We stopped at a military war grave cemetery that was located in Saint-Germain-du-Perth, France. The WWII cemetery was established for the German soldiers killed during the war. The cemetery called “La Cambe Military Cemetery” contains in excess of 21,000 German soldiers.
Gate to the cemetery
The cemetery was fairly modest in appearance and subdued. We entered through an arched gate into a cemetery with rows of flat headstones. There was a row of five stone crosses spaced in between the rows of headstones.
Flat headstones in the cemetery
At the center of the cemetery, there was a circular mound with a monument at the top.
Central mound in Cambe cemetery
We walked to the central monument and went up the stair to the top.
Stairs to the top of the monument in Cambe cemetery
From the top of the monument, we could see the entire cemetery.
View from the top of the monument in Cambe cemetery.
It was a somber experience walking through the cemetery.
“The soldiers’ graves are the greatest preachers of peace” -Albert Schweitzer
We arrived in Caen and began our journey along some of the WWII routes. Our first stop was at a small bridge at Benouville which was an important part of the D-Day operations. There were two bridges that were the key to moving troops and supplies forward once the Allies reached Normandy. One was in Ranville and the other in Benouville.
Bridge at Benouville, France
The operation code-named “Pegasus” was to capture the two bridges and secure them until the Allies arrived. The bridges were fortified with machine guns.
One of the German Machine Guns used to protect the bridge
At 00:16 minutes after midnight on June 6, 1944, gliders with 30 soldiers of the 6th British Airborne landed behind enemy lines near the bridge of Benouville. They fought the Germans to control the bridges and were able to cut the leads to explosive charges that had been set by the Germans. They then defended the bridge from the Germans until reinforcements arrived at approximately 3 a.m.
We walked along the “Pegasus trail” near the riverbank looking at the bridge and trying to imagine what transpired here so many years ago.
View of Pegasus trail in Benouville, France
Along the trail, there were monuments identifying the battle and the soldiers involved in the operation.
Allied Flags and monuments on the “Pegasus Trail”Statue and Monument of Major J. Howard who led the operation Pegasus and captured the Bridge
We walked the trail and looked at the monuments and plaques.
Ray and Shelley at the Monument at Benouville Bridge in France
It was one of the many operations during the war that were not well-known but had a major impact on the outcome of the D-Day operations. It was an interesting site.
We took a ferry called “Mont St. Michel” across the English Channel to Caen France. The ferry was named after the Normandy town of Mont St Michel. The ferry is quite large and can hold up to 2,200 passengers and has vehicle storage of over 2km long.
We were taking the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen.
Map of the trip across the English Channel
This was our first overnight ferry and didn’t know what to expect. We boarded the ferry around 8 pm and was surprised at the quality of the ship. We walked throughout the ship exploring the different areas. It was more like a cruise ship in some aspects with a games room for children, shops and a disco bar for the adults. There were even two cinema theaters on the ferry.
One of the lounge areas on the ferryLobby in front of one of the cinemas on the ferry
We went to the upper decks of the ship and explored the outside areas. We found an outside patio that provided a great view from the upper deck.
Outside patio area on the ferry
We went to the highest deck and admired the view.
Shelley, Anne, Jim and Ray on the top deck of the ferry
We watched the vehicles loading onto the ferry. It was astounding how many vehicles boarded the ferry.
Vehicles loading into the ferry
After exploring the ferry we headed back to our cabin. We were surprised at the cabin and how comfortable the room was.
Cabin accommodations on the ferry
There was an a la carte restaurant, called “Les Romantiques.”
Restaurant on the ferry
We enjoyed breakfast before disembarking in Caen, France.
We took a World War One and World War Two Battlefield tour with a company called Trafalgar. The bus tour began in London and would finish in Amsterdam after fourteen days. The tour followed some of the major routes of WW I and WW II. After touring London for two days and seeing some of the sites including the Imperial War Museum we headed to Portsmouth, England.
Trafalgar bus coach tour of WWI & WWII sites
We enjoyed the two-hour drive to Portsmouth watching the scenery along the way.
