Visiting D-Day Sites in Normandy: Omaha Beach

After visiting Pointe du Hoc, Eva, tooks us on the short trip to Omaha Beach. I watched an incredible movie title Surviving D-Day and I'll use it for some of my facts. Again, Eva shared so much with us! But, I didn't write it down and have forgotten a lot of it.

The drive to the beach takes you past a little community of rental property. At the top of these cliffs which overlook the beach, you can see two openings (in top, bare area near center left) where Germans hid and shot their guns. As the Allies made landfall, many of them believed they would not survive. And, many didn't. Four hours before the landing, Allied planes dropped 13,000 bombs intending to knock out much of the German resistance. The Allies had bragged about their accuracy. But, there were low clouds and the planes were forced to use new radar equipment. To protect the Allied ships in the English Channel, orders were given to wait 5-30 seconds after getting to where the airmen though the target. The planes dropped their bombs too late, and not a single one of the 13,000 bombs hit the targets!

 

(outside of museum near Omaha beach which we unfortunately didn't have time to visit)

When the landing craft opened the doors to let the soldiers attack the beach, many were shot immediately. The open doors were a target for the incredible MG42's of the Germans. These machine guns could shoot 25 bullet per second! Many who survived did not go through the opened gate, but jumped over the sides of their landing craft. Many of these drowned in their heavy gear. And, many were seasick because of the huge breakfast they'd eaten. When they reached the beaches, there were obstacles like these hedgehogs in my photo above. These had been placed on the beach to prevent a high-tide landing by the Allies.

Besides the machine guns, the Germans also fired with these artillery. This one overlooks the beach and is behind a heavy fence. The beach, when the Allies landed, wa 1000 feet long - or 3 football fields long. Besides the machinegun fire, artillery fire, and obstacles like the hedgehogs (which could also be used to hide behind somewhat), there were over 17,000 mines!

We visited at high tide and didn't actually step foot on the beach, which I regret now. The tide was going out and we aw a few people on the beach later. As the Allies fought to take the beach, the tide came in squishing the surviving soldiers together.

After capturing the beach and losing over 2,000 soldiers, the Allies would build a man-made harbor called a Mulberry Harbour. But, about 10 days later, a storm came up and destroyed this harbor. This is part of the remains of that structure.

As we left Omaha beach, we drove past this monument which says: The Allied forces landing on this shore which they call Omaha beach liberate Europe June 6th 1944. Surrounding the monument are 8 flags. It was noon, and they were having a flag raising ceremony! The flags were raised one by one while the national anthem of that country was played.

The raising of the United States flag was a very moving experience. I'm glad my mom 'insisted' that we stopped as we were ready to drive on by! I was, and am, proud to be an American! Thank you to those who serve in the military to defend us and defend freedom!

Visiting D-Day Sites in Normandy: Pointe du Hoc

June 6th, 1944. The Germans occupied France and much of Europe. The Allies began their D-Day invasion to recapture the continent.

We booked a private half-day tour of the American sector sites of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Our guide, Eva Ruttger with Experience Normandy, was FANTASTIC and obviously loved what she did. She told us the amazing story of the invasion and even had photos and maps to share with us. I wish I'd taken notes as I've forgotten a lot of what I learned! But, what I took away was the incredible planning that went into planning the invasion.


Alex, my mom, me, my brother & his girlfriend in front of a pillbox that would have housed a 'big gun'

This is a picture of us outside of one of the bunkers at Pointe du Hoc. The bunkers are where the Germans kept their 'big guns' which could shoot 10-12 miles and hit the ships at sea. Eisenhower wanted to make sure these guns were destroyed. Pointe du Hoc supposedly had five of these guns at this Pointe which overlooks Omaha Beach. Troops were supposed to land at 6:30 a.m. at Omaha Beach and the guns were supposed to be inoperable by then.


