The preserved structure of this bunker, with its five floors, is unique.

It was to make up for the lack of relief on the Nacre coast that in 1943-1944 the Germans built this tower, which was 17 metres high in order to increase the range of the rangefinder.

From the rangefinder room (the rangefinder measured 4 m in length at the time and had a range of over 30 km), the position of enemy warships was determined.

The information was then transmitted to the floor below (level 3), where the firing calculations were made and then transmitted to the batteries that depended on this fire command post.

It was put out of operation on the morning of the 6th June by a 380 mm shell from the British destroyer H.M.S. "Frobisher".

But it was not until the 9th that it was taken by Lieutenant Bob Orrell, with the capture of 53 prisoners.
 

Le Grand Bunker - Atlantic Wall Museum

Avenue du 6 juin - 14150 Ouistreham

Tél. : 02 31 97 28 69 - Fax : 02 31 96 66 05

E-mail : museegrandbunker@sfr.fr

Site du musée

Site du comité régional du tourisme de Normandie

With its original displays, this museum was set up by its founder to recognise those who took part in the battles waged in the Norman bocage in the summer of 1944.

Through eight museum sections and a sound and light show, the guided tour introduces visitors to the astonishing adventures of the brave men who fought in the bocage.

Through fascinating research, the men, who are a living testament to the battles fought and their often exceptional, always touching, destiny, were identified and invited to the museum.

They often visit the museum bringing with them souvenirs that resonate with the history of the place.

The Bocage Breakout Museum

5 rue du 19 Mars 1962 - 14350 Saint-Martin-des-Besaces

Tel/Fax: +33 (0)2 31 67 52 78
Only during the museum season.

Email: bluecoat@wanadoo.fr

The project for a tower 300 metres tall was instigated during preparations for the World Exhibition of 1889. The two principal engineers from the Eiffel company, Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, had the idea in June 1884 for a very tall tower, designed like a large pylon consisting of four lattice-work girders, outspread at the base and coming together at the top, linked together by metal girders placed at regular intervals. On the 18th September 1884 Gustave Eiffel was granted a licence "new authorisation for the construction of metal structures and pylons over 300 metres tall". The curvature of the uprights was determined mathematically in order to provide the best possible resistance to the effects of wind. Erection of the supports began on the 1st July 1887, to be completed twenty-one months later. All the components were prepared at the factory in Levallois-Perret in the Paris suburbs, the head office of the Eiffel company: between 150 and 300 workers were involved in its assembly. The Tower was erected with the aid of wooden scaffolds and small steam driven cranes attached to the Tower itself. The assembly of the first level was carried out using twelve temporary wooden scaffolds 30 metres high and then four large 45 metre scaffolds. Started in January 1887, the project was completed on 31st March 1889. Gustave Eiffel was decorated with the Legion of Honour on the platform at the top.

A showcase for French industrial dynamism at the 1889 World Exhibition, the Tower would see more than two million visitors pass by during the event. Gustave Eiffel saved his work from demolition by promoting research into radio transmissions and suggesting that his tower could be used as an enormous radio mast. After the first radio signals were broadcast by Eugène Ducretet towards the Panthéon in 1898, Eiffel approached the military authorities in 1901 with a view to making the Tower into a long-distance radio antenna. In 1903 a radio connection was made with the military bases around Paris, and then a year later with the East of France. A permanent radio station was installed in the Tower in 1906, thus ensuring its continuing survival. During the Great War, the Tower provided many services by listening to enemy transmissions, which gave it the nickname "the big ear". It is thanks to the Tower that Joffre would be informed of the advance of von Klück's troops and decide to requisition all the taxis in Paris to send soldiers to the Marne. It was responsible, amongst other things, for the arrest of Mata Hari because, once again, the Eiffel Tower had kept an ear out and deciphered the spy's messages. In 1921 the first public radio broadcast in Europe would be transmitted from its aerials. The first television trials from the Tower date from 1925 and the first regular broadcasts from 1935. In May 1940, before the German troops arrived, a handful of patriots carried out acts of sabotage on the Tower, successfully enough to ensure that the lift did not work when Hitler came. A strategic place for commanding the city of Paris, the Tower was closed to the public between 1940 and 1945; it would not reopen until June 1946. Radio broadcasts were made from the centre at Allouis under the control of the occupying authorities, who took control of Radio-Paris. The top of the tower has been modified over the course of the years in order to accommodate ever more antennae. Today it accommodates several dozen antennae of all kinds, including a television mast that is 324 metres tall.

