Visit in just a few hours the most remarkable and moving sites around Omaha Beach. You will have the opportunity during this tour of walking on this famous beach. It was in this sector that the Allies suffered the heaviest casualties of D-Day, earning the beach the nickname of “Bloody Omaha”. As well as this, you will see the impressive site of the German gun battery at Pointe du Hoc, where the Rangers famously scaled the 100-foot cliffs to destroy the battery that should have been in place. You will also experience the American Cemetery where the young soldiers who died for their country and for the freedom of Western Europe are buried at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking the eastern end of Omaha Beach itself.

Re-live on this exceptional site the exploits of the 2nd Battalion of the US Rangers. After having scaled the 100-foot cliffs, under heavy enemy fire, the Rangers pushed on through this lunar landscape to capture and destroy the 6 heavy guns capable of firing their shells to a maximum range of nearly 15 miles. Colonel Rudder and his men only realised upon capturing the battery that the Germans, under the orders of Rommel, had moved the guns half a mile inland and hidden them while bunkers were being constructed to protect them. The taking of Pointe du Hoc was a long and laborious fight, with the Rangers being left to fend for themselves two days longer than had been planned. The 2nd Battalion suffered very heavy casualties during the two and a half days they were at Pointe du Hoc, only 90 of the original 225 still fighting when they were finally relieved.

Approximately 34 000 soldiers of the famous 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landed on this beach on D-Day. The beach was covered in anti-tank and anti-landing craft obstacles. Nearly all of the pre-invasion bombardment had missed the fortifications along the beach and the geography of the beach itself, consisting of 80 to 100-foot bluffs rising up from the shore, was very easily defendable terrain for the Germans. One of the only good quality front line Infantry Divisions available to the Germans was also present on the beach, purely by coincidence. This made the assault the most difficult of all the beaches on D-Day, earning the nickname “Bloody Omaha”. Only a few days after the landings, the Americans had transformed nearly the entire beach into a vast artificial harbour, code named “Mulberry A”. It was used for less than a week before it was destroyed in a very heavy storm between the 19th and 22nd of June 1944. There is only one piece of this harbour left to be seen today.

Overlooking the eastern end of Omaha Beach, the American cemetery holds the bodies of 9 387 soldiers who came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to liberate Western Europe from the Germans. This immense place of memory and reflexion will impress you with its calm and serenity. You can see the graves of some of the 307 unknown soldiers or visit the resting places of the more famous, such as the Niland brothers, the family who inspired the film “Saving Private Ryan” as well as the three Medals of Honor winners, one of whom is General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Re-live in a few hours the D-Day landing of the british troops on Gold Beach, North East of Bayeux. They were the first british soldiers to land in Normandy on June 6th 1944 at 7.25am. At the end of this crucial day, most of the objectives of those 25 000 soldiers were successfully done, such as the liberation of Arromanches, the connection with the canadian forces landed on Juno to the East, and finally the approach of Bayeux and the precious National Road 13. You will discover in a few kilometer distance various aspects of the Battle of Normandy with the unique and almost intact german gun battery of Longues-sur-Mer, but also one of the most ambitious projects in the military history through the artificial harbour of Arromanches. Finally, you will take part of History thanks to the striking and moving 360° film, a very original way to truly understand the tremendous day of D-Day and the historical Battle of Normandy.

The battery at Longues-sur-Mer was composed of four guns of 152 mm calibre, capable of firing shells to a maximum range of 15 miles, allowing them to reach not only Omaha Beach, 8 miles to the west, but also the British landing zone of Gold Beach, 5 miles to the east. The Allies had tried to knock out this battery with aerial bombardment leading up to the landings, but it was not until D-Day itself that the guns were finally silenced by the off-shore Allied Navies. The damage inflicted on the guns themselves can still clearly be seen today. The battery at Longues-sur-Mer is the only gun battery in France that still has the original cannon in the bunkers, untouched since 1944.

