They fought not for the lust of conquest…

No jokes in this blog. No quips. No making light of a situation.

This blog is about our visit to the beaches of Normandy. Where, on the 6th June 1944, 156,000 men took part in the largest sea invasion in history. The invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

The landings (actually called Operation Neptune) were the first stage of Operation Overlord which aimed to bring an end to World War 2.

Map of the D-Day Landings
[Source: Wikimedia Commons]

More than 3,800 allied soldiers died on day 1 of the invasion. If you include wounded and missing that figure rises to 10,500. That’s on day one alone. Add to that the German losses of around 10,000 men and that’s more than 20,000 lives lost in 24 hours!
*Figures from https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/d-day/figures

US Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer

[Source: Wikimedia Commons]

So no lighthearted blog today.

In fact I am struggling to decide which of the many photos I took even begins to show the enormous sacrifice that those men made on that day and the many months to follow.

So, I have decided that I will show only images of the 75th anniversary memorial sculpture garden above Gold Beach at Aromanche Les Bains https://www.d-daytoursnormandy.com/d-day-75-garden/ inspired by the memories of D-Day veteran Bill Pendell - Military Medal (MM).

These photos, for me at least, are the best reminder of a conflict that should never be forgotten and never be repeated.

D-Day veteran Bill Pendell (died 2018, aged 97) whose memories inspired the garden and statues

Everyone should visit this area. It is an important education in the cost of war.

The ghost like figures of Bill’s memory form the main part of the garden

On a hill above Aromanche-Les-Bains the remains of the Mulberry Harbour provide a fitting background

Life size detail from the memorial garden and statue

We were unable to visit every museum, every site of interest or every cemetery. We did visit the following in our 3 days here. I can thoroughly recommend all of them.

• The Caen Memorial Museum https://normandy.memorial-caen.com Not just about the Normandy Landings, but a memorial to the history of WW2 and the Cold War that followed.

• The Longues-sur-Mer battery https://bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com/en/visiteguidee/batterie-de-longues-sur-mer/ This gun battery was a key element of the Atlantic Wall. It is free to enter to see the four casemates, each still housing a 150mm gun.

• The Musée du Debarquement. Aromanche-Les-Bains https://www.musee-arromanches.fr/accueil/index.php?lang=uk. My favourite of those we visited, this museum is mainly about the artificial harbour built to enable the unloading of equipment into the beaches immediately after the invasion, but it is covers so much more. It was also the first ever museum commemorating the landings and was first opened in 1954.

• Aromanche 360. A 19 minute film in a 360 degree cinema covering the first 100 days of Operation Overlord.
  https://www.arromanches360.com/ The gardens and memorial surrounding it are spectacular and provided all but two of the photos in this blog post.

• Pegasus Memorial Museum https://musee.memorial-pegasus.com/en/# This memorial and museum is dedicated to the men of the 6th British Airborne Division, “the Red Berets” and the mission undertaken by them on June 6th 1944.

Blog post title quote:

The title for this blog post comes from a radio broadcast by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the 6th of June, 1944.

"They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.”