Before heading down to see the Omaha and Juno beaches, we went to a cliff area on a point of land called “Pointe du Hoc”. The point overlooks both the Omaha and Utah Beaches.  We walked along a trail that brought us to the Pointe du Hoc. There on the cliff was the remains of fortified bunkers and lookouts built by the Germans.

This point of land high on the cliffs provided the Germans an excellent vantage point to see Allies advance in the Atlantic.

The ground on the point was heavily damaged with craters caused by the bombings from the Allies during the D-Day operations. It was amazing to see just how big the craters were from the bombs.

It was a moving experience walking through the area, imagining what had transpired on June 6, 1944, when US Army Rangers scaled the 90-foot cliffs to capture this strategic and well-defended point of land. In total, a 150 US Rangers reached the top and seized their objective against machine guns and grenades. The US Rangers then had to fight to defend their position against repeated counter-attacks by the Germans.  It took two days for reinforcements to arrive on June 8th. and during that time 60 Rangers had perished defending their position. This heroic act helped to provide the needed foothold for the allied forces. This became the start of the liberation of France.

We walked through some of the old bunkers and could easily see the damage caused by bombs and gunfire.

We went to explore one of the main fortified bunkers on the Pointe du Hoc. The bunker had only one entrance/exit from the complex and it was strategically designed to be impenetrable.

Once at the entrance landing,  there was a hallway immediately to the left of the door with a machine gun post in a small opening. There was also a machine gun post at the base of the stair that could shoot the lower area of any advancing soldiers.

Anyone trying to gain entry would have been shot before getting to the reinforced door of the bunker.

We went inside a fortified bunker system and were immediately struck by the sheer size of the complex. There were rooms for ammunition, rooms for personnel and other rooms for communications etc.

We walked through the bunker in a quiet and somber manner. There was a plaque located on the wall inside the entrance that listed the US Rangers who died trying to secure the Pointe du Hoc.

We went through different rooms in the bunker and imagined what had transpired on D-Day. It is not hard to imagine what happened to the bunker when it was attacked. The ceiling throughout the entire bunker system was burnt. We can only imagine that flamethrowers were used against the bunker.

Once we finished exploring the bunker we walked around the outside of the bunker. There was a series of trenches and other machine gun bunkers all along the cliffs.

The view of the gun slots in the bunker that rained terror on Allied ships and personnel advance on the beaches of Normandy.

We spend several hours walking around the bunker system and exploring this historic battle site of WWII. It was an emotional and amazing experience, all at the time.

“Au revoir et passez un bon jour”