Realising the difficulties of capturing intact an enemy held port, the British, under Churchill, opted for the mammoth task of building two artificial harbours, one for the American 1st Army at Omaha, the other for the British 2nd Army at Gold. However, following a very severe storm lasting from the 19th to the 22nd of June 1944 which completely destroyed the American Mulberry harbour, the British artificial port at Arromanches was left alone as the main supplied channel for all of the equipment needed by the Allied soldiers fighting in Normandy.

Re-live for twenty minutes the difficult day of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Experience the advance of the Allies to the liberation of Paris as the soldiers did in 1944. This moving film is a great way to round off the unforgettable day that you will have had with us while visiting the beaches.

The picturesque and peaceful seaside resort of Asnelles went through some disturbing events in the morning of D-Day observing the first British soldiers landing on the Normandy coast at 7.25 am. The fightings were pitiless until the definitive liberation of the village around noon. Unfortunately, the ennemy really settled in Normandy and the british troops still had to neutralise the different coastal fortifications such as Le Hamel to go on the paths of liberty.

This complete tour of the Omaha Beach sector will allow you to understand the difficulties facing the American troops who assaulted this part of the Normandy coast. Because of the huge losses suffered by the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions during the landing, this beach earned its infamous nickname “Bloody Omaha”. As well as this, you will see the impressive long-range fortified heavy gun battery that was on the western side of the beach at Pointe du Hoc, capable of inflicting great damage on the Allied forces. The history of this landing is very well explained using archive photographs and maps in the Omaha Beach Museum at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, as well as having examples of the American and Axis material and equipment used during the battle. You will also experience the American Cemetery where the young soldiers who died for their country and for the freedom of Western Europe are buried at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach itself. Finally, you will find the sobering German Cemetery of La Cambe a stark contrast to the American Cemetery, where over 21 000 German soldiers are laid to rest.

Re-live on this exceptional site the exploits of the 2nd Battalion of the US Rangers. After having scaled the 100-foot cliffs, under heavy enemy fire, the Rangers pushed on through this lunar landscape to capture and destroy the 6 heavy guns capable of firing their shells to a maximum range of nearly 15 miles. Colonel Rudder and his men only realised upon capturing the battery that the Germans, under the orders of Rommel, had moved the guns half a mile inland and hidden them while bunkers were being constructed to protect them. The taking of Pointe du Hoc was a long and laborious fight, with the Rangers being left to fend for themselves two days longer than had been planned. The 2nd Battalion suffered very heavy casualties during the two and a half days they were at Pointe du Hoc, only 90 of the original 225 still fighting when they were finally relieved.

Approximately 34 000 soldiers of the 1st, 2nd and 29th Infantry Divisions landed on this beach on D-Day. The beach was covered in anti-tank and anti-landing craft obstacles. Nearly all of the pre-invasion bombardment had missed the fortifications along the beach and the geography of the beach itself, consisting of 80 to 100-foot bluffs rising up from the shore, was very easily defendable terrain for the Germans. One of the only good quality front line Infantry Divisions available to the Germans was also present on the beach, purely by coincidence. This made the assault the most difficult of all the beaches on D-Day, earning the nickname “Bloody Omaha”. Only a few days after the landings, the Americans had transformed nearly the entire beach into a vast artificial harbour, code named “Mulberry A”. It was used for less than a week before it was destroyed in a very heavy storm between the 19th and 22nd of June 1944. There is only one piece of this harbour left to be seen today.

The Omaha Beach Museum, situated at one of the strategic beach exits, code named “Dog 3” on D-Day, has on display a large collection of uniforms, vehicles and arms of all calibers as well as one of the types of landing craft used during the landings. Numerous photographs and maps illustrate very well the German defences on Omaha, the American assault as well as the artificial port which was set up here to supply the Forces landed in France in the American sectors. You can also see examples of the military equipment lost by both sides on the beach and inland, which is still being found by locals today.