Alex, me & my brother standing in a crater at Pointe du Hoc- you can see a 'pillbox' in the background

American planes sent planes to drop bombs in the area of Omaha Beach. This was to clear a way for Allies when they landed. Because of bad weather, the targets were missed and Omaha Beach did not have any bomb craters where the soldiers could have hidden as they landed. But, here on Pointe du Hoc, there were craters.

After crossing the English Channel from England, the Rangers had to scale these 100 foot tall cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. While landing on the narrow shore and climbing the cliffs, they were being shot at and having gernades thrown down on them. There's a great, 9 minute clip from The Longest Day which shows this scaling and shows the very places I've photographed and visited.

Part of a monument at the site

Here is a quote by President Reagan on the 40th anniversay of D-Day: June 6, 1984:

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers - the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machineguns and throwing gernades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After 2 days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.

This is a relief map from that monument. The water (closest to us) is the English Channel. The The part that sticks out is where Pointe du Hoc is located. On the left side of the photo is another American invasion site: Omaha Beach. On the right is a British invasion point: Utah Beach.

Here's a photo I took from near the tip of Pointe du Hoc. If you could see down below, you'd be able to see Omaha Beach.

Our wonderful guide is on the left - I'll have to look up her name and the name of her company. She was incredible! Anyway, this is also taken at the tip of Pointe du Hoc but looking away from Omaha Beach.

I'm standing inside of a bunker at the very edge of Pointe du Hoc. From this point the Germans could watch over the seas. The opening was maybe 2 foot tall and arched almost 180 degrees. There were also a couple of rooms in this structure where the troops must have lived or spent a lot of time. There were bullet holes in the walls from when the Allies captured this Pointe.

From here, we traveled to Omaha Beach... which will be a separate post.

Note: I got some of my information from the American Veterans site on a page titled "The Guns of Pointe du Hoc."

Visiting "Monet's Cathedral"

Jumping back to our Europe trip this summer.... here are photos of the Rouen Cathedral which was made famous by Monet. While I was there, I actually didn't realize we'd found Monet's cathedral! So, I don't even have a nice photo from the outside matching Monet's famous paintings! Oops!



Monet, 1893 - image from Wikipeda
painting in Musee d'Orsay (which we saw on this trip!)

I wasn't sure what this image could represent and first wrote this post just describing it. I found it on a tympanum - the area over a cathedral entrance. But, then I realized there is a HEAD in the bowl that the servant is giving the queen (who is dressed richly and wearing a crown)! And, I knew what Biblical story it was portraying: the beheading of John the Baptist. Here it is from Matthew 14:6-11:

But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist. And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.



This scene is of Jesse's tree, a familiar site in art. It depicts the ancestors of Jesus and is from Isaiah 11:1: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

I am standing in front of the nave - the main long portion of the cathedral where worshipers sit (though I think they used to stand). The vaulted ceiling is high above me and it's incredible to stand in these amazing structures.

Most cathedrals are built with a floorplan like a cross (or letter "t"). The long part is the nave, while the shorter part is the transept. This is the vaulted ceiling where the two parts cross.

Looking away from the apse (where the preaching would take place) towards the door I entered in through. You can see the pipes from the pipe organ and the rose window. You can also see the 3 layers of arches as you start from the floor and go upwards: arcade (lowest), triforium (middle), and clerstory (highest).

The City of Rouen, Normandy, France

One of the main reasons we stopped in Rouen, Normandy (in France) was to see the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. But, my mother was in a lot of pain and needed to rest. So, we left her in the car and told her we'd only be gone for 1 hour. We hurried through the town looking for the memorial cross... but we never found it. We did, however, see several beautiful blocks of Rouen.

The first site we came across was this beautiful building - the Palais de Justice. This gothic building was built near the turn of the 16th century and was mostly destroyed during the Allied bombing of WWII. This, the western facade, is heavily pockmarked from WWII bullets.

A "close up" showing some of the bullet holes still left on the western facade of the Palais de Justice.

