Day 8 (Saturday): To Bayeux in Normandy
D-Day Landings & the Battle of Normandy
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- General Richter’s Command Center Bunker
D-Day Landings & the Battle of NormandyHere you will see displayed every detail of the Invasion of Normandy, starting on the night of June 5th when airborne troops parachuted down, supported by bombers who pounded the German coastal artillery batteries. Meanwhile, an armada of 5000 ships, including a thousand battleships, crossed the English Channel to take their positions along the beaches. These strategic maneuvers went undetected by the Germans who had lost several strategic radar stations over the past few weeks, and were being battered by a still-raging storm. And so the surprise was total when, at 5:45 am, the battleships opened fire on the Atlantic Wall defenses, and landing craft transported the first wave of assault troops toward the beaches. The Battle of Normandy was expected to last only a few weeks, but went on for 100 days, finally ending on September 12th. By the end of this 100 days, 20,000 inhabitants of Normandy had been killed—a third of all the French civilians killed during the entire war. The city of Caen endured a month-long siege before it was finally liberated on July 9th, when Canadian and British troops entered the city after a frontal attack and heavy aerial bombing. American troops broke through enemy lines to the west of Saint-Lô, opening up a passageway. Armored divisions swept through the breach and overran the German armies, forcing their retreat across the Seine, then back across the German border. General Richter’s Command Center Bunker Under the Caen Memorial Museum lies a former quarry that was once used as a firing range by the French Army. This rock-bound citadel was converted to a German command headquarters in 1943 under General Wilhelm Richter, commander of the 716th German infantry division.
A tunnel was dug into the limestone rock, measuring 3 meters tall and 70 meters long (think of a 10-foot high tube reaching underground for ¾ the length of a football field). A power generator, water cistern, and ventilation system were installed, as well as transmission technology. The three entrances to this command post were defended by a small garrison of troops, and blocked by armored doors that were embedded with automated machine guns that stood ever at the ready. Within the thick limestone shell of the bunker, officers, secretaries, telephonists, and cartographers worked constantly. During the Battle of Normandy, the Germans also used the bunker as a shelter for troops and later a makeshift hospital. The Allies learned about this structure from information provided by the French Resistance. On June 23rd, the Germans abandoned the bunker, and on July 9th Canadian soldiers took possession of the premises. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2016 2016 -> 2017 afoCo Landmark Scholarship Program 2016 -> Instructions for the Preparation of Camera-Ready Contributions to the Conference Proceedings 2016 -> Step student Scholarships for Year 10-13 2016 -> The united church of canada 2016 -> Idan raichel biography – May 2016 Brief Producer, keyboardist, Lyricist, composer and Performer Idan Raichel 2016 -> An introduction to centre’s interventions expanding access to justice 2016 -> Sanchar Shakti 2016 -> Unit analysis should help here. We want number of bananas 2016 -> The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates 2016 -> The Great Heat and the Rhode Island Deep Water Bay Scallop (Argopecten irradians) Fishery 1875-1905 Download 6.05 Mb. Share with your friends:
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