Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows - Martin Luther King, Jr

The futility of war....

First the Normandy Beaches.... shocking enough

Next morning we followed a suggested self-guided day visit guideline, found on an internet blog, to the D-day beaches of WWII.

On the morning of the 6^th June 1944 in a huge operation the Allied forces landed on German occupied French soil.... the first time any allied forces had set foot in France since the Dunkirk withdrawal of 1940.

Supported by bombers and parachutists, along with RAF gliders further inland, and naval sea support the USA troops landed at the first of our stops, Utah beach.

At nearby Point du Hoc, high cliffs on a point between the US landing beaches of Utah and Omaha, the US Rangers scaled cliffs to capture a strategic German gun battery, that gave coastal views/outlook in both directions. The sheer, and obviously heavily defended, cliffs easily give a very sobering understanding of the sheer determination of the troops and how easily the whole operation could have failed if such strategic attacks had been defeated.

Point du Hoc, craters left by the pre attack bombing

As well as Omaha and Utah Beach which are often referred to in many historical works, we drove near to Gold, Juno and Sword beaches which were also part of the US focus during the operation.

We stopped at the USA cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, which contains the graves of over 9380 US troops most of whom lost their lives with the landings and over the first couple of days. The US buried their troops in one cemetery, whereas most other countries buried their troops in small cemeteries located close to the areas where they fell.

US cemetery, impossible to catch by photo or describe in words the impact this has whilst visiting

At Arromanches, which became a temporary harbour by the use of bridge spans out to temporary docks, we watched a very good 20 minute movie of the why’s and how’s of the war in the Normandy area.

 Then, with temporary harbour....

Now... a lovely summer beach

Heading inland to find one of the Canadian cemeteries we came upon another that contains members of the Commonwealth and Germans, Ryes Cemetery; 653 Commonwealth graves, 1 Polish, 335 German.

In the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer 2049 headstones. At this stage the temperature was over 40 C so any shade was a welcome relief!

Then to Ouistreham to see the Pegasus Bridge… in fact we ended up in a traffic jam of 30 minutes plus because of a bridge, which was lifted to clear a canal ship. This delay meant we opted to drive straight to our next accommodation near Cambremer (the 2 night stay there is covered in our previous blog).

After our enjoyable one day cycling break, and with a hot day looming we left the BnB and backtracked to Merville battery, a strategic 3 hectare German site of extensive underground shelters, a command post with communications to Sword Beach, lookouts and large guns. At the time it was self protected by mines and an anti-tank ditch.

This position was the objective which Lieutenant Colonel Otway and the 9^th British parachute regiment had to neutralise in the early hours of the D-day landings. 

6^th June 1944 at 0:30 hours the men of the 9^th battalion embarked in their Dakota airplanes and gliders. In what was poor weather the parachutists dropped over a wide area and into flooded marshes of the river Dives (an ironic name given the tragic nature of the mistake). The marshes had been deliberately flooded by the Germans as a defense mechanism. Due to the weather affected drop this mechanism was effective, some of the ditches being over 2 m deep with the flooding and the paratroopers heavily weighed down with equipment.

The drop zone was to be lit by beacons dropped by a lead aircraft but none worked. This combined with German forces alerted and firing resulted in immediate confusion as to the landing zone. Out of the 600 men dropped only 150 met at the appointed rendezvous, many others drowned and/or blown off course up to 30 km away.

Of the battalions 3 assault gliders, none landed as planned and none of the 5 support gliders made it at all. Despite the lack of men and equipment the operation proceeded and they stormed and overpowered the Germans, to gain possession of the battery with the loss of a further 75 lives.

After the attack they withdrew and left the battery disabled as it was a danger to stay in case the Germans retaliated. The Germans managed to reinstate 2 guns the following day but now had no direct view or communication over Sword Beach which led to a lack of accuracy. The battery remained in German hands until 17^th August 1944.