L’Airborne Museum est situé au cœur de Sainte-Mère-Eglise, face au clocher sur lequel le parachutiste John Steele est resté suspendu. A travers une muséographie spectaculaire et réaliste, l’Airborne Museum vous fera vivre le Débarquement aux côtés des parachutistes Américains des 82ème et 101ème Airborne. De la préparation du Jour-J en Angleterre, jusqu’aux combats qui menèrent à la Liberté, vous accompagnerez les troupes aéroportées dans leur chemin vers la Victoire. Découvrez une exceptionnelle collection d’objets historiques, un authentique planeur et un avion C-47 ayant participé aux opérations du Jour-J.

Une extension majeure : Opération Neptune et le Centre de conférence Ronald Reagan.

Dans le bâtiment "Opération Neptune" préparez-vous à vivre les parachutages du 6 juin 1944 ! Embarquez de nuit dans un véritable avion C-47 en Angleterre, puis atterrissez sur la place de Sainte-Mère-Eglise au milieu des combats et prenez part aux opérations qui suivirent !

A  partir de Mai, au sein du centre de conférence Ronald Reagan, découvrez une exposition inédite : « La bataille des Ardennes, Bastogne, hiver 1944 » ainsi que dans le cinéma un film de 20 minutes qui retrace avec émotion la vie sous l’occupation allemande puis la libération de Sainte-Mère-Église et du Cotentin.

►Exposition : 01>09 Juin 2019

Les + :

• Airborne Reality (depuis avril 2016): Munis de votre Smartphone ou votre tablette, téléchargez gratuitement l’application du musée et créez votre propre visite guidée en fonction de vos centres d’intérêt et de votre temps de visite !

Grâce à la réalité augmentée, soyez les témoins privilégiés du Débarquement et des parachutages sur Sainte-Mère-Eglise!

Téléchargement gratuit au musée, depuis le site web www.airborne-museum.org ou via Google Play et l’App Store. Application en français et anglais, puis, dans les mois à venir, en néerlandais.

• Exposition (à partir de juillet 2016): La bataille des Ardennes, Bastogne, hiver 1944. A travers cette exposition, revivez les évènements de cette bataille.

Le 16 Décembre 1944, Hitler lance une offensive de grande envergure à travers les Ardennes belges pour reconquérir le port d’Anvers et repousser les forces alliées.  Ces dernières sont prises par surprise du fait de la soudaineté et de la rapidité de l’attaque. En urgence, le Général Eisenhower décide d’envoyer en renfort des unités qu’il tient en réserve en France. La bataille des Ardennes a été plus qu’éprouvante et meurtrière pour les forces alliées qui devaient faire face à un hiver très rigoureux et un manque criant de ravitaillement en nourriture et en armes. L’armée allemande ne sera mise en échec qu’après l’apparition d’une accalmie salutaire permettant le ravitaillement des troupes au sol et facilitant l’arrivée de l’armée du Général Patton. La bataille des Ardennes ne prendra fin que fin janvier 1945.

Cette exposition inédite mettra également en lumière la voie de la liberté partant de Sainte-Mère-Eglise et arrivant à Bastogne ainsi que le rôle de l’armée Patton au sein de la bataille des Ardennes.

Guides de visite sous forme de livrets-jeux disponibles de 6 à 15 ans, téléchargement gratuit sur www.airborne-museum.org ou achat sur place +1€/enfant

Sources : ©Airborne Museum

Part of the German Atlantic Wall defences, the Longues-sur-Mer battery is located 8 km north of Bayeux, in the Calvados département. Located to the west of Arromanches-les-Bains in Normandy, Longues-sur-Mer overlooks the ocean from the top of a 65-metre high cliff, making it an ideal position for the Germans to install a battery of four 150 mm cannon. It is one of the few remains of the Atlantic Wall still intact.

