The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent. (5 Viewers)

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Beauty, Karl

 

[A4K]

With Geo. Great photos Terry and Karl!

 

[MaxCamps]

Sorry for the pause in the story - I've been a bit rough with the tail-end (I hope) of a chest infection, and trying to catch up on sleep.

So, to continue. We docked bang on time at 15.00 hrs French time, and disembarked smoothly and quickly, clearing Immigration without delays.
The journey from the port at Ouistreham to our hotel in Benouville was only 3.8 miles, taking just about 10 minutes max, and we arrived at Manoir Hastings even before the staff were due to open Reception at 15.30 hrs !
As this was the same hotel that we'd used last year, we "knew the drill", and were happy to sit and wait in the hot sunshine in the charming surroundings of the ancient courtyard. Check-in was soon completed and, after dumping our kit in our respective rooms, we relaxed with a couple of beers, before taking a stroll (or "scoot" in my case) around the village and bridge area.
Last year, we'd concentrated on the British Airborne Forces operations to take and hold the bridges over the Caen canal (Pegasus Bridge) and the Orne river (Horsa Bridge), so this little tour was just to consolidate things, and get more photos, and a "feel" for those areas we'd missed.
Rather than use the hotel restaurant on our first evening, we decided to dine at "Les Trois Planeurs" (The Three Gliders), on the site of what had been Cafe Picot at the time of D-Day, and just across the road from Cafe Gondree.
We had a pleasant couple of hours in the late afternoon sun, crossing the bridge to get more photos, before wandering back to the hotel to start to organise our plans for the following day, when we intended to commence our tour at Le Hamel, at the western edge of Gold Beach, where the tanks of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry came ashore on D-Day. This was to be the start of some very interesting visits, following the progress, and fierce battles, of the SRY (and associated units) from the beaches, and inland, across this area of Normandy, and will be described and illustrated as the thread progresses.

Pics below show parts of the hotel courtyard and some views around Benouville, with more to follow tomorrow, before we start out on the tour proper.

Pics 1 to 3. Hotel entrance and courtyard, with Karl sitting below one of the reminders of the battles which took place actually within this area, "spang" from a bullet or shrapnel (arrowed).
Pic 4. My room at left, conveniently arranged for disabled access. On the right (arrowed) is what we believe to be the remains of a crater from a mortar bomb, judging by the shrapnel damage to the nearby stonework.
Pic 5. Very convenient parking spot for my car, just outside my room.
Pic 6. Karl's first well-deserved beer !
Pics 7 to 12. General views around the bridge area of the village, with "Les 3 Planeurs", Cafe Gondree, and Pegasus Bridge. Note the wooden-planked walkway on the bridge. At the time of D-Day, the road bed on the original bridge was also surfaced with wooden planks, and not the steel mesh seen on the preserved bridge in the Museum grounds today. That was a later addition, when the bridge was lengthened after the canal was widened in 1964.

Back with more from the village tomorrow ......................


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Brilliant pics as usual Tel! Karl looking very chilled!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps, and thanks for those photos Karl. I was just looking for them in my emails, so saved me a job !

I'm just sorting the next instalment, and should have more pics posted shortly.

 

[rochie]

Thanks chaps, and thanks for those photos Karl. I was just looking for them in my emails, so saved me a job !

I'm just sorting the next instalment, and should have more pics posted shortly.

Couldn't remember if I'd sent them to you.

 

[Airframes]

A few more shots of Asnelles, before moving on to Bayeux.
I found some pre-war photos of the main square, but they seem to have disappeared from the HD !

Pic 1. Looking east down Gold beach from WN37. The red "X" roughly marks the spot where Monty Horley's tank (SRY) was hit, as seen in the wartime recce photos.
Pics 2 to 4. The main square in Asnelles village, little changed since pre-war. I'd hoped to have lunch at the outside tables at Sables Asnelles, but it was their day off when we visited.
Pic 5. The former sanitorium at Asnelles, used as the local German garrison HQ at the time of D-Day.

After clearing the beach and the villages of Le Hamel and Asnelles, it was the task of SRY and supporting infantry and artillery units to take the city of Bayeux, just a few miles inland and to the west. After a brief halt over the short summer night, the tanks and infantry advanced on the city on the morning of June 7th.
The next posts will show the location of the city in relation to the coastline and Asnelles, and the positions of the CWGC Cemetery and the Battle of Normandy Museum, both of which we visited before entering the city itself.

 

[Airframes]

Moving on to Bayeux, visiting first the excellent Battle of Normandy Museum and the CWGC Cemetery, both located next to each other on the south western ring road of the city.
Bayeux was taken on 7th June, after very little resistance, as German forces pulled out. This meant that, unlike most towns and cities in Normandy (and most of France), the city sustained very little damage, with its ancient buildings and cathedral remaining intact. Apart from some "modernisation" here and there, the narrow streets have changed little over the last few hundred years, which will be seen in the later section of this part of the tour.
The actual day that we visited this area was later in the tour, on an extremely hot day, but I'm posting this section now in an effort to achieve at least a little chronology of the time line from D-Day.

Pics 1 and 2. Satellite views showing Bayeux in relation to Asnelles and the coastline, and the locations of the CWGC Cemetery and the Museum.
Pics 3 to 11. Vehicles outside the Museum, with Hetzer, twin Flak, Sherman, M10 Tank Destroyer and Churchill.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Great shots, Terry