With temps rising into the 40’s we went to nearby Pegasus Bridge memorial. The objective of the British 6^th airborne division using a unit of 2^nd battalion glider infantry was to capture this bridge over the Caen canal (Benouville Bridge) and a 2^nd nearby (Ranville Bridge) over the Orne River. These bridges were vital as they denied the German forces the chance to easily renew troops and equipment. 

A force of 181 men landed, in 6 Horsa Gliders, with 5 of the gliders landing within 47 yards of their objective at 0:15 am on the 6^th June. They surprised the German defenders and took the bridges within 10 minutes with the loss of 2 men.

A successful attack when it all goes according to plan!

The visit to the WWII sites has given only a small inkling of the shocking loss of life, and bravery shown, among the people involved. For Noel it has definitely piqued his interest in finding out more about his Dad, Frank's, involvement on duty in North Africa and Italy during a 4 year period in WWII. Frank never spoke of it, and we never asked, as to a child it seemed like ancient history... but it wasn't!

The futility is reinforced...

A tour of the France and Belgium WWI battlefields, shocking does not describe it

We happily jumped into air-conditioned Pug after visiting the last of our Normandy sites as the temp was recording 44 C and we headed north-east to our Arras BnB. Leaping from WWII to WWI.

Arras lies on large chalk plateau at the confluence of the Scarp and Crinchon Rivers, an old settlement of the iron age. In the 600’s the Benedictine Abbey was established and the modern town of Arras grew around it. It was particularly important as a grain market place. After much wrestling of powers it became a settled town in the late 1800’s.

During WWI Arras was 10 km from the front line and a series of battles were fought around the city, decimating it. It has been rebuilt to the pre-war look dating from the 1600’s. Arras has two main plaza’s with restaraunts surrounding both. At 36 C at 9 pm in the evening it was a very pleasant spot to eat.

Day 1

A 9 am we met our WWI sites guide, Aurore. She is French and works for an Australian run tour company which are specialists on Australian, and in our case New Zealand, sites of interest/importance. We were the only 2 on our pre-booked (NZ) tour but we did meet up with an Australian van load for lunch and dinner. The order of day's for our itinerary was swapped around as it is meant to rain tomorrow and Aurore advised it would be best if we go to those sites where outdoor exploration was more vital today.

We headed north from Arras to the Flanders Fields on the French/Belgium border and Passchendaele region, stopping initially at a huge WWI French cemetery, Aurore explained that as the French had been involved in so many battles over their history WWI was considered just “one of the many” by most French, and not especially significant. Anyway it was a huge cemetery and beside it was a small new memorial to the Christmas Tree Truce of 1914.

Passing by the preserved battlefields and the huge and imposing memorial to the Canadians at Vimy Ridge overlooking the Douai Plain was immediately sobering. The first time all 4 Canadian divisions participated together in a battle with nearly 3600 killed and 7000 wounded.

We stopped at Armentieres and at the Cite Bonjean military cemetery and the first of the New Zealand memorials to the missing that we would see. A nearby building had been designated as a Commonwealth Field Hospital in 1914-16 and so the cemetery is more ordered than some with men from the same battalion often being buried together. The town was in Allied hands from October 1914 until the German ‘Spring Offensive’ of 1918 when they held the town for 6 months before being regained by the British forces. Thus the Germans used the cemetery to bury their men over that period.

There are 452 NZ graves and the memorial to 47 NZ casualties with no known grave in the area, among a total of 1617 identified graves of varying nationalities.

Next on to the area of the battle of Messines (7-14 June 1917) which is near Mesen village in Belgium.

The aim was to take the ridge, the Germans already occupying the high grounds. It started by tunneling 22 mine/cavities and laying explosives below the German lines. 19 of these massive explosive dumps detonated on the morning and it is estimated up to 10,000 German troops were killed. A commanding officer in charge predicted before the detonation that although he wasn't sure if it would change history, he was sure it would change geography! The combined explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear in history, and caused a localised earthquake.

