Yesterday was my first day in Normandy for the D-Day Festival 2022. The weather has been great, with bright blue skies. I am located in Isigny-sur-Mer which is between Omaha and Utah beaches. The town’s name is related to the Disney Corporation as it is reported that the earliest ancestor of Walt Disney came from the town and was known as Jean-Christophe d’Isigny (“of Isigny”).
In June 1944 the town was more than 60% destroyed by bombardments on the 8th.
The town is famous for and dominated by large dairy factories producing butter, cream, ice cream and caramels.
I ventured out in Woody, our 1944 Willys Jeep and headed towards Utah beach. As this was the first day, nothing was planned, and I wanted to see the preparation for the festival in the local area. I found that the main preparations are still a few days away. Not many historic military vehicles on the road. This will change by the end of this week.
So, my route took me from Isigny-sur-Mer to Dead Man’s Corner, Sainte Marie du Mont, then Sainte-Mere Eglise, Utah Beach and Quineville. This was a recce trip so not too much detail for today. I will be returning to the Utah area on Tuesday and will post more detail and facts when looking at the coastal block houses and batteries.
Today I am going to Omaha Beach and will post details tomorrow.
The house was the HQ and field station for the paratroopers of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6th and 3rd battalion of Grenadier-Regiment 1058 of the 91st Luftlande Division, who were defending the area.The name Dead Man’s Corner comes from the legend that an American tanker lay hanging out of the tank for days while the Americans tried to capture the area. There is a lot of fact and fiction with regard to this story, and a good article to read is Solving the D-Day Mystery at “Dead Man’s Corner” – Warfare History NetworkSainte-Mere Eglise. One of the most famous towns to be liberated during the D-Day operations. Located in the American sector with mixed units of the 82nd and 101st Airborne involved. John Steele of the 505th PIR whose parachute caught on the church tower, hung for two hours watching the battle take place beneath him. He pretended to be dead, before being captured by the Germans, only later to escape and rejoin the 3rd Battalion. Famous depiction in the film “The Longest day”.Blockhouse on Utah Beach. Will revisit on Tuesday with more detail.Strange to find a Tommy on Utah beach.German Gun position overlooking the north end of Utah Beach at Quineville. It was hidden within a house which is now part of the World War 2 Museum in Quineville. This museum is not too large, but has a great amount of items relating to D-Day. It also has one of the world’s best collections of Dragon-DID 1/6th Scale figures, which is also a passion of mine. The curator creates all the models. I will post some photos of the displays on Tuesday’s post.
