Place de Québec & Bayeux Train Station

Place de Québec is situated just around the corner from The Bayeux Tourist Information Office. On this service, we pick up here at 09:20 for a 09:30 departure [Mon – Fri] and drive to Bayeux’s tiny Train Station (2-3 min. drive), where we make a short 10-minute pitstop to collect clients arriving on the morning train from Paris (appx 09:30).

There are toilet facilities both in Place de Québec and at the station, as well as cafés nearby both locations, for passengers who wish a quick coffee prior to departure (better toilets too!) – should they be present on-site sufficiently early.

Station: Check-in is at 09:35 prompt. The train arrives just next to our parked minibus and Bayeux-based passengers are free to remain on-board, browsing their courtesy D-Day maps!

For passengers already based in Bayeux, a 09:35 check-in at the station is also an alternative. Free parking is also available here.

NB: Don’t forget to print off your free parking ticket (from nearby meter) and to display it too…

1. Bény-sur-Mer : Canadian War Cemetery (optional)

Bény-sur-Mer was created as a permanent resting place for Canadian soldiers who had been temporarily interred in smaller plots close to where they fell. As is usual for war cemeteries or monuments, France granted Canada a perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery. The graves contain soldiers from the 3rd Canadian Division and 15 airmen killed during the Battle of Normandy. The cemetery also includes three British graves and one French grave, for a total of 2048 markers. Bény-sur-Mer also contains the remains of nine sets of brothers. We will make a short stop at the cemetery to pay our respects…

1. Ryes Commonwealth Cemetery (optional)

This small, virtually forgotten cemetery – off the beaten track and surrounded by fields – is situated between Bayeux and Arromanches and is rarely visited by major tour companies or tourists. Beautifully maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission it contains 653 Commonwealth war graves, including one Polish and 335 German. The first interments in the cemetery were made two days after the initial D-Day landings. Some of the soldiers buried here are from the 50th British Northumbrian Infantry Division that landed on Gold Beach. The cemetery also contains a large number of Royal Navy and merchant navy sailors. Two brothers, Private Joseph Casson (Durham Light Infantry) and Marine Robert Casson (45 Commando) are buried beside each other in the graveyard. We will begin our Allied Triangle D-Day Group Tour in this humble place…

2. Canada House : Bernières-sur-Mer

“Within sight of this house over 100 men of the Queen’s Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings”. That stark inscription welcomes visitors at the entrance of a large, timber-framed house overlooking Juno Beach In the village of Bernières-sur-Mer. ‘La Maison des Canadiens,’ or Canada House, is one of the most iconic buildings in Canadian military history. It was one of the first houses liberated by Canadian soldiers on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and has since become a familiar historic landmark, standing in the backdrop of the many black-and-white photographs showing troops landing on the sands of this village in Normandy….At Canada House we will take a closer look at the fierce battle which resulted in heavy losses for the Canadians landing on Juno Beach on D-Day…

3. Charlie-1 Tank & Cosys Bunker WN #31

This Churchill Mk IV AVRE tank was designed to get close to fortifications and blow them up with its mortar. This obstacle-clearing tank called ‘Avenger’, lay hidden under the sand-dunes of Juno beach for 3 decades and was not rediscovered beneath the sand dunes until 1976! Just along the path we will also visit Cosys Bunker, named after Lieutenant W.F. “Cosy” Aitken, who commanded No. 10 Platoon, of B Company, Royal Winnipeg Rifles. On D-Day, his men stormed the bunker and suffered 78% casualties in doing so...

4. Juno Beach Visitor Centre

{*Canadian clients can choose to disembark here at appx 10:30 to enjoy a 50-minute visit. After dropping clients here the remaining clients will stay with their guide and visit #2 & #3 above. Departure from The Juno Centre is at 11:30.

Thanks to a project conceived in the 1990s by a group of Canadian veterans – and spearheaded by veteran Garth Webb and his companion Lise Cooper – the Juno Beach Centre was inaugurated on 6 June 2003 with over one thousand Canadian veterans attending. The museum’s exhibitions, features & photos not only relate the events of D-Day itself, but the story too of life in Canada before the outbreak of the war. It also tells the story of Canada’s civilian and military contribution to the war effort, and of contemporary Canadian society in the decades since World War II. The unique building – designed by Canadian architect Brian K. Chamberlain – is made up of five main points in a single-storey structure, resembling a stylized maple leaf. Just adjacent to the visitor centre there is a ceremonial area, which features a statue entitled Remembrance & Renewal. The museum also houses a temporary exhibition space, which changes approximately once per year and which highlights historic themes & stories relating to Canada past and present. A visit here is considered by many a must for everyone, and especially for all Canadian visitors to Normandy…

