D-Day Landings, Sword Beach and Pegasus Bridge

 

 

Unused.  Bought March 2009 in Ouistreham.

Circuit des plages du débarquement en Normandie
6 juin 1944
Normandy Landing Beaches
Le secteur Sword Beach
Sword beach sector.

Unused.  Bought March 2009 in Ouistreham.

Circuit des plages du débarquement en Normandie
6 juin 1944
Normandy Landing Beaches
Le secteur de Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge Sector.

Whenever we travel from England to France via the Portsmouth - Ouistreham route, we pass both these D-Day landing sites.  Sword Beach was the 8 mile coastal stretch from Ouistreham to St Aubin, Pegasus Bridge was the bridge crossing the Caen canal between Caen and Ouistreham.  The whole area, all over Normandy, is full of memorials to the war and the D-Day Landings, a very sobering sight.

Today is the 65th anniversary of those landings, with  fewer and fewer veterans attending each year. The main British memorial event will take place at the Arromanches beaches, where thousands of UK and Canadian troops came ashore on 6 June 1944, and during the following days.  The main commemorative event is being held at the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer near Omaha Beach.