BlackFive

B5 Crew, Jerusalem.  

This is off topic, but then again it might be of interest to a few of us, so...  When I thought I was on my way to Afghanistan last fall, I sold my car.  Right now, I get around great locally on shanks mare, public transport, and occasional use of a friend's car.  The problem is long distance.

I find that I really need to get back to Indiana from Atlanta by Friday afternoon if at all possible.  So, anyone have any experience with ride-share services, Megabus, or other transportation options?  Thoughts or suggestios that don't involve car rentals or buying a new car? 

LW

The situation is critical, and ships must come in.  On the cliffs above and between two key beaches is a major enemy position, the heart of which are four 150mm naval guns that can sink any ship afloat.  They are well protected by anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, and more.  The forward observation bunker has two levels, so that if the top one goes, the bottom one can survive and continue. 

In this case, it is not a movie and there is no plucky band that includes David Niven to attack from behind/inside.  What you have are the guns at Longues, and they commanded the sea from the heights between Omaha and Gold.  Attempts to silence the guns via bombing failed, with the bombing doing surprisingly little damage to the huge gun emplacements.  Bombardment by ships including the American battleship Arkansas and the French cruiser Georges Leygues failed to silence the battery -- and shelling from the guns forced the flagship HMS Bulolo to retreat. 

 

Finally, the British cruisers Ajax and Argonaut closed to point-blank range and engaged in a gun duel with the battery. 

 

 

 

As best anyone can reconstruct, a shell from one of the cruisers struck the one gun and penetrated its splinter shield just after it had fired and while it was being reloaded.  The best guess is that the magazine door was open for that process, and the resultant explosion did what bombs had failed to do, and destroyed the bunker and the gun.  If you walk behind,you will find a 20-plus-ton chunk of the bunker tossed several meters away. 

 

 

Eventually, three of the four guns were taken out by the cruisers. 

 

 

The remaining gun continued to fire on an intermittent basis until about 7 pm that evening.

 

 

After that, the battery fell silent and surrendered to the 231st Infantry Brigade the following day.  Many visitors fail to appreciate the extent of the complex, as fields cover or mask many of the surviving bunkers.  If you study the vegetation and the fields, you can still see where the trench network ran.  I do have many more shots, and hope to do a photographic study over at Laughing Wolf soon.  I also have a different shot from the day posted there as well. 

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. Be sure to check out my Facebook Page and Laughing Wolf for other photos, stories, and more. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe. 

There is an old saw about amateurs discuss tactics while professionals discuss logistics.  Arromanches sur Mer is an example of why both are needed.   From a tactical standpoint, the shallow-draft port town sits in a valley surrounded by steep bluffs and cliffs, which provided excellent fighting and defensive strong-points for the Germans.  Up on top of the bluffs was also a radar station, which could warn of attack.  Nearby were the large gun batteries at Longues sur Mer, which could attack and sink ships miles out to sea.  More on them soon.

 

 

 Yet, Arromanches was critical to a successful campaign.  It was a given that the Germans would wreck any deep water ports before giving them up, and do a very good job of it.  They had demonstrated before that they could and would do so.  This meant that even if Cherbourg and Le Havre could be taken quickly, it was highly unlikely that they would be taken in a usable condition.  There was no way to bring in all the supplies needed for a successful campaign by air, so how do you bring in the hundreds/thousands of shiploads of cargo needed? 

Today we arrive at Courseulles-sur-Mer and Juno Beach, and what I regard as the single best museum on all the beaches -- the Juno Beach Centre. 

 

 

Arriving under a grey sky (if you don't like the weather in Normandy, wait an hour), a tank caught my eye.  Now, there are lots of tanks on display up and down the beaches, but this one is different. 

 

 

This was one of the few surviving amphibious tanks from the landing.  The idea was to add in a propeller propulsion system, an inflatable skirt, and have the tanks sail in to the landing on their own.  Once they hit sand, the propellers could be disengaged, and the skirts cast off as they moved forward.  It was a great idea -- on paper.  In practice, the sad truth is that many (if not most) sank on the way in. 

As you travel along the D-Day beaches, particularly along Sword, there really are monuments and memorials every few hundred meters, if not closer.  Part of this has to do with the large number of small towns and villages that line what is now Sword Beach, and part to do with the intense fighting that took place that day. 

 

 

The fighting took a toll on troops, buildings, and civilians in the area.  Many of these memorials list all those killed in battle, which is a good thing in my book.  Note the bunker just behind and to the right. 

Even as I work on the video and some 2,500 photos from Normandy, I'm also preparing for a short embed to Central America.  A very kind gentleman has gotten me my ticket down, is there anyone with some American Airlines miles who would be willing to get me a ticket back?  Meantime, funds are needed to cover expenses.  If you can help, please hit my GoFundMe page. Thanks!

LW

 

 

At times it seemed you could not walk or drive 100 meters without coming across a monumnet of some sort.  In some stretches, walking was the only way you didn't miss any.  They are well worth seeking out, because each can unlock stories not well known. 

Some really don't need much in the way of translation, or explanation.  Walking down the beach one evening, a memorial caught my eye. 

 

 

I realized that there was a larger group there, and went to explore. 

The entire group can be seen below

This was where a major push had come ashore, and the monuments tell the tale.  Being that this was in the Sword/Gold area, it is no surprise that there were several memorials to British units.

And the centerpiece is fairly plain

But one part told a bit more, a different tale, and a bit of history that I would venture is not well known to many Americans. 

 

I don't think many Americans understand just how large D-Day truly was, and how many nations took part.  It wasn't just the Americans and British, Canadian and Free French.  It was troops from Poland, Greece, and even Norway.  The fight for the beaches took place not only on land, but at sea as well.  The bombers may not have come, nor was there a major fleet action, but those at sea fought too and control of the sea area was not guaranteed. 

 

 

The Germans sent in torpedo boats, their equivalent of PT boats, and they did much more damage than most know.  One bit of that damage was the Norwegian destroyer Svenner.  It was sunk by torpedo attack that day. The anchor was found and recovered in 2003.

Just a bit of history to be found walking down the beach in Normandy 

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe. 

Okay, the Germans built a few thousand bunkers as part of the Atlantic Wall.  Some were log and sandbag; some were reinforced concrete; some were rock and brick; and, a few others made good use of available resources.  However, they lost and the French were left with thousands that were built such that taking them out could/would take out whole neighborhoods.  So, what to do? 

 

 

In this case, someone built a home/apartments into the bunker.  A storm might flood them, but otherwise it is unlikely to take out the core.  Just one of the imaginative uses to which I saw used bunkers put. 

There is more to come, but I apparently shot some 2,500 photos that now need to be processed.  I also shot video, and in addition to needing to upgrade software ($$) I need to learn new software to process it since a computer upgrade took out the easy options (no longer supported, of course).  So, there is more to come, and I will be flooding here and over at LaughingWolf.net in the days ahead.  In fact, if you would like to see some photos of Montmartre, Paris in the early morning, click here.  Also, a tribute to a good man who left us about the time I returned, go here. 

I can't wait to share more of Normandy with you, and hope you will enjoy it.

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe. 

Despite the cold, damp, and high winds, I truly hate to be leaving Normandy.  Only thing I won't miss is the crappy wifi at the camp.  While I begin my travels back to the world, I thought I would leave you with a teaser of some of what is to come.  This is someone you should, and will, know.  He enlisted to fight three times -- at the age of 15.  He then took part in one of the bloodiest fights of the Normandy campaign where he was wounded.  Stand by,there is a LOT more to come. 

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe.