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We read recently in a magazine that since the movie "Saving Private Ryan" there has been a renewed interest in visiting the Normandy coast of France the sight of the World War II D-Day invasion. According to our map we could be there in two hours and all we had to do was figure out what train to catch from Rennes. We preceded to the very new and modern train station in Rennes to inquire about train departures. After a ten minute wait in the information line we had the pleasure of interacting with the information guy. We said hello in French and then said in English, "Train Bayeaux." Bayeaux is the name of the town we wanted to go to and of course Train meant we wanted to catch a train. This guy behind the information counter had never been so insulted in his entire life. How dare we come to his counter and not speak French. No problem we have a little communication difficulty so we showed him on the map the name of the town we wanted to go to. This guy babbled in French, "You ignorant fool how dare you travel in my country and not speak French I will not help you so go away." This is a loose translation based on his body language. He looked in the other direction and waited for us to go away. Karen being a customer service specialist started yelling at the guy "You are at the information counter you are supposed to give information." I dragged her out of there before somebody got punched. We needed to get regrouped so we spent fifteen minutes looking in the guidebook for the phrase "What time is the train to.." We wrote it all down on a sheet of paper and even put the date so we could be specific. Back in line we went and wouldn't you know it when it was our turn we got to go back to our information buddy. Karen wanted to wait for someone else but I was determined to be a bigger jerk than this guy. I handed over the sheet of paper and he looked at me and gave me the same look. He knew exactly what we wanted but was still being difficult. I wasn't leaving until I got the information out of this guy. After staring at each other for another five minutes: me with a "Big shit eating grin" and this guy with a will you just go away look, I figured out he wanted to know what time we wanted to leave. I told him I didn't care and wrote on a sheet of paper 8:00 9:00 10:00 you pick. The guy wrote down 9:15 and he thought he was done. I handed the paper back with the same degree of disgust and said how about a train number and the track it leaves from. This required him to type on his computer and he wrote down the answers. This guy is the first rude French guy we met in France which based on the French reputation it was amazing we had only encountered one. I see nothing wrong with a local not liking tourists and trying to make them feel unwelcome if you don't want to be bothered by foreigners. This guy, however, worked at the information counter of a train station, so he either needs to find another job or find a better attitude.
Off we go on our morning train ride to Bayeaux. It got cold last night and all the farmer's fields are covered with frost. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and we couldn't help staring out the window watching the good life pass us by. We departed the train at a small station and figured we would do a quick tour of the local museum, a quick look at a 70 meter tapestry from 1066 and jump back on a 6 PM train for Paris. Our guidebook did not give us many details about visiting the Normandy coast so we showed up a little unprepared. A short walk through the parking lot we encountered the Hotel Le Gare and a sign for a 1:00 PM Normandy D-Day tour. They even had a sign on the door that said "Welcome liberators" and flags from the US, Britain, and Canada. After our morning episode with the train information guy it was nice to feel welcome. Next time I travel through Rennes I am going to find the train information guy and point out, that if it were not for the help of the English speaking world he would be speaking German. Walking inside the hotel restaurant we are greeted by the manager/owner/cook who is happy we stopped in. We inquire about the tour, the cost and the time. It starts at 1:00 PM lasts six hours and cost $30 a person. Karen and I looked at each other trying to figure out what would take six hours and why the high cost. We are such tourist/history idiots.
Before we knew it we sat down for lunch and received an extra bonus because it was Beaujolais day which meant the new red wine was here. For the French Beaujolais day is a day to look forward to, a reason to stop by the wine store, a reason to visit the local pub, a reason to party. We had a bottle of wine on the table and the meal of the day on its way. The tour itself started at 1:00 PM and a large van arrived to pick us up. We greeted our fellow tourists which consisted of seven Americans and one Canadian. Our guide was an older local fellow who spoke excellent English and we still had no idea what we would be seeing for the next six hours. We hoped it would be worth the $60 tour price. Karen and I are the only people on the bus who had not seen "Saving Private Ryan."
A brief background on why this area was important. Germany had taken over most of continental Europe and France was firmly under control of the German army. For what ever reason France and the other European conquered countries did not have much of an army so Germany was able to march in and take over with out too many problems. The United States had adopted an isolationist policy which meant we decided to stay out of the war. For what ever reason the Germans decided to sink a passenger cruise ship off the coast of the US and Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. England which is located off the coast of mainland Europe was next on the to be conquered list of Hitler. The Allies of US, England and Canada knew they had to go on the offensive and try to help the German occupied countries. The Germans had already occupied France for three years and had developed an adequate defense system to prevent an invasion.
