SECOND WORLD WAR - Normandy
Operation Overlord
D-Day 6th June 1944 - the Allied invasion of Nazi Occupied Europe was one of
the events of the Second World War that truly held the outcome of the war
in the balance. Some would argue that D-Day was the event that changed
the course of the war. Certainly, Allied failure on D-Day would have had
extremely dire consequences for the entire ‘free' world.
This tour will take you to the sites where ordinary men from all over the world did extraordinary things during what remains one of the largest amphibious and airborne operations of all time. A day of plans gone wrong, rapid improvisation, dogged determination and sheer courage in the face of the fiercest resistance all epitomize what German commander Erwin Rommel predicted would be, ‘The Longest Day'.
This tour is available in a six day and four day package. The four day package visits the same sites as those of the six day tour but time at some of these locations is compressed to fit within the four day timeframe.
The 'Day of Days', and so it was. If the allied landings had failed we would possibly have been forced to sue for peace unless the Russian forces would have been capable of defeating the whole of the German land and air forces, and if they had then Europe would be very different to what it is today. So much of what we cherish today depended on a successful outcome to Operation Overlord and we begin our tour at night on the site of the opening clashes that took place just after midnight near Pegasus Bridge with B and D Companies of the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, B Company Royal Engineers and Pilots of the Glider Pilot Regiment.
Following the successful asault on the bridge American Airborne units landed further along the Normandy coast and we'll visit these landing zones in turn beginning with St Mere Eglise, which was not deemed a landing zone but we'll explore why it turned out differently.
Brecourt Manor is an action that is still taught at the American Military Academy of West Point and we'll be visiting this site and running through the action that took place here and ultimately led to hundreds of lives being saved on Utah Beach.
We'll be visiting the landing beaches in turn beginning with Utah, Omaha, Gold, June and Sword. On the beaches we'll be looking at the strategies employed by the Germans and a rather interesting group of Koreans and the Allied counter moves to get the men off the beaches and into the bluffs, especially at 'Dog' Sector on Omaha Beach which provided the historical basis for 'Saving Private Ryan'. We'll also take an interest in 'Herbert's Funnies' and allied inventions designed to counter the German forces. There we're in fact six beaches available on D-Day and we'll stop to look at the reserve beach, 'Band', and look at what it was for and why it wasn't used. At Juno beach we'll follow the Canadian action through Courselles-sur-Mer keeping Dieppe in mind, and at Sword Beach we'll learn about how the British and French Commandos liberated Ouistreham.
A considerable amount of German artillery was ranged along the Normandy coast both in prepared postions and natural cover as at Brecourt manor. This was an obvious threat to the continuous nature of the landings and the resupply of stores, fuel and ammunition, so we'll retrace the assault by US Rangers on Pointe-du-Hoc and we'll also see how the German battery at Longues fared against the guns of HMS Ajax.
We will pay our respects at the humbling American Cemetery with over 9,000 graves above the beach at Omaha which makes this a special place of sublime reflection and ample time will be given to reflect on the sacrifice.
We'll be paying visits to St Laurent and Coleville-sur-Mer for an account of the inherent dangers of 'friendly fire' and hearing how the allies won their 'toe-hold' in Europe before visiting the Bayuex Military Cemetery with over 4,000 British and Commonwealth graves making it the second largest in France.
Just as the Americans still teach the action at Brecourt Manor, so the Royal Marines Commandos still teach the actions that happened at Port-en-Bessin. At this site we'll explore and learn how the Commando assault captured this small Norman town and from Mont Cavalier we'll go through the evolutions and learn why this town was so vital to the war effort.
At Mount Fleury and Crepon we'll hear the story and follow in the footsteps of Stan Hollis, the only recipent of a VC on D-Day.
Pegasus Bridge St Mere Eglise Brecourt Manor
Pointe du Hoc Part of Omaha Beach The American Cemetery
Longues Battery Beach Obstacles
6 DAY TOUR
Price - £1030 per person
£1590 per couple sharing
4 DAY TOUR
Price - £649 per person
£995 per couple sharing
The tour begins and finishes at Portsmouth Harbour Railway Station.
Spaces are limited to 12 so we would advise to enquire and book early to avoid missing out.
We fully comply with the provisions of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (EEC Directive 90/314). In accordance with these regulations, all payments made to us, either as deposit or final settlement (including all credit card payments), are held in a separate trust account (HSBC Bank PLC, 76 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EL. Account Number: 93672638) and as such your payment cannot be released to us until the relevant Tour has taken place. This regulation guarantees a full refund of all monies paid in the most unlikely event of us failing to provide the Tour booked.