Starting at 0530 on 6th June 1944, several cruisers and a battleship bombarded the position. But when the landing fleet arrived offshore, the battery opened fire itself. HMS Ajax retreated one kilometre offshore. The German cannons ceased fire briefly then began again; the last gun continued firing until 1700 hours. The Longues-sur-Mer battery surrendered to the British the following day along with the184 men of the garrison. Four 150mm cannons with a range of 19.5 kilometres were mounted in this battery. A firing post, barely finished by 6th June 1944, was installed alongside the cliff.
Longues-sur-Mer Battery 14400 Longues-sur-Mer Tel.: +33 (0) 231 06 06 45 Fax: +33 (0) 231 06 01 66 Access from the D514 Open all year round Guided tours from Easter to September

This cemetery is located beside the N44 towards Berry-au-Bac at La Musette. Of the 564 bodies in the cemetery (563 British and 1 from New Zealand, and additionally a British pilot and a French soldier from the Second World War), 413 have not been identified. The cemetery was constructed after the Armistice by bringing together the graves, isolated or in small cemeteries, of soldiers killed in 1918.

The village of La Ville-au-Bois was captured in April 1917 by French troops during the bloody Chemin des Dames offensive. The sector was held by the British 50th Division on 27 May 1918 when the Germans launched their third spring offensive, which brought them to Château-Thierry. During the battle, the 2nd Devons and the 5th battery of the 45th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery were wiped out and received the Military Cross for their sacrifices.

The Coudehard-Montormel Museum, the only one of its kind, is in the heart of the Falaise pocket, where Germany's powerful war machine eventually collapsed under the Allies' blows. The museum includes an outdoormonument-exhibitionand a guided tour inside thememorial, which offers an annual programme, and the battlefield, which people can visit on their own. The monument was built for the battle's 20th anniversary in 1965. Its sober architecture prompts visitors to think about the tragic events that occurred here and commemorates the sacrifice of the Polish soldiers who died "for our freedom and yours". The memorial was built in 1994 to mark the battle's 50th anniversary. Inserted into the side of hill 262, where Polish tanks fought on the afternoon of 19 August 1944, it naturally fits into the landscape. The annual programme, which is open to all, offers guided tours of the Falaise pocket, film screenings and various cultural activities. Near the memorial, the marked "August 1944" route takes visitors past strategic places where fierce fighting occurred during the battle of the Falaise pocket and pays tribute to the soldiers. The Coudehard-Montormel Museum bears witness to the combined efforts of four Allied nations fighting to defeat a common enemy. It is an unforgettable immersion into the hell that was the Battle of Normandy, and a visit provides the opportunity for a rare educational experience.

Montormel-Coudehard Memorial "Les Hayettes" 61160 Montormel Tel.: 02 33 67 38 61 - Fax: 02 33 67 38 72 E-mail: memorial.montormel@worldonline.fr Opening times: 1 May to 30 September Every day: 9:30am-6pm 1er October to 31 March Wednesdays/Saturdays/Sundays: 10am-5pm (For groups by appointment on other days) 1 to 30 April Every day: 10am-5pm

Un outil de formation à la citoyenneté

Actif au sein des Ecoles militaires de Draguignan, comme outil de formation des militaires et civils de la Défense, il est aussi tourné vers l’extérieur en accueillant un large public de touristes et de scolaires. Fort de plus de 21.000 visiteurs en 2014, dont 7.000 enfants et adolescents, le Musée de l’artillerie est donc une vraie ressource pédagogique pour les groupes scolaires comme pour les familles. Le Musée est aussi porteur d’expositions temporaires des plus variées.

Après « Soldats de plomb » en 2011, « Animaux dans la guerre » en 2012, « La Marne » en 2014 et « Coups de pinceaux » en 2015, l’exposition temporaire de l’année 2016 s’attache à témoigner des batailles de Verdun et de la Somme, paroxysmes militaires et humains de la violence de masse au cours de la Grande Guerre, devenus des symboles de paix et de réconciliation.

