Hi All, I am currently looking at the feasibility of bringing a small group out to Normandy from Ireland next July. The group will be limited to eight in order to facilitate minibus tours. I currently have seven, mainly work colleagues, who have expressed an interest in going out on the tour. We are looking at travelling Rosslare to Cherbourg on Irish Ferries to arrive Monday 7th July and departing on the evening of Wednesday, 9th July. The tour will be pitched at the beginner historian so we will be concentrating on getting to see as many of the main sites as is feasible in the time available, but still spending the time at each to take in the stories and atmosphere of the place. As such, I doubt if we will be able to visit some of the more obscure, out of the way sites sometimes discussed here on the Forum due to the limited time available. I would be hoping to employ the services of a professional tour guide and minibus for at least one full day of touring. If there are readers who might be interested in joining us, please keep an eye on this thread for updates and place availability. Send me an email or PM if you would like to be put on a waiting list. Regards, Pat
Hi All, I have one place available if anyone wants to join us on the tour. I should also have a Google Map here soon showing the sites for each day. Regards, Pat
Hi All, Just a quick update. I now have the eight places filled on the July tour and have also finally resolved the 'zoom in' link issue inside the info windows on the customised Google Map for the tour. See my Map here. The user can click a marker to open its info box. I am deeply indebted to Gabriel Svennerberg, author of the excellent book on the subject of customising Goole Maps, 'Beginning Google Maps API 3'. Gabriel has replied to countless emails from me during many hours of 'weekend coder' frustrations, correcting my embarrassing errors - thanks Gabriel; you are truly a wizard! A further refinement still to be implemented is for the 'zoom in' link to change to 'zoom out' when the map is zoomed to the marker location, but I have a rough 'work around' in place for now - just press the F5 function key on your keyboard to reload the 'Home Map'. The sites have been selected in consultation with Dale Booth, our guide for the three day tour so as to give a broad outline of locations pertaining to the whole Invasion front. Most of my group are first time visitors to Normandy and hence this approach was deemed the most suitable. Comments and corrections welcomed and appreciated. Regards, Pat
Hi All, Returned Thursday following a very successful three day tour with Dale Booth of Dale Booth Normandy Tours. My guys all enjoyed the experience immensely and are looking to plan a return visit already I'll give a full report over the next week or so but for now you can view the photographs, which I have just finished editing, on this web page. Below is a group shot taken by Dale in front of the 'Iron Mike' statue above La Fiere Bridge: The shot was converted to B&W from the original RAW colour file in Photoshop. Please feel free to comment on the photos Regards, Pat
Day 1 - Monday 7th July: We arrived Cherbourg on schedule Monday morning following an idyllic 18 hour sea crossing from Rosslare on the Irish Ferries 'Oscar Wilde'. I was particularly glad of the calm, flat sea as this was my son William's first sea voyage and I was anxious it should be an enjoyable experience for him. Being foot passengers, we were last to disembark and coupled with a slight change to the itinerary dropping baggage at Chris and Mike Clench's 'La Maison de Maitre' B&B in Pont l'Abbe, we had lost an hour off our first day's already tight schedule. In order not to rush things, I therefore decided to drop the German Cemetery at La Cambe from Tuesday's itinerary and move Monday's last stop, Utah Beach, out to the first stop on Tuesday morning. An executive decision on my part but it produced a stress free first day's touring Dale Booth, our guide for the three day tour, was patiently awaiting our arrival with his minibus and after introductions, we quickly loaded up and were on our way south down the N13 and straight onto our first day's tour. Our first stop was the German Cemetery at Orglandes which holds just over 10,000 remains. I had visited Orglandes once before but it still is a very sombre place to look out over - acres of dark grey markers provide the viewer with a real sense of the terrible cost paid by Germany in just one small corner of Normandy. I was struck by the number of deaths occurring after the cessation of hostilities going well into the late 1940s as German prisoners were employed clearing unexploded ordnance from the battlefields and towns of Normandy. Apparently the use of PoWs in this role was forbidden by the Geneva Convention but the Allies got around the problem by stating that since most of the PoWs would be employed clearing German ordnance, it was therefore acceptable to proceed to use them in this role. A quick search of the markers in the southern end of the Cemetery brought us to Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Falley's grave where he rests with two others. The story of Falley's death was related to the group, whom I should state were all, except myself, first timers to Normandy. We then moved on to the second stop at the Lagouge Farmhouse where Falley, along with his adjutant, Major Bartuzat, was killed by Lt. Malcolm Brannen of HQ&HQ Company, 3/508 PIR on D-Day morning. The shot below shows the group unloading from Dale's minibus at this stop: The photo was taken from roughly where Lieutenant-General Falley's came to rest and the view is west. Here I showed the group an extract from NCAP_ACIU_US30_4108_1034 flown on the 8th June and showing Falley's car still in place at the gable of the farmhouse. The presence of the car on this frame was first discovered by Forum member Dale Johnson a few years back on Paul Woodadge's old Battlebus Forum. The find still ranks as one the best I have ever come across! Loading up once more, we had lunch at the 507th PIR 'In The Beginning' monument near the hamlet of Les Helpiquets - outdoors and under a clear blue Normandy sky with no frills More follows... Regards, Pat PS, Please feel free to comment or ask questions!
