Following a 3-hour drive from Paris, we arrive at the first stop of our tour of the dday tour. The Mulberry B harbour at Gold Beach was used for 10 months after D-Day, and over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tonnes of supplies were landed before it was fully decommissioned. The still only partially-completed Mulberry A harbour at Omaha Beach was damaged on 19 June by a violent storm that arrived from the north-east before the pontoons were securely anchored. After three days the storm finally abated and damage was found to be so severe that the harbour had to be abandoned and the Americans had to resort to landing men and material over the open beaches

Two thirds of the seaborne troops from the United States on D-Day were launched against a four-mile long beach overlooked by steep bluffs and blocked off at either end by limestone cliffs, the place they call ‘Bloody Omaha.’ The 29th Infantry Division and the 1st Infantry Division would be badly mauled in their assault; mined obstacles on the beach and mines in the bluffs, a shingle bank or sea wall to overcome, barbed wire, and concrete fortifications beyond. At its western end, the first wave was all but wiped out, and succeeding waves piled up on the sea wall, paralysed for a time.

Located on the coast, between Arromanches and Grandcamp Maisy, this vast 70 hectare site overlooks Omaha beach. It reunites the graves of 9,387 soldiers fallen in combat. The chapel, Memorial and the Walls of the Missing and garden complete the site. The Visitor Centre pays homage to the courage and the skill that were required to conduct Operation Overlord and to ensure Europe's liberation, together with the utlimate sacrifice made by those who are laid to rest within this site.

Captured on the morning of the 6th of June 1944 by Colonel Rudder's Rangers, the site was also one of key features of the German defensive fortifications. The site reminds us of what an artillery battery was like, with its firing command post, casemates and shelters.