Overlooking the eastern end of Omaha Beach, the American cemetery holds the bodies of 9 387 soldiers who came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to liberate Western Europe from the Germans. This immense place of memory and reflexion will impress you with its calm and serenity. You can see the graves of some of the 307 unknown soldiers or visit the resting places of the more famous, such as the Niland brothers, the family who inspired the film “Saving Private Ryan” as well as the three Medals of Honor winners, one of whom is General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

The main German Military Graveyard in Normandy, this cemetery initially started out as one of a number of temporary American cemeteries. Between the end of the war and 1947, the American bodies were transferred to the Cemetery at Omaha or back to the United States. After coming in through the narrow entrance you emerge into the very somber surroundings of this place. There are more than 21 000 soldiers buried here who paid with their life for Hitler’s order to “Never Retreat, Never Surrender”. When face-to-face with these casualties of war, it will allow you to think of the German as well as the Allied losses of the Second World War.

This tour retraces the main assaults undertaken by the British forces during the first few days of the Battle of Normandy on the eastern side of the Operation Overlord. In addition to the landing in Ouistreham on Sword Beach, you will also visit the famous site of Pegasus Bridge, captured just after midnight on D-Day by elements of the 6th Airborne Division and the Hillman Bunker complex located near Colleville-Montgomery, the town named after the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in his honour. You will also honor some of those who lost their lives in Normandy visiting one of the too numerous Commonwealth Cemetery, the one in Hermanville. The tour will end in Creully, charming village which held in 1944 not only the studios of the BBC but also the headquarter of General Montgomery.

The capture of Pegasus Bridge and its sister bridge nearby by elements of the 6th Airborne Division was the most complete and successful operation carried out on D-Day. It was vital for these bridges to be captured intact in order to deny the Germans a crossing point over the Orne river and canal, which together run parallel to the sea from Caen. This kept this important artery open to the British to ensure the successful securing of the eastern flank of the Allied landings in Normandy. The inhabitants of Bénouville, the village that sits beside the bridge, were the first French civilians to be liberated on the morning of the 6th of June. Just after midnight, the gliders under the command of Major John Howard landed less than fifty yards from their targets allowing the men contained in them to take possession of the bridges with a minimum of casualties and destruction. The paratroopers held their position despite numerous enemy counter-attacks until they were joined by British troops advancing south from Sword Beach just after midday on D-Day. The Museum at Pegasus Bridge shows not only the assaults undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division but the landing of the troops on Sword Beach as well. You can also see a full sized replica of the Horsa gliders used in the attack as well as a Bailey bridge and the original Pegasus Bridge itself which no longer spans the canal.

Starting at half past seven in the morning, the first of 28 000 soldiers to come ashore on this beach landed to start the liberation of Western Europe. With them were the 177 Free French soldiers serving under Commandant Philippe Kieffer. They were the only French soldiers to be involved in the assaults on D-Day. One of the first tasks allotted to the forces here was the destruction of a German artillery battery composed of five 155mm cannon and other associated German defences near the beach as well as the famous Casino which had been heavily fortified and to capture what is now called by the locals “Le Grand Bunker”, a massive German fortification over 5 storeys high. After having achieved this, the 3rd British Infantry Division was to push rapidly inland to surround the town of Caen from the east. Although the British forces had attained nearly all of their D-Day objectives by nightfall, they had failed in their most important task which was the encirclement and capture of Caen in conjunction with the Canadians forces landed on Juno. 

Found a couple of miles inland from Sword Beach, the fortifications that made up the Hillman complex are just outside the village of Colleville-Montgomery, known prior to 1944 as Colleville-sur-Orne. On the 7th of June, the Germans here finally gave up to the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. The different bunkers, used as a German command post, are now cared for by the Association of the Friends of the Suffolk Regiment.

Located in the heart of the Normand countryside at the entrance of Sword Beach, the Commonwealth Cemetery of Hermanville holds the bodies of 1 005 soldiers, mostly English young men, but also Canadians, Australians and French, all of them killed in the terrible fightings in the British sectors. You will always remember the moving epitaphs written by the families themselves who lost their sons, their husbands or their brothers in Normandy in the Summer 1944, especially in the first weeks after the invasion.

