Welcome to the new André Deutsch military history website. I’m
the Editorial Director of the Carlton Publishing Group, of which André Deutsch is an important part. With
my personal passion being military history, I’ll be blogging my take on
upcoming anniversaries, and sharing information I pick up from books, the
media, experts, and from historic battlefields. We’ll also have many other
posts from the André Deutsch
team, all sharing their enthusiasm for military history with you.
My interest in military history was triggered at the age of
eight, when I first saw the Fox film adaptation of Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day. I saw it probably half
a dozen times in 1962, and over the years perhaps the same number of times again.
We will soon have the pleasure of posting the first video from my recent
meeting with Doug McCabe who, as curator of the Cornelius Ryan Collection, was
integral to the putting together of André Deutsch’s recent Collector’s Edition
of Ryan’s original Longest Day book.
I’ve read numerous books about the Allied invasion of Europe
in 1944, from Ryan’s (the daddy of them all) to Antony Beevor’s recent
bestseller, but I only visited Normandy for the first time in 2000. I’ve been
back many times since, and am looking forward to being there again from June 5th
to 8th this year to join in and blog about the commemorations of the
70th anniversary.
If you too are fascinated by the story of D-Day, then I
strongly recommend you visit the invasion area. There is so much to see, and being
there will definitely bring the epic events of 1944 to life for you.
For those visiting the Normandy coast to explore the
D-Day invasion area for the first time, these, in my opinion, are the best
things to see and do, moving from east (British/Canadians) to west (Americans)
across the invasion area. If you're coming via Cherbourg, you'll probably want
to do this in reverse order, from west to east. I've labelled some 'Essential
Viewing' to help prioritise if you’re short of time.
There’s a good overview of the invasion area on Google
Maps. Most, but not all, of the sites below show up on here.
1. Merville Battery & Museum (Merville-Franceville)
A complex of big-gun batteries that could have
threatened the British amphibious assault on Sword Beach. The battery was
successfully assaulted during the night by a severely depleted brigade of
British 6th Airborne Division (150 of the original 750 carried out the attack
at night). An amazing story, and plenty to see.
2. Pegasus Bridge & Museum & Cafe Gondrée (Bénouville) - Essential Viewing
Site of one of the most daring raids of the invasion
(as seen in The Longest Day). A company of the Ox & Bucks Light
Infantry landed in six gliders to capture two essential bridges that protected
the whole eastern flank of the invasion. Just across the road from the
excellent museum concrete monuments show exactly how close the gliders landed
to the canal bridge. You can still have a coffee/beer in the Café Gondrée, the
first building liberated by the Allies on 6th June. Last time I visited, the
proprietress, Arlette Gondrée, was still alive; she was a child at the café
when the Ox & Bucks arrived & captured the bridge.
3. Ouistreham Grand Bunker (Ouistreham,
Sword Beach)
Interesting multistorey German strongpoint housing a good
little museum. Surrounded on D-Day, the defenders inside the tower held out for
a few days after the invasion.
4. 'Hillman' Battery (Coleville-Montgomery)
One of the biggest German strongpoints encountered by
Allied forces coming inland off the beaches. I believe it was one of the main
reasons why the British didn't manage to reach Caen on the first day, as
originally planned. It took much longer than expected to neutralize and having
a wide field of fire wrought havoc on troops moving south towards the city.
5. Arromanches D-Day Museum (Gold
Beach) - Essential Viewing
You can still see the remnants of the massive Mulberry
Harbour that was constructed with the help of sunken blockships and used to
supply the Allies during the Battle of Normandy. Another superb museum.
One of the only Atlantic Wall batteries to have kept
its big guns. Impressive hardware to look at. You won’t need long at Longues.
7. Bayeux Battle of Normandy Museum & British War Cemetery (opposite museum)
If you've had enough of museums, just go to the
cemetery. Beautiful & moving.
8. Omaha Beach - Essential Viewing
A truly enormous US war cemetery (where modern-day
scenes from Saving Private Ryan were filmed). Monumental.
Epic.
Beautifully designed modern museum/visitor centre with
a scenic infinity pool.
9. Pointe du Hoc - Essential Viewing
The one field of battle where you can still see the
shell holes. Like a grassed-over moonscape. Site of the heroic storming of the
cliff-top batteries by US Rangers seen in The Longest Day. Just
climbing the cliffs in peacetime would be scary enough.
Good museum near the safest beach to land on on D-Day.
11. Ste-Mère-Eglise Airborne Museum - Essential Viewing
Excellent museum right across from the church where
the US 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper Pvt John Steele hung from the spire
in The Longest Day (and a dummy still does).
Recommended places to see and stay in Bayeux
This
pretty medieval city is at the centre of the invasion area, but escaped ruin
because the Germans left it without a fight on D+1. There's the excellent Bayeux Tapestry Museum,
and the cathedral, which dominates
the surrounding country landscape, is breathtaking.
Hotel d'Argouges: evocative old
chateau in town. Very central, with car parking.
Chateau de Bellefontaine: another old
chateau but with some modern apartments as well as period rooms. Beautiful park
location only 5-10 minutes walk from the town centre, just the other side of
the ring road.
If you've only got a couple of days, I'd say you could
visit Pegasus Bridge, Arromanches & Bayeux on one day, and Omaha Beach,
Pointe du Hoc and Ste-Mère-Eglise on the other. If you've got three or more
days, I would recommend visiting all of the above.
Bon vacances!
Piers Murray Hill
The Longest Day: The D-Day 70th Anniversary Collector's Edition can be bought here.
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