There was a number of the mines not used as they were deemed not required, were discovered by the enemy or suffered damage, and some have since been exploded under controlled conditions. However one notable exception remains on which a farm house and yard sits…. nervously! 23 tonne of explosives still remain here and it is generally agreed it is only a matter of time until deterioration leads to detonation. The farming family however has advised they do not wish to let it be a controlled explosion as it would destroy their farm and so prefer to live (or fly'n'die more likely) with the consequences.

For this battle/operation NZ suffered 700 fatalities and 3700 casualties during the battle. The memorial here lists 827 with no known graves who died in the area over the period 1917-18. There are German concrete bunkers in the corner of the memorial area, our first viewing of an example of how small the distances were between lines and the minimal gains/losses likely to be made to the front lines.

A quick stop at Mesen square revealed an in-ground map of NZ and plaque presented by Belgium thanking NZ'ers for their sacrifice on 7 June 1917 and a bit further down the street a statue of a NZ soldier.

Although the NZ government has provided self guide assistance, our tour proved to cover the ground effectively does require a guide

We lunched at a café near Polygon Woods which is the site of a major Australian troop battle.

The café had a lot of war memorabilia that the owner has collected over recent years, being a tunneling expert himself he actively finds rifles, shells, buttons, clothing.. even bodies although none in the museum thankfully! The cafe owner is also raising funds to a memorial called "Brothers in Arms" to recognise exactly that, brothers who fought in conflict. This is after a body recently uncovered during road works was identified as an Australian soldier, who had died in his brothers arms and was buried by his brother with obvious care.

Also visited during the busy day was Buttes New British Cemetery, further Australian and also New Zealand memorials and then a visit to the memorial museum at Passchendaele with an excellent exhibition where we easily whiled away a couple of hours.

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A stop at Tyne Cot cemetery and memorial. Tyne Cot was a farm house area of 5-6 German blockhouses and it was captured by the 3^rd Australian division 4 October 1917. On 6 October to the end of March 1918 343 graves were put there. It went back to German hands from 13 April to 28 September before it was recaptured by the Belgium army. After the armistice it became a collection point for graves from the battle grounds and from several small cemeteries nearby. There are now more than 11900 buried of which more than 8370 are unidentified. There is 4 German graves also.

The Tyne Cot memorial walls commemorates nearly 35000 servicemen from the UK and New Zealand who died in Ypres salient largely after 16 August 1917 and have no known grave. It is one of 4 memorials to the missing in Belgium Flanders area. It is also the largest commonwealth war cemetery in the world and specifically to NZ there is 520 graves plus 322 unidentified along with 1175 names on the memorial wall as unidentified/missing (ie some may actually be buried in graves rather than missing but remain unidentified). It is of note that if, mainly freshly found, bodies are identified with modern techniques their names are then removed from the memorials to the missing.

A quick stop at David Gallaher (1^st captain of the 1905 (originals) NZ All Blacks) burial site at 9 Elms British Cemetery, Belgium.

We met up with the Aussie touring group for dinner in Ypres and to the Menin Gate war memorial after dinner. This memorial bears the names of close 55000 missing Allied soldiers (but not New Zealanders) from the beginning of the war until August 15 1917, the remaining being listed on the Tyne Cot or smaller numbers on other memorials. This is due to the discovery at time of completion  that the memorial was not big enough to house all the names. Of the 300,000 killed in the Flanders Fields or Ypres Salient of Northern France/Western Belgium at least 90,000 soldiers have no known graves.

The Menin Gate memorial is on the site of one of the towns medieval gates. The British and Commonwealth troops marched to the front from the area and many passed through these medieval gates. At 8 pm every night, since 1928, the last post is played as a mark of Belgium's gratitude to the Allied forces. This has been uninterrupted apart from during WWII when the ceremony continued daily at a cemetery in Surrey, UK.