Pat, Did you take any photos of the Farmhouse or the location where the car ended up resting against it? John
Hi John, Not a great shot due to the extreme distortion caused by the 16-35mm lens in use at the time and hence I had culled it from my final selection: Note the dormer windows numbered 1-3 and the same three marked on the extract from NCAP_ACIU_US30_4108_1034 below: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.ncap.org.uk The car can be seen indicated by the white arrow. It is known Falley was traveling west to east (left to right here) in an attempt to reach his mobile CP down the lane aways - possibly the object circled yellow. Regards, Pat
Hi Pat Nice photos - seems as if a good time was had by all - as you were at the Longues-sur-mer battery did you show them the memorial just down the road to the nearby ALG B.11? regards Allan
Hi Allan, As all except one of my group were first timers, I had to use the available time visiting the main sites so I did not get to see the B11 ALG memorial. Dale did mention that there were British AA positions sited on top of the four concrete casemates protecting the field. Monday afternoon: Next stop was the La Fiere Bridge where we spent a good hour listening to Dale describe the battle to first hold the bridge and then take the causeway between the 6th and 9th June. This was my fourth visit to La Fiere, yet for me it remains a site of huge impact as soon as you get out and walk about. Below is a shot I took looking across the marshes to Cauquigny Church: The last time I was in Normandy time was not as limited and I recall Paul Woodadge taking me over to the churchyard to show us an American bullet embedded in a section of the property - I hope its still there! Knowing the story well as I am sure a lot of readers here do also, I had time to watch the emotion on the faces of the first timers and caught this shot of my uncle-in-law, Aidan Murphy, as he stopped by the bridge wall to take in the enormity of what Dale had just described: You always know when a site has impact once you load up to move on - it took a good ten minutes before anyone spoke again as we entered St Mere Eglise for a double stop at the Church and Airborne Museum. A third building has been added to the museum complex since I was in Normandy three years ago and at last I had some new exhibits to look over. A great venue to stop and explore and well worth the small entry fee, reduced again as we were with an official tour guide. The shot below is taken from an observation gantry built over the fuselage of the C-47 - here the ultra wide 16-35mm lens came into its own: For some reason, guides do not 'guide' inside museums in Normandy; not sure if this is their own way of working or if there are official restrictions - in any event, I think its the right approach as you need time to wander about yourself. I even let my lad William do his own thing while still keeping him under safe observation. As a consequence however, I did not get to visit the Duboscq family plot in the adjoining town cemetery as I had hoped. You kind of have to let your own personal stuff take a back seat when acting as guide organiser When Dale had done his talk over at the Church, describing the events of D-Day morning, we then moved on to the last stop for Monday, Brecourt Manor. We arrived at eveing milking time and I was fortunate to grab a shot of the herd crossing out of the Battery Field into the farmyard: The sight of a dairy herd always conjures up mixed feelings in me as I left that life back in 2002 to become a desk bound civil servant :s - probably would not be able to travel to Normandy though if I had stayed in the seven-day-a-week career Once the cows were all in the milking parlour, we proceeded out into the Battery Field and Dale described the battle to take the guns. You may wonder what he is doing in the shot below... ...well, in best British Army language, he is wondering where the grenades are of his imaginary platoon members as he describes how long the assault really took to complete as opposed to the minutes depicted in the HBO mini-series. Apparently it took several hours before the fourth gun was secured from when the assault first commenced. Leaving the field clear for the cows' return, we departed for Dale and Debbie's idyllic old farmhouse B&B at 'La Heroullerie' in Pretot-Sainte-Suzanne. Dale graciously done a quick un-scheduled stop at the Charlie DeGlopper MoH memorial on the way. The shot below does not do justice to the peace and tranquility of this fabulous 'Tour CP': The experience of sitting out with evening drinks following an 18 hour sea voyage followed up immediately with a 6 hour battlefield tour somehow made the world seem right and in balance. A rare moment, superseded only by Debbie's fabulous evening meal which followed. A perfect end to a perfect day Regards, Pat
