Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktA few photos from my trip last year:
Another view, from a machine gunner’s nest
From the beach, looking inland
A sense of how much beach had to be crossed at low tide
View from a German bunker, looking out at the beach
The cliffs of Pointe du Hoc
A small patch of American land in France.
Filed under: WWII |
All Things in Moderation 
Thanks Scott. Can you give any more details on Col. Oliver Warman who was in the pictures drawing a map of the positions?
LikeLike
jnc:
If I remember correctly, Col. Warman was both a graduate of and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, and a former military assistant to the British Prime Minister. He did not serve during WWII (graduated from the academy in the early ’50s, if I remember), but he did see action in the Middle East, I believe in Israel, as a British officer. He taught battlefield history, and had studied the Normandy campaign during the ’50s under British, American, and German officers from the campaign. He had some spectacular accounts from those participants about things that had happened, and it was incredibly interesting to hear the stories as we were standing right on the spot where they had happened.
Personality-wise, he was almost a caricature of a stuffy, upper-crust, British military man, and was incredibly class conscious. Walked around with his cane everywhere, but the only thing he ever used it for was to draw maps in the sand. He was very blunt, had the expected British reverence for Monty and didn’t think much of Eisenhower as a military strategist, but he was honest about Monty’s shortcomings, and ultimately he praised Ike as the right man for the job of managing the egos and politics of a multi-national force. The only American commander that he showed much respect for, and he showed a lot, was Patton. Thought he was a great military leader.
LikeLike
jnc:
This is a youtube video that I discovered of part of someone else’s tour with Col. Warman. Most of the video is just driving around in the car, so not particularly interesting, but you can hear him talking and telling stories. At about 4 minutes in the video jumps to Gold Beach, and you’ll see Oliver standing on the beach explaining what happened and telling some anecdotes. It will give you some sense of what he was like.
LikeLike
BTW…our tour was actually a lot more than just Normandy. We spent 10 days going thru France, Belgium, and into Luxembourg seeing battle sites with the Colonel. he left us in Luxembourg, but then we went on to Germany…Munich, Berchdesgaden, and then Berlin. You can flip thru the pictures to see that stuff as well.
LikeLike
Scott, thanks. The expanse of beach is chilling, if you imagine yourself crawling on it under heavy fire.
I took the liberty of labeling, using our WW2 category.
LikeLike
Mark:
The expanse of beach is chilling, if you imagine yourself crawling on it under heavy fire.
It is really hard to comprehend what they managed to do. Standing there looking at the beach, and imagining what went on, it was mind boggling.
LikeLike
looking at those pictures, it’s simply unfathomable to me that he invasion was a success.
thanks for posting.
LikeLike
I’ll bet Scotty from Star Trek wished they had invented the transporter a few years earlier that day.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing those pictures. I remember looking at them once before because a vacation I took a few years ago overlapped with some of the later places on your trip. I would love to get to the French coast not just for the WWII history but all the other stuff there as well.
LikeLike
Great pictures, Scott, and thanks for posting them. I know what you mean about history having a whole new perspective when you’re standing on the spot; a few years ago when we went to Scotland and traveled around the Highlands I was reading a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. I’ve read probably a half dozen different ones about her over the years, but this time it was much more fascinating standing in the different places as I read about them.
One of these days, as (specifically) an 82nd Airborne Division vet I really need to get to Normandy et. al.
LikeLike
One of my life’s true regrets… I spent a month touring Europe during my last year in college over winter break. And for some reason that I just can’t fathom, I did not visit Normandy, even though at that time I had a fairly healthy interest in history and it was something that was definitely up my alley. Alas, visiting there has made my bucket list and I can hopefully do it with my kids now. Thanks for the pics. I hope to have some of my own in a couple years…
LikeLike