W W II

The Normandy beaches that made up the D Day landing zones are places of both great beauty and interest and while the excellent books on the subject can meet the interest, it is only being there that you can appreciate the huge, complicated and ultimately successful endeavour undertaken by the Allies on 6 June 1944.  It is while standing on one of the vantage points above Arromanches-les-Bains or Omaha that the scale of the operation becomes clear and the years of planning pri

In the centre of Bernièrs-sur-Mer there is an Inukshuk which was erected by the town hall in memory of First National Canadians who died during the D-Day landings. 359 Canadian soldiers died on Juno Beach that day, and it is believed that 33 of them were First National Canadians. (First Nations are one of three recognised Indigenous Peoples in Canada, along with Inuit and Métis, and include Status and non-Status Indians.) Accompanying the structure are the words ‘Inushuk, mad

Squadron Leader JJ (Chris) Le Roux As well as being one of the best preserved of the Atlantik Wall fortifications, and well worth a visit to see the perfection position it held between Omaha and Gold beaches, the battery at Longues-sur-Mer is also home to Advanced Landing Ground B11, which the allies had operational by 26 June 1944, a mere 19 days after taking the battery itself. It was from this airfield that South African pilot Jacobus Johannes Le Roux, as commander of the