Pat, Is it Dale's assessment that all the guns at Brecourt Manor were in line in one hedgerow, or as depicted in Band of Brothers with one gun on the flank? John
Hello Pat A great pity, as you probably drove right past the place - the Longues battery was famous for one day - and the command bunker in the film "The Longest Day", but 1 of the 4 squadrons of 125 Wing at B.11 Longues-sur-mer had a long term effect on the battlefield as 602 Squadron was attributed (only by some I agree) to take out Field Marshal Rommel - and who knows what would have happened in the short term if they had not got him, although of course we would still have won it would probably have been a harder fight. The really damaged bunker was alleged to have blown up whilst containing ammunition for the A/A (or A/A/A for our American cousins) guns on top. I will e-mail a copy of the memorial and the location - perhaps you could then insert it on the forum. regards Allan
Hi John, It is believed that one gun (#1 in the attack) was emplaced in the short northern hedgerow of the field and the other three in the eastern hedgerow. There is aerial cover, flown on D-Day IIRC, which appears to show these three positions. One of the gun legs was in the farmyard until recently and I recall seeing it on my first tour with Dale back in 2007. The leg is now safely secured beyond reach of the scrap metal thieves Regards, Pat
Hi Allan, Yes, Dale told us of the explosion; it is thought that a couple of A/A men decided to cook a meal in an annex bunker which held the bags of gun cotton for that casemate's gun. I must have another look at the 'Case #1 - Who Strafed Rommel's Car?' thread as I think there was one recon frame, taken a while after the attack which we did not bring down from NCAP. As to who got him; I doubt any satisfactory level of certainty will ever be established. I was amused recently reading about some guy who had hired a researcher to find the aircraft which had attached the German truck convoy taking American PoWs south from the Cotentin area. The positive conclusion was that the attack had been carried out not by American P-47s but by a lone Polish pilot flying a RAF spitfire. Even if true, how do you prove something like that? Regards, Pat
Hi Pat I wonder how the researcher could reach a "positive conclusion" on an attack without identifying the lone pilot/or pilots and squadron involved. I can't really accept just one Spitfire flying around the battlefield, they would surely operate in pairs or he would have no wingman protection, and the Luftwaffe, sparse as it was at times, was on the lookout for a loner as easier to take on than a pair?! regards Allan
Hi Allan, I often wonder how fighter pilots could have differentiated between one laneway/road and another. It's one thing to find a town from the air on a bombing raid, but a particular laneway or stretch of roadway with high, green foliage? Also, just because one squadron recorded something like a staff car or truck attack, that does not mean that another, unrecorded, incident might not have been responsible. Some people see what they want to in the records. Regards, Pat
Pat, Nice photos. You picked the right time as Normandy is rather unusually sunny at the moment. Glad our paths crossed, albeit briefly. You mentioned the bullet in the railings in Cauquigny.... it' still there but unfortunately some ***** (I'm being polite as it's your forum) has tried to remove it with pliers so it's now deformed. Got to wonder about the mentality of some folks..... On a better note, glad you got to see some of the less well visited sites. The Graignes memorial has recently been replaced and now includes the name of Stanley Black, as per your photos. His grand niece(?) was there in June. He was on a Lancaster that was shot down near St Jean de Daye, was taken by locals to the paratroopers holding out in Graignes and was apparently one of those executed later. For anyone interested, his files from the Australian National Archives can be found here and here He's buried in Bayeux. Cheers, Sean [hr] By the way, another interesting short article here.
