Operation Overlord & D Day

1 – 5 August 2008

The invasion of Normandy by Allied forces on the 6 th of June 1944 was the western allies' most critical operation of the war.

If the attack had failed, and Hitler's Wehrmacht had succeeded in pushing the invaders back into the sea, then the whole course of the Second World War would have altered.

Hitler would have been free to redeploy his divisions from the west to meet the massive Red Army summer 1944 onslaught on the Eastern Front. The German generals would never have dared to try their 20 th of July bomb plot against a victorious Fuehrer ; and lastly, Germany's V weapons programme, already so near success, would have had the critical extra time to produce thousands more of their new rockets and jet fighters.

The fifty miles of Normandy coastline across which Operation Overlord was launched is one of the most important battlefields of the Second World War.

For the surviving British, American and Canadian troops who spearheaded the assault at dawn on what one commentator called “the longest day” it is a place of pilgrimage, and a place for reflection to remember old friends, and the graves of those who didn't make it.

For the visitor it is a place of wonder and realisation that amid this beautiful French holiday countryside in the summer of 1944, one of the most critical struggles of the twentieth century took place: a struggle that would eventually end at the gates of Hitler's Chancellery in Berlin .

This tour helps you to see some of the realities of Operation Overlord by visiting the beaches and battlefields of Normandy . It takes in the principal landing sites, museums and monuments on one of the best-preserved battlefields of the 1939 – 45 war.

Preliminary Briefings.

•  The Road to Normandy .

•  Churchill, Eisenhower and the High Command.

•  The view from the Bunker – The German perspective.

 

1 August Depart London at 0.930 (circa)

Arrive Bayeux 18.00/1830

2 August

The British eastern flank airborne landing grounds at Ranville and Benouville [“ Pegasus Bridge ”] then on to the Merville Battery . Lunch in Ouistreham . After lunch move west via “ Sword ” beach and Colville - Montgomery to “ Juno ”, the Canadian beach at Bernieres and St Aubin .

Return to hotel

3 August Move out west via Gold Beach to Arromanches . Visit the cliff top bunkers and blockhouses to look out over the remains of the Mulberry floating harbours. Visit the Landings Museum on the seafront

Lunch in Arromanches.

Then return to Bayeux to see the Bayeux tapestry and the impressive Bayeux D Day Museum, alongside the British Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeter y.

Visit Eisenhower monument

Return to hotel

4 August Head west to Omaha Beach and the bloodiest landings of the day between Colleville and the Pointe du Hoc . Visit the battle scarred Ranger bunkers and monument at Pointe du Hoc , the US National Guard monument at Vierville. Lunch at Omaha .

Afternoon visit the magnificent American Battle Monuments Normandy cemetery on the cliffs above Omaha beach at Colleville

On to the west, along the coast, crossing the Douve Canal at Carentan , heading for Sainte Mere Eglise , scene of the US airborne landings. Visit the numerous information plaques and memorials ending up at the US Airborne Troops Museum in Ste Mere Eglise.

We end this day at Utah Beach where General Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Wrap up briefings:

•  The battle for Normandy .

Breakout!

5 August Return to London via Calais arriving circa 18.00