The Allies knew they needed a secure harbor or a port to bring in the required troops, tanks, trucks and supplies to fight a war against the German army. Based on history the military leaders knew it would be impossible to capture and use an existing shipping port because it would have overwhelming defenses. Winston Churchill came up with an idea to build an artificial port off the coast from the town of Arromanches in northern France. This had never been done before and many questioned the wisdom of the plan. For ships to dock and unload equipment the water has to be calm. Mother Nature usually provides the setup for a natural port because of a large offshore reef or a large bay that prevents the waves of the ocean from entering. For Churchill's idea to work it would require a huge area of water (5 square miles) to be sheltered from the swells and currents of the ocean by the installation of a breakwater. The breakwater would be established by dropping in 115 cement casements weighing 7,000 tons each. Once the barricades were in place a series of unloading docks would need to be built and each dock would need to be connected to the mainland by a road. To accomplish this task would take two years of on sight construction but Churchill wanted it to be done in a week.
Construction began of large concrete barges in England that would be towed across the English Channel and lowered off the coast of France. The American and British Navy gathered up a large collection of older ships and each would be sunk off the coast to help create a man-made port. The Canadians and the British began construction of the floating pontoon docks and road network that could be dropped in place once the artificial barrier was established.
Hitler was expecting an invasion but did not anticipate the Allies trying something so bold. What made the task even more difficult was the coastline in northern France is comprised of 30 ft cliffs which makes an assault by sea very difficult. D-Day was June 6, 1944. The Allies' plan was to land troops on four different beaches and destroy the German guns that protected the coast. The Allies began by bombing France and dropping over 195,000 tons of bombs from over 11,000 aircraft which flew over 200,000 sorties . As a diversionary tactic over 2/3 of the bombs were dropped outside of the invasion area. The Allies were also successful in blowing up the bridges across the Seine and Loire rivers isolating the German army from the rest of France. By using spurious radar transmissions the Allies were able to generate a fake invasion army based in southeast England.
The night before the invasion 822 aircraft dropped parachutists and gliders in preparation for the landing. The American 82nd and 101st airborne division dropped into heavily fortified German areas and fought a fierce and costly battle. The most difficult battle taking place at Omaha beach. The Germans had moved their gun stations and it took three days and the loss of many lives before they were destroyed. The Normandy coastline was taken and the German troops were cut off from supplies and reinforcement because the Allies had destroyed all the bridges. Construction of the port began immediately and 6,500 ships unloaded 200,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of supplies in the first three weeks.
Our tour took us to visit Omaha beach/Pointe Du Hoc, the German long gun emplacements, the American Military Cemetery, and the D-Day landing museum at Arromanches. Walking around the bombed out bunkers at the Pointe Du Hoc you could only imagine the battle that went on. The Germans had built huge concrete bunkers with roofs and walls over six feet thick. This peaceful area tells the tale of a relentless bombing that broke concrete walls like they were cinder blocks leaving them today resting at awkward angles a monument to the battle that took place. The green grass on this battlefield has returned but wisely no one has filled in the giant craters from the bombs overhead. The American Military Cemetery told the true cost of war with 9,386 American soldiers buried in a foreign land. No expense has been spared to honor the fallen of war. The D-Day landing museum located at the small town of Arromanches within a few feet from the artificial harbor that today only partially remains. You can still see many of the 115 cement casements weighing 7,000 tons each anchored forever off the shore as their own memorial to this tremendous engineering accomplishment. Seeing the museum displays really brings the enormous impact of D-Day and the battle of Normandy into perspective and makes you wonder "What if!" We are going to find someplace to watch "Saving Private Ryan."
We missed our last train to Paris and decided to spend the night at the Hotel Le Gare which at $28 a night would put us back on budget. We are not anticipating finding budget accommodations in Paris. Bayeux is a lovely little French town and must be full of tourists when it is warm and the beaches are full of sunbathers. Today it is cold and we must find warmer clothes. Karen managed to find a discount department store called EuroDif. We purchased gloves, a scarf, two Santa hats and some long underwear. If you are looking for Wal-Mart prices in France EuroDif is the place to go. Karen decided to go grocery shopping for sandwich ingredients. This required bread, tomatoes, an avocado, mayonnaise and cheese. Without a supermarket to be found, she had to make a stop at the bread store, the butcher, and the vegetable stand. She even got yelled at by the vegetable lady for touching the avocado. This was going to be our first oversized, overstuffed, quality ingredient, homemade sandwich in 10 months. It is amazing how much a big sandwich can do to lift the spirits and induce a nap. Next stop Paris and we are ready for the big city again.
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| This page last changed on 27-Apr-2006 23:37:11 EDT by 70.171.24.221. |
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