Thanks Sean, Glad to hear the bullet has resisted attempts to dislodge it - operating the pliers probably required a higher IQ that what was available My Dad prevented milk being taken from creamery churns back in the 1960s by insulating them from the ground and then running a cattle electric fence wire through the handles. There is probably a law against that kind of thing though nowadays I appreciate you linking the name Stanley Black on the Graignes memorial to the photo of the photo off to the left in the church ruins... ...wasn't sure about that linkage. Without giving the location, can you confirm if the crash site has been found? Also, can I ask if you know the significance of the lone wooden cross at the base of the yew tree in the graveyard? I presume it's in remembrance of a British or Commonwealth loss - is it also for Stanley Black? Folks, Graignes was the second stop on the second day of the tour, Tuesday 8th July. Regards, Pat
Day 2 - Tuesday 8th July Grabbed this early morning shot of Debbie and Dale's 'La Heroullerie' farmhouse before breakfast: [align=center][/align] First stop was Angoville-au-Plain Church where Dale related the story of 2/501 PIR medics Kenneth Moore and Robert Wright and how they tended to scores of wounded from both sides without relief during the first three days of the Invasion. Work was in progress repairing the roof so the peace and serenity of the place was a little less present when compared to previous visits. The shot below shows the monument to the two men just across the road from the church: As the roofing scaffolding obscured the church during our visit, here is a shot I took back in 2007 with no such obstruction: The story goes that the small tree in the foreground is a replacement for a companion of the large old specimen in the background which had died from lead poisoning! Don't know if the story is true or not Next stop was Graignes which I covered in my last post and then we moved back over to Utah Beach where I took the photo below of Dale's sand drawing as he explains how the Germans defended beaches by means of the 'widerstandsnest' system: William had brought plastic containers to bring back pebbles and sand from the various sites and the shot below shows him collecting a sample of sand from Utah Beach: Departing Utah Beach, I was delighted to meet up with Sean briefly while the guys were loading up. Sean and I had discussed the possibility of visiting some crash sites in the evenings during the tour but time constraints prevented this happening. Thanks again Sean for the kind offer - a task for another time when I can come back without the 'organiser' responsibilities Lunch followed in a little cafe/museum in Saint Marie du Mont called Musée de l'Occupation: It was a jovial atmosphere as the group had a pre-lunch guide of the German murals and other exhibits on the walls of the house which dated back to 1942 when the house had been requisitioned by the local garrison. William even got to operate a hand cranked air raid siren which was probably heard by the entire village! During lunch, various artifacts were passed around the table by the owner including a German officer's hat which everyone tried on... ...including my uncle-in-law Aidan above. The multi-trial fitting amused everyone except William :s... I was lucky to get the shot at all Moving quickly on, the last party piece was somewhat more sobering. It's a brass cyanide capsule - with a live ampule! It's not from the area however, as the owner told us his son picked it up in a flea market somewhere in Germany. Needless to say it was not handed around the table but the owner graciously allowed me to photograph it from a safe distance More follows... Regards, Pat
Thanks for the shout out on the find of Falley's car in the recon photo. Of course my real focus on that recon shot was by the Chateau to find tank tracks supporting my Father's report of a tank unit north of the Douve River on D-Day before dawn. Falley's car was just a bonus. Regarding who strafed Rommel or PW columns. If someone finds Rommel's staff car they can check the bullet holes to see what caliber the bullet was. .50 cal is US .303 is British. Same goes for figuring out who strafed PWs just need the medics report on what bullet was extracted.
Hi Dale, IIRC, there is a report of Rommel's driver, Daniel, loosing his arm in the attack from a cannon round but as with all these accounts, it may be just an assumption on someone's part that the injury was caused by this weapon. I presume a .50 cal round would do just as much damage. In any event, Daniel died during the night from his injuries despite a blood transfusion at a Luftwaffe hospital in Bernay about 25 miles from the scene of the attack. Regards, Pat