The inhabitants of Creully took part of History being witnesses, on June 6th 1944, of the 1st junction between the Canadians and the British, essential mission for the liberation of the area of Caen and the airport of Carpiquet. They also had the honor of housing the headquarter of Bernard Law Montgomery in the Chateau de Creullet. In the heights of the village, the medieval castle of Creully was for a few months the shelter of the BBC studios transmitting the information about the advance of the Allied Troops all along the Battle of Normandy.

Just before 8 o’clock in the morning of June 6 1944, 21 400 soldiers, of whom 14 000 were Canadian, under the command of General KELLER, landed on Juno Beach. Re-live the pitiless battles fought by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in the different villages between the beaches and the town of Caen and visit those who remain here buried in the soil of France, in the military cemeteries where these soldiers are honoured.

The only museum in the Canadian sector, the Juno Beach Center retraces the implementation of the Canadian Army during the fighting in Europe. It concentrates on the Second World War, most notably the Raid on Dieppe in August 1942 as well as the landings up to the closure of the Falaise Pocket and the advance of the Canadian Army up through Belgium, Holland and into Germany.

Located in the heart of Juno beach, the fishing and leisure port of Courseulles-sur-Mer was liberated by the Canadian forces in the early morning of D-Day. The town and its inhabitants, still very grateful to the soldiers who came from overseas to free them from the Germans, are nowadays taking care of the numerous monuments honoring the different regiments involved in the liberation of the Courseulles area. A large and high Cross of Lorraine is also overlooking Juno between Courseulles and Graye-sur-Mer to remember the landing of Charles de Gaulle on the 14th of June 1944.

See at Bernières the sector of Juno Beach where the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada and le Regiment de La Chaudière landed on the 6th of June 1944. This sector is very special for the Quebecois who, for the most part, had come to liberate the home of their ancestors. You will see along the length of the beach the remains of the defences built by the Germans, and especially “the Hotel”, the famous house seen in so many newsreel clips of the landings, known now as “The Canadian House”.

The Canadian cemetery at Bény-Reviers is situated inland from Juno Beach between Bernières and Courseulles. 2 048 soldiers are buried in the cemetery, they are all Canadian except for 4 English and 1 French soldiers who rest there. All of these young Canadians who died for the liberty of Europe still show us today, more than 60 years later, a lesson of courage and commitment to duty.

The airport of Carpiquet was one of the objectives for the Allies on D-Day but it was not liberated before the 9th of July by the Canadian troops after almost a month of heavy and merciless fightings against the Hitlerjugend including five days in Carpiquet itself. You will discover some monuments and streets dedicated to some Canadian regiments who fought hard to give the locals their liberty back after having been really involved in this no-end conflict themself. One of the last remains of the German fortifications around the aerodrome of Carpiquet can still be seen next to the main entrance of the modern airport.

A masterpiece of architectural design dating from the 12th century, this Norman Abbey was, in the early years of the German occupation, a focal point for the local French Resistance. But situated between the strategic points of Caen and Carpiquet airfield, the Abbey was fortified and used by the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division as their headquarters during the early part of the Battle of Normandy. Its unfortunate reputation nowadays, however, is as the site of execution of Canadian prisoners of war by the child soldiers of the Hitler Youth Division.

This day long tour is, without a doubt, the most complete tour offered to give you an idea of all of the aspects of the landings on D-Day. This excursion will take you out of the fiction of the films that have been made about the Battle of Normandy and will show you the true stories behind what happened here on June 6th in 1944. Neither Omaha nor Utah Beach will hold any secrets for you after the end of the day. You will discover everything from the church in Sainte-Mère-Eglise where the paratrooper, John Steele, got caught on the steeple to the sobering experience of the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, as well as one of the most interesting and remarkable sites that you will see, the Pointe du Hoc, where 225 Rangers climbed cliffs over a 100-feet high to capture and destroy the artillery battery installed there and fortified by the Germans.

