Enjoy a full day private guided tour with your own vehicle, and English speaking driver-licensed guide exploring the Second World War Area in the Caen Memorial as well as the Pointe du Hoc, Omaha beach (where the American soldiers landed) and the US cemetery.
The Caen Memorial is a massive museum dedicated to 20th-century history. Destruction wreaked across almost three quarters of this martyr city of the Liberation in the summer of 1944, and so it only seems fitting that Caen deserved a fitting tribute for the damage it suffered. The Memorial museum's main focus is reconciliation and during your visit you will be guided through the museum’s different stages, taking you back over the 20th century, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 until 9 November 1989 in Berlin with the “Fall of the Wall”. Between these two dates and between these two World Wars, some 60 million people would lose their lives and the most hostile of political systems to the key principles of respecting life would plunge the world into the chaos and brutality that characterized the last century.
Pointe du Hoc is a cliff top location that lies 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Omaha Beach, and stands on 100 ft (30 m) tall cliffs overlooking the sea. It was a point of attack by the United States Army Ranger Assault Group during Operation Overlord in World War II.
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II. Landings here were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east at Gold Beach with the American landing to the west at Utah Beach, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Bay of the Seine. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport provided by the U.S. Navy and elements of the Royal Navy. The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead of some five miles (eight kilometres) depth, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British landings at Gold Beach to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link up with VII Corps landing at Utah Beach. Standing on this wind swept, expansive beach, you can just imagine the ships as they became visible on the skyline and the battle that was to occur on this land.
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American soldiers who died in Europe during World War II. The cemetery is located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel. It covers 70 ha (172 acres), and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. Included are graves of Army Air Corps crews shot down over France as early as 1942. The names of 1,557 Americans who lost their lives in the Normandy campaign but could not be located and/or identified are inscribed on the walls of a semicircular garden at the east side of the memorial. This part consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing maps and narratives of the military operations. At the center is a bronze statue entitled Spirit of American Youth. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool, the mall with burial areas to either side and the circular chapel beyond. Behind the chapel are statues representing the United States and France. An orientation table overlooks the beach and depicts the landings at Normandy.
There will be plenty of time to stay at each of the sites of interest since you have the flexibility of having your own vehicle and Driver-Guide. Though sobering, the day will surely be a memorable one. Please note that this tour is with an English speaking driver-licensed guide. (no entrances to monuments or museums included).
Accommodation: Mercure Caen (3*)