Page 141 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

TRIP HIGHLIGHT
7 Omaha Beach
If anywhere symbolises
the courage and sacrifice
of D-Day, it’s Omaha –
GUILLAUME LOUYOT / GETTY IMAGES ©
still known as ‘Bloody
Omaha’ to US veterans.
It was here, on the 7km
stretch of coastline be-
tween Vierville-sur-Mer,
St-Laurent-sur-Mer and
Colleville-sur-Mer, that
the most brutal fighting FRANCE 9 D-DAY’S BEACHES
on D-Day took place. US
troops had to fight their
way across the beach
towards the heavily
defended cliffs, exposed
to underwater obstacles,
hidden minefields and
withering crossfire. The
toll was heavy: of the
2500 casualties at Omaha
on D-Day, more than
1000 were killed, most
within the first hour of
the landings.
High on the bluffs
above Omaha, the
Normandy American
Cemetery & Memorial
(%02 31 51 62 00; www.abmc.
gov; Colleville-sur-Mer; h9am-
6pm mid-Apr–mid-Sep, to 5pm
mid-Sep–mid-Apr) provides a
sobering reminder of the
human cost of the battle.
Featured in the opening
scenes of Saving Private
Ryan, this is the largest
American cemetery in
Europe, containing the
graves of 9387 American
soldiers, and a memorial
to 1557 comrades ‘known
only unto God’.
Start off in the very
thoughtfully designed
visitor centre, which

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