View on our way to Portsmouth, England
We arrived at the Portsmouth historic dockyard. There we explored the historic location which was part of the launch of D-Day’s “Operation Overloard” that occurred on June 6, 1944.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard location of part of the D-Day Launch
We went to the ship building school and a dockyard area where ships were being repaired. We walked through the school looking at different aspects of ship building.
Examples of some of the ships under construction by students at the school.
There were displays explaining aspects of ship building. There was also some interactive activities. One activity was to crank a wheel and race your boat against other people to the finish line.
Boat race display at Museum
There was an area that had a rowing competition activity.
Shelley and Anne in rowing competition at Museum
There was even a station where you could climb the mast of a ship. We decided to skip that activity.
Station set up for people to climb a mast in the Museum
After the Museum we took a short boat cruise around the marina which provided us with some great views of Portsmouth Harbor.
Ray, Shelley, Jim, and Anne waiting for the boat cruise through the Marina
The views of the harbor from the boat cruise were very impressive.
The view from boat cruise in the harbor at Portsmouth
On the cruise, we saw several warships docked in the harbor.
Plastic hull minesweeper designed to locate minesBritish warship docked in Portsmouth Harbor
We came to the 558 feet high Spinnaker Tower located in the harbor. The tower was built originally as a millennium project, however, ended up costing £36 million pounds, £12 million pounds over budget. The tower was not completed until 2005 almost six years later than it was scheduled to be completed.
Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth Harbor
Portsmouth was an interesting city and was a very important part of WW II. We enjoyed our time there and saw some very interesting things.
We went to the Imperial War Museum in London and spent several hours exploring the museum. There were exhibits from World War One, through to modern-day conflicts.
Ray at the entrance to the Imperial War Museum in London England
We went into the museum through a large pillar entranceway which opened up into a large interior view of the five floors of museum exhibits.
The view from inside the entrance to the Museum
There were original planes and rockets suspended in the air in the central area of the museum. One airplane that was highlighted was the “Spitfire” which is a British single-seat fighter aircraft. It was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during World War II.
Spitfire on display in the Imperial War Museum
We walked through the museum and started with the world war one displays and worked our way to the current conflicts in the world. There was an enormous amount of information on each war and also artifacts from each period.
Tank on display in museum
We stayed in the World War two exhibits area of the museum for the longest period of time. We saw artifacts from that period and read about the WWII in detail.
We saw items from vehicles, guns, articles of propaganda to clothing and documents from the war. The overall detail of the museum was amazing.
The Iron Eagle on display was removed from the Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin by the Soviets. That afternoon Hitler committed Suicide in his bunker under the Reich Chancellery.
Iron Eagle from the Reichstag Building in Berlin 1945
There was an American airman jacket which had the B-17 Flying Fortress insignia “Leading Lady” on it. This airman was from the 364 Bombardment squadron which carried out 35 bombing missions.
An American Airman’s Jacket from World War Two
General Montgomery was in command of the Eight Army in Egypt in August 1942. He would visit him men in his Humber Staff Car.
General Montgomery’s Humber staff car 1942
We also came to a section of the museum which was focused on the Holocaust. The museum exhibit focused on the Nazi persecution and murder of Jewish people in Europe from 1933 to 1945. We walked through the exhibit and it was sad to see the belongings of Jews which were killed in concentration camps.
Shoes from the concentration camp
The horror of the war is visible in the exhibits and stirs emotions of sadness and grief.
After viewing the exhibits we went outside to admire the monuments and gardens at the museum. The front of the museum was lined with beautiful flowers.
Flowers at the Imperial War Museum
We stopped to smell the roses along the way.
Shelley admiring the roses at the museum
We came to a section of the Berlin Wall that was on the grounds of the museum. The Berlin wall was torn down in 1990 and a section was removed and brought to the museum.
Ray at a section of the Berlin Wall on display at the Imperial War Museum
We enjoyed the visit to the museum and found the exhibits very interesting and comprehensive.
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