Wandering In England & France Part 16 ( Arromanches & Longues-sur-Mer)

From Juno Beach we drove through some pretty French countryside, taking a few side roads that led to dirt trails used by the local farmers where we discovered some out of the way places with wonderful sea views.and bright yellow field of canola. We reached Arromanche where the British forces landed (Gold Beach). We could see close up remnants of the artificial port  built after the sections were towed over from England to ease and speed up the unload process so Allied troops could be supplied after breaking out from Normandy.

Arromanches

Between Gold Beach and Omaha Beach we came across the well preserved German gun battery at Lomgues-sur-Mer, a group of four reinforced concrete pill boxes each housing a long range field artillery piece of 150mm. This battery was subjected to intense bombardment by air and sea and you can see the damage the Allies inflicted, the chunks of concrete blown away and crater holes all about these massive guns. Three of the four guns were disabled by the British cruisers Ajax and Argonaut and the Germans surrendered  to the British the next day. It had turned out to be quite the day and we returned to Caen shortly after, planning to visit Bayeux the next day.   gws