On this night an Irish, Campbell College Belfast, pipe band played. The bag pipes possibly were more haunting than the Last Post itself. To be guest performers, although that is not the right word, is very sought after and we believe few nights occur without an accompaniment to the Buglers. It is also hugely popular with visitors and huge crowds attend particularly during the summer months.

Day 2

Thunder and lightening last night along with rain threatening today, which began with our guide taking us for a walk around the Saturday market in Arras. Smaller than usual as our guide informed us lots of the stall holders are away on summer holidays. Anyway the usual fruit, veg, fish and meat… one seller of horse meat too. Had a look in the town hall, which contains giants; a family of them that are bought out onto the streets for events and festivities. We were also shown the marriage rooms and chambers which had lots of wood paneling and ornate murals and wallpaper, all made to look old as it was rebuilt after WWII.... there had been nothing left due to shelling.

A bit of light relief, meeting one of the Arras Giants...

On to the Somme area, by which stage it is raining. First stop was a cemetery with Indian and Chinese graves. The Indians fought with the British army whilst the Chinese were labourers sent by the Chinese government near the end of the war to assist with the clean up. This was dangerous work with unexploded mines and shells which along with disease meant many of them died after the war had ended.

Passing a road sign we stopped to look at some live shells placed there by a nearby farmer and awaiting collection by the authorities… a regular service! The shells come to the surface as the farmers work the land, they then leave them at specific points for collection. A local saying is “the last victim of WWI is yet to be born” due to death and injury caused by the old explosives.

Un-exploded shells awaiting collection at road corner... hopeless trying to place H&S guidelines we think!

While we took photo’s of the shells Aurore went for a walk along the row of a neighbouring potato field coming back with a handful of shrapnel and a rusty gun part. The rain had bought them to the surface easily. The finding and collecting of war relics is a common hobby in the area.

The rain we had experienced overnight, whilst heavy for a time it was not much in quantity but on top of very dry land had turned the fields into extremely sticky mud... and a very real and poignant example of what it must have been like in the trenches.

Although the battlefields can be cultivated and farmed, as a mark of respect no new buildings can be built however old buildings can be re-instated. Farmlands are currently largely cereal, maize and potatoes.

We visited the battleground and memorial to the Canadian troops of Newfoundland which is located near Beaumont Hamel, named Hawthorne Ridge and is a name forged into Newfoundland's psyche... their 'Gallipoli'. This memorial includes a statue of a Caribou, and live red squirrels which are imported from Canada (although this is at some disquiet from neighbouring farmers and you do have to question the practice?) The area is preserved so the trenches are as they were, just cleaner and greener. It is where the Newfoundlander's made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The regiment had gone into the area in April 1916 with the line having been defended for the 20 months prior to this attack, with varying regiments on duty and little actual action.

Thus the Germans were well prepared with construction of deep dug outs and tunnels. The Allied pre-attack shelling explosions had gone as planned on the morning of 1 July but the order for the men to go over the top was inexplicably delayed by 10 minutes giving the German opposition adequate time to regroup and be ready and waiting with their machine guns. Thus the troops were decimated as wave after wave was continually ordered to go. 22 Officers and 758 others started over the top, out of 780 only 110 survived with 68 at roll call the next day. 80% losses in 30 minutes….

Trenches at Canadian site, obviously caved in with age but preserved as a memorial

Our day was very easily filled in with visits to a range of Museum's and Thiepval (huge) memorial to the missing/cemetery as well as a large German cemetery. The German's do not allow flowers in the cemeteries, instead planting trees so that their hero's are shaded.

German cemetery, black crosses as opposed to the white headstones of the Commonwealth cemeteries, and trees rather than flowers

The Lochnagar crater memorial shows the effect of such large mine explosions, and is very well set up with plagues explaining both the reasoning and the consequences.

Again lunch at a small cafe, this time owned by ex-pat Brits, which has an extensive display of memorabilia. The afternoon continued on with visits to Caterpillar Valley cemetery and NZ memorial to the missing.