Half-timbered buildings lining a street in Rouen.

Close-up of a half-timbered building.

We stopped and had a quick drink - this was one of Alex's favorite drinks on this trip. It is a soda/juice mix! And, we were pleased to find out we could buy it at one of our local grocery stores that carries lots of international foods!

This is an amazing clock that I wish we would have seen up close. I only took this photo as we quickly turned the corner! The "Great Clock" was created in the early 1400's and rebuilt in 1527-1529.

Above is a close up of the photo I took. The clock only has an hour hand (no minute hand, as I guess the hour was close enough) and it is a little after noon. Under the VI there is a a cut out which changes each day of the week and shows a god on a chariot that demonstrates which day it is - I believe this was a Monday. Above the clock face is a globe that indicates the phase of the moon - I believe the colors are blue & silver so, this being completely silver, I think it was a full moon.

More of Monet's Gardens

I was asked for more photos from Monet's gardens at Giverny, and I'm happy to share them with you all! Here goes...

Les Nympheas is the restaurant we ate at located at the gardens. Did you know that Monet called waterlillies by their scientific name, les nympheas?
 

A beautiful snail... we saw quite a few snails!
 

This was our first view of the famous bridge. We are actually standing on a bridge at the opposite side of the pond. You can barely see 'the bridge' above Alex's head.

From the bridge (above where Alex is standing), if you look the opposite way you will see this boat that was also in Monet's paintings... or perhaps a boat LIKE the one he painted.

Doesn't this just look Impressionistic? (if that is a word...)
 

A rare shot of the bridge without any people on it. I wish there were fewer waterlillies so you could see the reflection of the bridge more clearly.
 

I was standing beside 'the bridge' to take this shot. You can see the lesser known bridge (the one Alex was standing on earlier) at the back of the pond to the right.

This is a second story window of Monet's house which looks over the gardens, not the pond. We were able to tour it, but not to take photos inside of it. His studio has recreations of about 30-40 pieces of his artwork. Work by other artists, including some Japanese artists who inspired Monet, are scattered throughout the house.

I hope you enjoyed these (additional) photos! We also visited the cathedral that Monet painted so many times AND the cliffs that he painted! I wasn't familiar with them, but the evening we spent on the beach by the cliffs was incredible. I'll share those next, I think.

Visiting Monet's Gardens

Yes, it's Monet's Garden! We had an incredible time visiting Giverny, the place of Monet's gardens, in Normandy, France. The weather this day was perfect and the gardens were more beautiful than I had imagined.

When you enter the gardens, you are first in a real garden area. It is HUGE! There are probably 8-12 rows that you can wander down. Unfortunately, I only took closeups so I can't really give you a good idea of what it looked like. We also saw quite a few gardeners busy pruning and doing other garden jobs.



Alex took lots of photos with my 'big' camera!

After leaving the regular gardens, you go through an underground tunnel. I believe the tunnel went under a road. Then, you go on a fairly long path that winds around different water features... until you arrive at the famous waterlily pond (1st photo). Wow! It's gorgeous!

It's very hard to get a photo of yourself alone on the famous bridge, though we did manage to get one of my mother. It was really crowded around the main pond, but there were other, quieter areas. Alex & I posed on this bridge that was behind the waterlily pond and were able to get a shot of just the two of us.

Seeing Lenin & Stalin

I'm going to skip ahead on our trip because I watched a movie about Stalin over the past two days. Besides France, we were able to visit three other countries: Finland, Estonia and Sweden. While in Estonia for three days, we went on a semi-private tour (7 people of which we were 5) of occupied Estonia. One of our stops on the tour was a pile of old statues behind a museum - primarily statues of Lenin, Stalin, and some soldiers.

