RHH's photos with the keyword: landings

These are some of the concrete caissons used on D-Day and after to form an artificial harbor and piers at Arromanches. The caissons were towed across the English Channel and sunk to form the artificial harbor code-named "Mulberry." The harbor was later wrecked by a storm but part of it can still be seen out at sea and on the beach at Arromanches. Several parts are visible on the horizon just above these beached caissons.

Taken from the beach at Arromanches, where we walked the beach and took photos of the remains of the artificial harbors know as Mulberries, used on D-Day and after.

These are some of the graves at the Normandy American Cemetery near Omaha Beach. Many of the burials were of soldiers killed after D-day but there are 9,385 burials there.

These are a couple more photos of the Normandy American Cemetery near Omaha Beach. Visiting there was an incredibly moving experience.

When we visited the D-day sites at Arromanches we walked the beach and saw there the remains of the artificial harbors used bring in supplies. These harbors were code-named "Mulberries" and were later destroyed by a storm. The remains of one of them are on the beach and out at sea at Arromanches. The photo shows one of the caissons, which were towed across the English Channel on D-day, and which is now on the beach, and another out in the water off the beach. The inset shows the aftermath of a lunch of mussels enjoyed at La Baraka in Arromanches.

When we visited the D-day sites at Arromanches we had lunch at La Baraka, mussels with a glass of cider. My mussels were served with Camembert sauce and were incredibly good.

Taken from the cliffs to the east this is the beach and town of Arromanches-les-Bains. We visited and explored the area and walked the beach on one of the last days we were in Normandy. We finished the day at a cafe, La Baraka, in Arromanches and had a glass of cider and a pot of mussels there. On D-Day, Arromanches was at the center of Gold Beach, one of the British landing beaches and is famous for the artificial harbor that was set up there. The harbor was made of enormous concrete caissons towed across the English Channel and sunk at Arromanches to form the harbor. Remains of the harbor, visible in the photo, destroyed by a storm after D-Day, can still be seen in the water off the cliffs and on the beach.

One of the last places we visited in Normandy was Arromanches, on D-Day the center of Gold Beach, one of the British landing beaches. We explored the area, walked the beach and finished the day with a glass of cider and a bucket of mussels at La Baraka.

The area above Omaha Beach near Pointe du Hoc has been left as it was after the D-Day landings. Pointe du Hoc is a promontory which was taken by the US Army Rangers on D-Day who scaled 35 metre cliffs to take the fortifications there after the landings had stalled. The barbed wire in the photo was protecting a gun emplacement.

Here is the part of Omaha Beach below Pointe du Hoc, the place where the US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to attack the fortifications above after the landings at Omaha Beach had stalled.

Omaha Beach, also known as Bloody Omaha for the many American casualties suffered there, was on its eastern end guarded by 35 metre cliffs and other fortifications. The American landings there stalled and were unable to advance until the Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Point du Hoc and attacked the defenses there. The photos shows the cliffs to the west of Pointe du Hoc.

Pointe du Hoc is a promontory at Omaha Beach, sometimes known as Bloody Omaha, one of the American Beaches on D-Day. The American troops who landed there on D-Day were pinned down and were suffering many casualties because they were unable to scale the 35 metre cliffs above the beaches. After landing parts of two Army Ranger Battalions under the command of Lt. Col. James Rudder made it to the top of the cliffs with ropes and ladders and made it possible for the landings to advance. The memorial is supposed to represent a Ranger dagger thrust through the top of a bunker on the cliffs.

The Normandy-American Cemetery near Colleville-sur-Mer has 9,388 burials, many of soldiers killed after D-day. The cemetery is beautifully kept and overlooks Omaha Beach.

Many soldiers killed on D-Day and thereafter were often first buried with their rifle and helmet as a grave marker. When time allowed they were later reburied in one of the many cemeteries in Normandy and the rest of France. This example is in the visitors' center at the American Cemetery near Omaha Beach.

This restored M4a1 Sherman Tank with the name Cannon Ball II is not the tank, also named "Cannon Ball" that landed at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. That tank was later destroyed in battle. This tank did not land in France until December, 1944, in time for the Battle of the Bulge.

This is the museum at Utah Beach which we visited while in Normandy.

This is the reflecting pool just outside the visitors' center at the American Cemetery near Colleville-sur-Mer and Omaha Beach. We found visiting the D-Day sites and cemeteries to be a very moving and emotional experience.

I believe number on this simple monument at the Omaha Beach visitors' center represents the total number of Allied casualties on D-Day, though the number is disputed and varies widely among experts.