Part of the day involved a visit to "Factory Corner" which is a battle site and at which Caro's grandfather fought. He was injured on the first day of this battle... which effectively  saved his life as he was sent to England to rehabilitate before coming home. Our guide Aurore was able to show us to within probably 200 m, due to the dates Caro had researched off war records, the location where he was likely shot. Both spooky and moving...

On our return to Arras we visited the Wellington tunnels located under the city. These tunnels, which had existed already as chalk mines, were expanded in size and linking under a British plan in the build up to the Battle of Arras in April 1917. The work of expansion is credited, with much gratitude, to the work of the New Zealand Tunneling Company over a 5 month period. The tunnels then housed up to 20,000 troops, and included such facilities as a chapel and a hospital with 700 beds, in preparation for the battle. Troops then emerged from the tunnels en-mass to run (up to 2 km) to attack the German troops. This offensive was considered successful with the German troops pushed back some 11 km and included the taking of Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces.

In summary it is so hard to comprehend the staggering numbers of those killed, over such small areas and in such atrocious conditions. The whole area is treated with the upmost respect. It was amazing to see the cemeteries dotted everywhere over the area. These ranged from small, just a handful of headstones and literally in peoples back gardens, through to those with thousands. All uniform in design, and exceptionally well cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in this area nearly 2000 cemeteries exist.

Such a great tour concluded, extremely sobering but very much recommended to understand the scope... and shocking results in personal cost... of the WWI action in this area.

Old cities... or are they?

Stunning medieval (and later) settings...

A quick clean up in the morning and left Vannes as we headed north to Saint-Malo on the north coast of Normandy.

We deliberately took the smaller roads and there was not much traffic, lots of cereal crops (a lot harvested) and maize crops along with some small mobs of cattle out grazing. We have now got into the habit of comparing the different route options on Pugs GPS, in some cases the difference between the 'fast' and 'short' options can be minimal in time difference.

Saint-Malo is a port city in Brittany, north-west France. The city was founded in 1 BC and by 4 AD it became a fortress due to its location in a prominent bay position. In the 5-6^th century the area got many Celtic Briton’s fleeing the UK. It had a short lived independence when it became a republic in 1590-93. In the 1800’s it became the home of French privateers, ie Pirates!, unofficially sanctioned by the French King.

During WWII in late August/early September 1944 the walled city of Saint-Malo was almost totally destroyed by USA shelling with British naval support. The city held 800 German troops when the assault began as part of a garrison of over 12,000 in the wider area. Over 10,000 Prisoner's Of War were taken by the Allies.

Saint-Malo was rebuilt over a 12 year period, 1948-1960, and it looks like a late 1800’s walled town today.

Next stop was Mont-St-Michel, UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979. Known for its stunning island location it also has some mainland town to serve the tourists. Everything we read said it would be busy with tourists, but worth it. It was on both counts!

The island is joined to the mainland by a 1 km long causeway and can also be walked to at low tide, and is about 7 hectares in total size. First Inhabitants date from 708 AD when Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, had a sanctuary built on the island. It went on to become a major focus of pilgrimage and in the 10^th century the Benedictine’s settled in the abbey and the village below grew. It is a good example of the feudal society of the 9-15^th century with the abbey and monastery at top (ie God), the great halls beneath, the stores and housing below that and then outside the walls the common people (farmers, fishermen). The fortifications were in place early in the town’s history to repel invaders.

As religious importance waned it closed as an Abbey and from the late 1700’s to 1863 it was used as a prison. 1864 saw it become a French historic monument and restoration work began.

It was very busy in the lower streets, even though we had deliberately arrived late afternoon, . Not so busy in the Abbey itself, and cooler too. A walk in the streets, within the walls, was like being in Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. With the tide being out we walked around the perimeter of the walls, on the sand/quick sand… a bit sticky on our shoes but saved washing our feet! We did keep our eye out to see however, the tidal difference here is above 10 m, and can travel so quickly over the expansive flats that it is rumoured to be faster than galloping horses.... let alone gallumping Noel and Caro's...