Un conservatoire du patrimoine de l’artillerie

S’appuyant sur une collection de près de 15.000 objets dont 2.000 d’intérêt majeur, le Musée de l’artillerie présente une collection unique dont les pièces les plus anciennes remontent au XIVe siècle. Tout particulièrement riches pour la période comprise entre 1870 et notre époque, les collections du musée font l’objet d’un chantier permanent de rénovation et de mise en valeur, notamment grâce au bénévolat de passionnés. La richesse de cette collection permet d’affirmer que le musée présente Sept cents ans d’histoire de France, vus à travers l’âme d’un canon (titre éponyme du livre de visite).

VERDUN-LA SOMME

Au milieu de la guerre, au bout de leurs forces

Du 21 mai au 20 novembre 2016, dans le cadre du centenaire de la Grande Guerre, le Musée de l’artillerie de Draguignan organise une exposition consacrée aux deux batailles titanesques de Verdun et de La Somme. Du dimanche au mercredi inclus (et les jeudis sur rendez-vous), de 9h00 à midi et de 13h30 à 17h30, l’exposition intitulée VERDUN – LA SOMME, Au milieu de la guerre, au bout de leurs forces, réalisée en partenariat avec des collectionneurs privés, traite de ces deux batailles, véritables virages de la guerre où l’intensité des combats a dépassé tout ce que l’Homme avait connu auparavant. Par son discours pédagogique et la richesse de sa présentation, cette exposition est conçue pour tous les âges, des plus jeunes aux plus expérimentés. Exposition adaptée pour la visite par des classes du CM1 au Lycée, dans le cadre des cours d’histoire et d’éducation à la citoyenneté.

Sources : ©Musée de l'Artillerie

Vailly-sur-Aisne national cemetery is located beside the D925 road, adjoining a British cemetery. On the site rest mainly the bodies of soldiers who fell in the Chemin des Dames area. Due to its location next to a first aid post, it was used as a cemetery as early as 1917, following the Nivelle offensive. Work was carried out on the cemetery between 1922 and 1925 in connection with projects to bring together bodies buried at Nanteuil-la-Fosse, Jouy, Allemant, Laffaux and Bois-Morin.

The cemetery covers an area of 9,141m² and is located 13km east of Soissons and 18km south of Laon. It brings together the bodies of 1,576 French service personnel, including 17 from the Second World War, in individual and grouped graves.

There are two monuments on the site. One of them, erected by the National Union of Veterans of Vailly-sur-Aisne, is dedicated to "the memory of our comrades who died for France". The other was built in homage to Félix Germain Jacquinot of the 120th infantry battalion who died for France on 8 July 1917 and to the memory of his comrades, all of whom lie in the cemetery: "Jacquinot Félix Germain, born in Villery (Aube) on 15 June 1895, awarded the Military Cross, sergeant in the 120th infantry battalion, 3rd company, killed at Chemin des Dames (Panthéon battle) on 8 July 1917".

British Cemetery

Moving towards the Marne front, the British 3rd division crossed the Aisne River at the village of Vailly-sur-Aisne on 12 September 1914.

The village had fallen under German control in 1915, despite determined allied resistance. It was taken back at the start of the Nivelle offensive in the Chemin des Dames area on 18 April 1917. It was lost again in June 1918 during the imperial counter-offensive, and freed on 15 September 1918. Due to the heavy price paid from the time hostilities began, once the war was over the British decided to site a military cemetery at Vailly-sur-Aisne, close to the French national cemetery.

Most of the service personnel buried on the site were killed in September 1914, while a few others gave their lives for freedom in 1918. There are 677 bodies: 674 British, 1 Canadian, 1 German and 1 French. To date, 328 graves remain anonymous. The Vailly-sur-Aisne British cemetery is run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Direction interdépartementale (D.I.)

Chef du secteur Nord-Pas de Calais

Cité administrative

Rue de Tournai 59045 Lille Cedex

Tel: +33.(0)3.20.62.12.39 Fax: +33.(0)3.20.62.12.30

Email: diracmetz@wanadoo.fr

Site : www.cwgc.org