5. Gold Beach – Asnelles

Asnelles was heavily bombed by the Allied air forces and the navy at dawn on D-Day. The 1st Hampshire and the Dorsetshire Regiments, supported by the Sherwood Rangers tanks of the 8th Armored Brigade experienced heavy fighting here at the two German Strongpoints WN 36 & WN 37. At this stop we will visit Gold Beach, and if the tide is out we will be able to visit the remains of ‘Port Winston’ – Mulberry Harbour B. Whilst visiting the beach here we will take a brief look at the German strongpoints which inflicted heavy casualties as the Allied soldiers landed here at 07:25 on D-Day…

6. Arromanches – Mulberry Harbour ‘B’

It was on the beach of Arromanches that, during the Invasion of Normandy immediately after D-Day, the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour to allow the unloading of heavy equipment without waiting for the conquest of deep water ports such as Le Havre or Cherbourg. Although at the centre of the Gold Beach landing zone, Arromanches was spared the brunt of the fighting on D-Day so the installation and operation of the port was able to proceed as quickly as possible without damaging the beach and destroying surrounding lines of communication. We will stop for lunch up on the bluff overlooking Arromanches – with the most stunning view of the entire day’s tour laid out before us…

#1: Clients can opt to visit the 360 circular cinema, before makking their way down the bluff – with its amazing views – into Arromanches for lunch-on-the go.

#2. OR clients can opt for a drop-off down in Arromanches where they can visit the Mulberry harbour museum. Arromanches departure 13:15.

7. Longues-sur-Mer German Battery

The anti-naval guns of The German Battery at Longues-sur-Mer were a key element of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. Built on a clifftop overlooking the English Channel and situated right in the heart of the Allied assault sector between Omaha and Gold Beaches, they included a range-finding post and four casemates, each housing a 150-mm gun. Despite numerous Allied air raids in the night of 5th June 1944, the battery was still operational on the morning of 6th June. On our visit to this UNESCO World Heritage site, you will be able to go inside the casemates themselves, and we will discover why it took the Allies until June 7th to force its surrender…

8. Normandy Colleville American Cemetery

On June 8, 1944, the U.S. First Army established the temporary cemetery, the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. After the war, the present-day cemetery was established a short distance to the east of the original site. Come and honour the graves of our fallen Heroes, discover the gold-embossed gravestones of the three Medal of Honour recipients – listen to some stories from their lives – and peruse the wall of the missing upon which are engraved the names of 1557 servicemen never recovered…

9. Saint Laurent-sur-Mer – Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops of the First Division nicknamed ‘The Big Red One’. However faced with the 12,020 experienced combat troops of the German 352nd Infantry Division, the battle-hardened 1st Infantry Division had its work cut out. During this memorable visit you’ll find out why nothing here went according to plan on D-Day. Thus we shall discover how ‘Bloody Omaha’ earned its name…

10. Vierville-sur-Mer – Omaha Beach {‘Saving Private Ryan}

On D-Day at 06:30, the U.S. Army’s 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division, along with units of the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions,  landed on Omaha Beach, below Vierville-sur-Mer. The 29th Division & The Rangers suffered extremely heavy losses in the very first few minutes. On this stop you’ll find out how the courageous soldiers persevered on ‘Bloody Omaha’, and how in the face of all odds and at the prospect of certain death, they finally cut through the formidable German defenses.

11. Pointe-du-Hoc

Pointe-du-Hoc, a 100ft promontory cliff overlooking the English Channel on the coast of Normandy in northern France was heavily fortified with concrete casemates and gun pits and protected by the German 352nd Infantry Division. On D-Day the United States Army Ranger Assault Group under lieutenant colonel James E. Rudder assaulted and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. Disabling the six 155mm guns there was crucial to the successful completion of the Allied Land Invasion. There was however a cruel surprise in store for Colonel Rudder’s men…

Bayeux Train Station 18:00

As we will have clients on board the bus who are Paris-bound, it is absolutely imperative that we depart our last stop on schedule at 17:25 and so we ask all clients to be mindful of this when regrouping at the end of the final site visit. During our relaxing drive back to the station you will have 35 minutes to reflect on the day’s touring and have a casual chat with your Guide. We always appreciate feedback about your D-Day experience and welcome any last-minute questions. Please do not hesitate to let your driver know if we can be of any further assistance. Thank you for choosing NormandyONtour.