Now that's what you call a fireplace!

Back over the causeway, and back to our car, and arrived at Saint Lo about 9 pm where we had a pre-booked hotel on the outskirts.

As we had already eaten we googled to see if there is sights to see on an evening walk; there wasn’t as 90-95% of the city was destroyed in the first days of the D-day landing offensive with at least 800 of the citizens killed. The town was rebuilt on the original site in accordance with the wishes of the remaining citizens. Casualties of war that are probably overlooked by New Zealander’s.

Where in the world....

The fruit-ality of....

Our blog briefly leaves sequence for a day, to try and group like topics together, or is it just the effects of the days activity described below...

After one day touring the Normandy D-Day beaches, see the following post, we drove to our pre-booked accommodation of 2 nights. What we saw on the drive through was lots of cereal harvesting… and a circus! Still with camels, zebra, buffalo, donkey tied to a fence and a lion in a cage all set up on a town reserve. A little surprised as we didn't realise such animal circus's still existed.

We have a 2 night stay in a charming BnB property, a 1840's house near the town of Cambremer in Normandy. Ate at a local restaurant that evening, still very hot, 29 C at 9 pm. A storm was forecast for the evening but all we got was lightening/wildfire with no rain. Dropped the temps a little however which was appreciated.

Following a bit of research during our early trip planning it was discovered that the "Route de Cidre" existed in this area, obviously the translation to The Cider Route is pretty compelling for Caro who's been known to enjoy the odd drop, and who is Noel to argue with the pursuit?

Our host has rented bikes for us to do the said cider trail, and had them delivered and ready to go. After a lovely breakfast with homemade preserves and with hopes of a cooler day we were on our bikes. With a 40 km loop mapped out as per supplied map, brand new rental bikes (we mean actually never used!, nice bikes as well) and hopes of a cooler day we were off!

The terrain is gently up and down, so although a long haul up in places it was always equaled with a long free wheel down! We cut out a small section early on, so some 5 km less than originally planned. Resisted the urge to stop at cideries before lunch, there was a couple enviously passed however!

Stopped at the village of Bonnebosq for morning tea and then at Beuvon-en-auge for lunch.  At lunch cider was the compulsory accompaniment, the local custom of drinking it from a handle-less bowl. Both very cute towns with buildings of Tudor and clay construction. This is cereal and apple country with small mobs of cattle grazing. After lunch we rode through horse breeding country, stopping at Du Pont cidery which is a famous one for the region and is a Chateaux in stunning gardens and surrounds.

 Entrance to Du Pont Cidery

Beuvon-en-auge, once again another village voted prettiest in France

Although a little skeptical of drinking liquid from a bottle labeled Du Pont we had a taste… yum… then with a large bottle tucked in our pack we headed back to our local village of Cambremer. 35 C showing on the temp gauge at local pharmacist… on the shady side of street!

With energy levels diminishing we stopped at one more village cidery for a tasting, tucked another bottle into backpack and back to our BnB.

A great day out riding on sealed roads all the way with very little traffic, often any traffic being large tractors and trailers loaded high with bales of straw.

Walked halfway to the village (actually very close to our accommodation) for dinner at the Creperie, there are lots of creperie's about in fact eating at one for lunch also. Since we have enjoyed the local flavours all day we had a Gallette each, one a Camembert, Bacon, Egg and Cream whilst the other was Liverwurst Chorizo, Mushroom and Cream… and of course a 750 ml bottle of cider, yum! The effervescent young waitress offered to provide a take home cork with our bottle if we didn't finish it..... our answer, why would we not finish it????

Yes, it was hot work but a really fun day in extremely pretty countryside.

Selfie!!!!.... not sure why the long face....