During the night of the 5th and 6th of June 1944, more than 16 000 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed behind Utah Beach to assist the seaborne landings. Navigational errors meant that although most of the troops were dropped near their landing zones, a lot more were dropped up to 25 miles off course. By getting caught on the church steeple, John Steele ensured the lasting fame of the village, being immortalised in the film “ The Longest Day “. These landings are now commemorated in two of the stained-glass windows now to be seen in the church of Sainte-Mère-Eglise.

This museum holds numerous uniforms and objects of equipment used principally by the American Airborne Forces, including things found on the Battlefields behind Utah Beach. You will have a chance to see one of the fragile Waco gliders used by the American forces, exhibited in one part of the museum and a C-47 transport plane used on the 6th of June 1944 to bring both paratroopers and a glider to Normandy from England. There are also numerous photographs and films of the Allied troops in France shown in the museum.

The first beach secured by the Allies in the early hours of Operation Overlord, Utah Beach is best known for both its light casualties and its famous commander, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, son of the President of the same name. Before the landings started, the Germans had already dispatched their best troops to the interior away from the beach to look for the paratroopers that had been dropped earlier. As a result of this, the troops of General Barton’s 4th Division faced only very light resistance. At the site of La Madeleine, the center of the landings on Utah, you can see the remains of the German bunkers as well as various different pieces of Allied equipment beside the monuments to the American divisions who opened the “Road of Liberty”.

Re-live on this exceptional site the exploits of the 2nd Battalion of the US Rangers. After having scaled the 100-foot cliffs, under heavy enemy fire, the Rangers pushed on through this lunar landscape to capture and destroy the 6 heavy guns capable of firing their shells to a maximum range of nearly 15 miles. Colonel Rudder and his men only realised upon capturing the battery that the Germans, under the orders of Rommel, had moved the guns half a mile inland and hidden them while bunkers were being constructed to protect them. The taking of Pointe du Hoc was a long and laborious fight, with the Rangers being left to fend for themselves two days longer than had been planned. The 2nd Battalion suffered very heavy casualties during the two and a half days they were at Pointe du Hoc, only 90 of the original 225 still fighting when they were finally relieved.

Approximately 34 000 soldiers of the famous 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landed on this beach on D-Day. The beach was covered in anti-tank and anti-landing craft obstacles. Nearly all of the pre-invasion bombardment had missed the fortifications along the beach and the geography of the beach itself, consisting of 80 to 100-foot bluffs rising up from the shore, was very easily defendable terrain for the Germans. One of the only good quality front line Infantry Divisions available to the Germans was also present on the beach, purely by coincidence. This made the assault the most difficult of all the beaches on D-Day, earning the nickname “Bloody Omaha”. Only a few days after the landings, the Americans had transformed nearly the entire beach into a vast artificial harbour, code named “Mulberry A”. It was used for less than a week before it was destroyed in a very heavy storm between the 19th and 22nd of June 1944. There is only one piece of this harbour left to be seen today.

Overlooking the eastern end of Omaha Beach, the American cemetery holds the bodies of 9 387 soldiers who came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to liberate Western Europe from the Germans. This immense place of memory and reflexion will impress you with its calm and serenity. You can see the graves of some of the 307 unknown soldiers or visit the resting places of the more famous, such as the Niland brothers, the family who inspired the film “Saving Private Ryan” as well as the three Medals of Honor winners, one of whom is General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Realising the difficulties of capturing intact an enemy held port, the British, under Churchill, opted for the mammoth task of building two artificial harbours, one for the American 1st Army at Omaha, the other for the British 2nd Army at Gold. However, following a very severe storm lasting from the 19th to the 22nd of June 1944 which completely destroyed the American Mulberry harbour, the British artificial port at Arromanches was left alone as the main supplied channel for all of the equipment needed by the Allied soldiers fighting in Normandy.

Re-live for twenty minutes the difficult day of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Experience the advance of the Allies to the liberation of Paris as the soldiers did in 1944. This moving film is a great way to round off the unforgettable day that you will have had with us while visiting the beaches.