Below is David's account of his first day tour of Normandy:
I began the tour at 9:00 a.m. with Christophe Rault, the same guide I used last year with a group of friends for the D-Day overview. Today I visited 15 sights involving activities of paratroopers and glider infantry troops. Of course I can't go into detail on everything I visited as I would clobber several pages of Julia's blog; I will only tell you about a few things. The mission of American, British, and Canadian paratroopers was to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the landing beaches when they landed in the early morning hours before D-Day. One such place was at an 11th Century Viking manor and farm next to a bridge of the same vintage, named La Fiere Bridge; fiere means proud in French. The manor was owned by Mrs. Poisson (Mrs. Fish) at the time. A garrison of about 50 Germans held the manor and the American paratroopers needed to get the manor to hold the bridge. Of course, terrible fighting broke out. The Vikings made thick walls so it provided great protection for the Germans. After pitched gun battles and American attacks, the Germans surrendered, putting out the white flag. The Americans approached and several were cut down from some of the other buildings. You can imagine there was hell to pay after this incident and more were killed on each side and the American paratroopers eventually prevailed. Shortly after the Americans secured the manor, four German tanks and accompanying infantry approached the bridge from the far side. Two, two-man bazooka teams on each side of the bridge wait for the tanks as they approach. A German tank commander stands up out of the turret to see what he can see. At that moment an American shoots him and the German commander falls back on top of the turret and the bullet fire storm starts. One American bazooka team is knocked out right away. The second team, on the left, jumps out, uncovered, and knocks out two tanks. This is an incredible feat considering they are exposed to the enemy tanks and infantry. When I saw how close they were to the tanks, it made me shiver. A light American artillery piece that has just been brought up in the rear and set up, knocks out the third tank, but is hit simultaneously by that tank, killing the paratrooper's colonel. For now the paratroopers have held the La Fiere bridge. Later General Galvin, who led all paratroopers and who fought through all of Europe said he believed the fighting at La Fiere was the most violent he had seen anywhere.
One thing that amazes me as I walk around the sights in Normandy. There is bullet and shell damage everywhere. Chunks are missing from walls, wrought iron fences are cut and bent, artillery shells are imbedded in walls, and gun pits and trenches still exist. At Marmienville Farm for example, the place where the first newsreels from the D-Day landing came from. You may remember the still picture of a group of paratroopers holding up a flag of a swastika; it was being held by a bespectacled paratrooper. Anyway, at that farm there is a barn still being used today to store rolls of hay that has a German concrete bunker attached to it. The French intend to leave everything as it is and many, many of the same families live in the homes whose parents or grandparents lived in them during the invasion. Oh and the Viking manor that I mentioned at La Fiere bridge is now a beautiful B&B owed by a French husband and American wife team.
The above is an account of a very small part of what I saw on Monday's tour. The tour lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Looking forward to tomorrow's tour!
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