our family with statues of Lenin and Stalin in Tallinn, Estonia

We took some photos of all of us around a statue of Lenin. To tell the truth, at the time I didn't know which statues were Stalin and which were Lenin. We were smiling and that later disturbed me. Would we have been smiling around a statue of Hitler? Is it because we don't understand the horror of these men? Maybe. But, as I thought more about it today, I realized that we were primarily smiling because of where we were... we were standing next to a piece of history. And, these statues weren't terrorizing people any more... they were piled up and neglected and no longer a threat. The people of Estonia are FREE!

my photo of Stalin statue in Tallinn

The History Channel documentary I just watched (online) is called "Stalin: Man of Steel." It was an amazing tale of a ruthless man who led to the death of millions of his people... but was strangely still their beloved Father. At the end of this post I'm going to share some of the notes I took - many of them actual words from the movie. But, if you are interested in learning more about him, I recommend this movie.  

 

 

My notes:

The Romanov's had ruled Russia for over 200 years and it was the goal of revolutionaries, including Stalin, to overthrow them. On October 25, 1917, the Bolshevik's stormed the winter palace in St Petersburg and the Tzar was toppled. Lenin became the new leader of Russia. (Question: did Lenin take power immediately?)

Stalin worked as an enforcer in the Communist party during the next five years and was then elected General Secretary. Eventually, he became Lenin's right hand man. When Lenin died in 1924, there were two possible successors: Stalin or Trotsky. Congress went against Lenin's will and chose Stalin and exhiling Trotsky (who would be later assassinated under Stalin's orders).

Stalin, wanting only loyalty to himself, banned the Russian Orthodox religion and had all religious materials destroyed. He had the churches destroyed and thousands of priests executed. Then, he set himself up as a new god... and his image hung in every home.

Russia was a land of peasants and swamplands, but Stalin started industralizing building major factories and railroad tracks. Then, he took all of the agricultural land and created "collectives" - giant state-owned farms. The farmers who refused to deliver their harvests were subject to violence.

By 1932, modernization was taking its toll on the rural population. As 5 million people starved, Stalin had 5 millions TONS of grain exported! But, life in Moscow was good... if you followed the party lines!

A wave of political execution followed with neighbors turning against neighbors and quotas set for how many people needed to be killed. Troika (groups of 3) went around conducting brief trials before executing people. In two years, 1.5 million people were killed.

Kolyma Goldmine from Wikipedia

Even as millions of people died in the Gulags, the prisoner's put their trust in Stalin. They thought he didn't know what was going on and would save them if he only knew. They thought he was a saint. In the Kolyma Gulag, a camp where gold was mined, the death rate was nearly 100%.

In the late 1930's, Stalin ordered a purge of his fellow party members and military leaders. He had 8 of his top generals executed and over 30,000 officers were killed over the next two years. Stalin wanted to raise up new leaders who would be faithful only to him.

In 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-agression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But, on the 22nd of June, 1941, Hitler ignores the pact and attacks Russia. The Red Army is surprised and suffers heavy losses. The Soviet people fight for the Motherland and for their beloved Stalin.

Russia suffers massive losses, until winter sets in and they are able to save Moscow. Leningrad, however, is under seige by Germany for 900 days and over 1 million people die.

Yalta Conference from Wikipedia

Stalin had been pushing the Alllies to start another front, but that didn't come until June 6, 1944... D-Day. In 1945, the Yalta Conference takes place in the Crimea with Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill. Stalin demands control of German territories in the East and the other leaders, tired of war, concede.

In April 1945 the war is basically over, but Stalin pushes his army hard to be the first to reach Berlin. He sacrifices hundreds of thousands of soldiers and his officials discover the body of Hitler in his bunker. However, he keeps this information top secret. Russia is now a Superpower and Stalin is a hero.

The Postdam Conference takes place in July of 1945 when the leaders of the 3 Superpowers - Stalin, Churchill & Truman - divide territory among themselves.

On March 2nd, 1953, Stalin has a stroke and dies three days later. Russia mourns. Even those who have lost loved ones weep. Stalin has created himself into a mythical being... and he's turned a country full of peasants into a Superpower.