30 Dinner

• 8:30 Course overview. Final questions and team quiz.

• 10pm Finish.

Monday

• 8.00 Breakfast
• 9:00 Depart Hotel by coach for tunnel crossing to France.
• 11:00 Crossing
• 2:30 Lunch and window shopping in Honfleur. See above.
• 5:00 Depart Honfleur
• 7:30 Arrive in Caen
• 8:00 Overview of next 3 days activities.
• 9:00 Evening free for a light snack in Caen centre.

 

The city of Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy, was full of historical buildings, many built during the reign of William the Conqueror who is buried here, although most of his bones have long since been scattered. However, about three quarters of the city was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy in 1944, by the heavy fighting and bombing that took place in order to flush out the Germans. Today, Caen is a modern town with few large old building, such as the Castle, which was built around 1060 and is one of the largest medieval fortresses of Western Europe and the Abbeys. The Abbaye aux Hommes (1063) and the Abbaye aux Dames (1060) were both built by William to repent marriage to his cousin Mathlida. The church of St Peter, dating from the early 13th Century, and bearing the bullet marks and other scars of more recent battles, stands in the city centre. In 1988, the Memorial for Peace was built to remember the events of the war and D Day as well as presenting ideas about peace today.

Tuesday

• 8.00 Breakfast
• 9:00 Coach to Merville Battery Museum. Pegasus Bridge and museum. Café Gronde. Ranville Cemetery
• 1:30 Snack Lunch at Ouistreham.
• 2:00 Sword and Juno Beaches.
• 3.00 Return to Caen.
• 3.30 Visit the Memorial Museum in Caen (See above)
• 6:00 Return to hotel. Recap and overview of the day.
• 7.00 Free time. Dinner in Caen

The Pegasus Bridge area is where the British Airborne troops landed to take control of the Eastern flank of the invasion beaches. It was vital they succeeded, so that the Germans could not so easily batter the exposed seaborne troops. See where the first Allied soldier, Den Brotheridge, was killed, and find out more about his story. Have a drink at Café Gronde (same accent as on cafe), the first building to be liberated and possibly meet a veteran or two!

Sword Beach was a British landing site on the eastern flank of the invasion force. The attack on Sword Beach began at about 03:00 with the aerial bombing of German defences and artillery sites, followed by a naval bombardment a few hours later. At 07:30, the first units reached the beach. Juno Beach was the Canadian landing site, where they faced a heavily defended 7 km section with batteries, as well as machine-gun nests, pillboxes, other concrete fortifications, and a seawall. The first wave suffered 50% casualties.

Wednesday

• 8.00 Breakfast
• 9:00 Coach to Pointe du Hoc.
  11:30 Tour of Omaha Beach and Colleville Cemetery.
• 1:30 Snack Lunch at Arromanches
• 2:30 Visit Arromanches and Museum.
• 3.30 Further visit to Gold Beach
• 5.00 Return to hotel
• 5.30 Group recap of the day.
• 6:30 Free time. Dinner in Caen

Anyone who has seen Saving Private Ryan has a good idea of what happened to the American troops who had the misfortune to try and land on Omaha Beach, facing strong German defences, part of the Atlantic Wall and high cliffs. Stand on the actual site and visit Colleville Cemetery where many of those who died that day are buried.

The grave of Theodore Roosevelt Junior, son of President ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, and a distant cousin to the then current President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR.

See the remains of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches and find out exactly how it was created, transported and used.
 

Pointe du Hoc

Grave of Theodore Roosevelt Jnr.

Mulberry Harbour, Arromanches

Thursday

8.00 Breakfast
9:00 Coach to Utah Beach
10.30 Ste Mere Eglise. Visit Airborne Museum and town
12.00 Snack Lunch in St Mere Eglise
1.30 Visit German War Graves Cemetery at La Cambe.
2.30 Visit WW2 Museum or Tapestry .
4:30 Free time in the town
6.00 Dinner in Bayeux
8.30 Return to Caen
9.30 Debrief – fun group activity
 

Ste Mere Eglise.
Monument to the paratroopers of the 82 US Airborne who landed in the area, and to John Steele whose parachute was caught on the church spire.

At 1 am, American paratroopers of 82nd and 101st Airborne jumped onto the Cherbourg Peninsula at the western end of the landing beaches. The low cloud caused difficulties and some missed their target drowning in flooded swamps while others were unfortunate to encounter Germans in the town of Sainte Mere Eglise.

Following the Invasion, Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated. General De Gaulle came here 10 days after D Day and gave a speech. The buildings in Bayeux were fortunately more or less undamaged during the Battle of Normandy as the German occupiers had to go and help defend Caen. As well as being home to the famous Bayeux Tapestry, the town contains the largest British war cemetery in Normandy.

Sainte Mere Eglise



American paratroopers - 101st Airborne


Bayeux Cathedral

Friday

• 8.30 Breakfast
• 10.00 Leave hotel
• 1:30 Snack lunch at terminal.
• 2:30 Crossing
• 3.00 Arrive back at departure point at hotel near Maidstone to collect cars or drop off at the railway station for individual journeys home.

Tours are planned for;

April               5^th 2008     Saturday

May              10^th 2008     Saturday

June              21^st 2008    Saturday

September       6^th 2008    Saturday
 

See Tour Dates page for further information

The cost of the tour is £675.

This includes all meals in England (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and BB in France, guest speaker, all travel in a luxury coach with toilet facilities, all museum entrances and all the study activities with specially prepared educational packs designed to go with our itinerary.

The overall group will be around 36 persons.  Each class will be small enough for everyone to participate in activities and discussions. We will mix people around, so you meet everyone in the larger group.

The price does not include lunches and dinners in France as you will have free time to choose your own restaurants or cafes.

Our Company Insurance is included. However, you need your own holiday insurance, as well as your EHIC - European Health Insurance Card (formerly E111) in case of personal injury requiring hospital treatment (or adequate insurance cover). See booking terms and conditions.

The tour by itself is also available without the educational package at £485.

Alternately, the study weekend in England can be attended full board, without the foreign travel, at a cost of £240.
 

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