TOP SECRET!

 Spent a lovely day with the National Trust, we have had drought now for several months with rainfall running at 81mm, the driest spring for over 100 years. With a full day in a very isolated place, we got a forecast of rain all day - not so it was dry, overcast and pretty warm. We were at Orford Ness, formerly recovered salt marsh that has a secret history for over 100 years. Firstly it was a research centre for the Royal Flying Corps from 1913, developing techniques & instrumentation for warplanes. This continued until WW2 when they concentrated on bomb development and the resilience of aircraft to machine gunfire.

This is the only way to get there, I said it was isolated! During the war they developed advanced methods of photographing falling bombs. So many bombs were dropped that you are not allowed off the paths because of the risk of unexploded ordnance. After WW2 they started on atom bomb development and the AWRE took over.

These are the Atom bomb research buildings, designed to contain blast in the event of accidents.

All very top secret.

I am waiting for the MOD police to call.

These are some of the last atom bombs worked on, carried by aircraft & helicopters, could be used as anti-submarine depth charges.

A lot of work was conducted on radar, the first of the chain of WW2 was constructed a few miles down the coastline. There was an advanced US/UK radar built on this site in the 1970's to detect missile launches in the USSR. It was code named Cobra Mist and didn't work. The politicians & engineers blamed the Russian spy trawlers, but I'm not sure, it sounds like an excuse no one could disprove.

This is the Black Beacon, an experimental aircraft radio navigation aide from the 1930's. 

There is a resident artist from Suffolk University who has workshop right at the end of the island, Sarah was working on pinhole camera shots that gave nod to the bomb ballistic photos and some interesting wind driven art works.

Orford Ness is now a nature reserve with hares, Chinese water deer, seals and a varied bird population. It's a desolate place with a kind of mysterious beauty.

FALAISE

 Falaise is a town where the Germans got squeezed between the armies that had landed at Omaha/Utah and those landing on the other 3 beaches. There were many tank battles in the build that mostly went the German's way with many allied tanks lost. The German Tiger & Panther tanks were superior to the allied Sherman's & Churchills. The Tiger was twice the weight of allied Sherman, as you can see.

The tank that really matched them in tank-tank battles was the Firefly which was a Sherman converted by 2 British officers to carry a 17 pounder anti-tank gun. It could out range the German tank guns & penetrate their armour. Using his Firefly together with 4 standard Sherman's, "Firefly Harris" destroys 5 enemy tanks with 5 shots.

The Canadians & Polish were involved and the Canadians suffered badly at the hands of Kurt Meyer's SS battalions. 20 of them were captured, interrogated & then murdered by Meyer's men. They were found at nearby Ardennes Abbey.

Kurt Meyer. He was captured, tried for war crimes, but released after 9 years.

Stanislaw Maczek, a much decorated Polish tank general. Smoked 40 a day - lived to be 102

William the Conqueror was born in Falaise, some his troop still there!

Coach, called Lulu was very comfortable. Grub in hotel good.

Once the Germans tried to flee from Falaise toward Paris they were slaughtered by artillery, rocket firing Typhoons & Thunderbolts. One RAF officer said he could smell the carnage in his cockpit at 6000 feet.

CANADIANS & FALAISE

 We visited Juno beach where the Canadians landed. This was equally as deadly as bloody Omaha. The Canadians did a better job of planning & getting armour ashore but still suffered badly from the well sited German bunker system. The bunkers were designed looking along the beach at each & not out to sea. Anyone caught in the crossfire between 2 bunkers was really in trouble.

This is the view from a bunker.

This is the same spot on 6 June 1944.

The Americans on Omaha suffered from sinking their tanks & also not having specialised weapons to deal with the dug in Germans.

This is an AVRE, Amoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers had a massive mortar that lobbed a shell on top of any dug in troops. It was like a dustbin of explosives sailing through the air.

STANDING WITH GIANTS

 The British memorial overlooking Gold Beach is very touching.

It has inscriptions of those who died & the others who survived. Many of the "giants" have crocheted or knitted poppies at their feet.

The personal touches of poems & letters written by the soldiers are something to see. The Mulberry Harbour which you can see in the top photo & in close up lower down was a very large harbour made of concrete caissons that were towed across the channel & moored to form 2 harbours, one on Omaha/Utah and this one off Arromanches on Gold. These were completed in only a few days and millions of tons of supplies were landed. Later in June they were severely damaged in a massive storm.

BRITS, CANADIANS PLUS OTHERS

 Mainly, Yanks, Brits & Canadians but you mustn't forget the contributions of the French, Polish, Dutch & others who fought on D-Day or the Air Forces & Navies of many nations. There was a touching memorial to Norwegians who had one of their warships torpedoed where many died.

We spent the morning looking at the earlier night attack by the paras & glider troops on the bridges over the river & canal at the eastern end of the beaches to secure the flanks & prevent German reinforcement reaching the area. The gliders were a spectacular success 5 of the 6 gliders landing within 100 yards of their targets with Pegasus bridge being taken within 15 minutes & held until relieved by the special forces under Lord Lovat later that day. It's a funny old world, the week before I had been to Tower Green by the Tower of London & a predecessor of Lord Lovat was the last person to be publicly beheaded there.

This is the grave of the first guy to be killed from the invasion on Pegasus bridge.

The Commonwealth cemeteries are nicer than the US for me, less stark & with personal touches like nice planting, details about the dead & personal inscriptions from the family.

This is the first liberated French place, the owner of the cafe that stands alongside Pegasus bridge met the commander of the gliders as they took the bridge. We had a couple of coffees there with a  guy from the DLI. Pretty pricey!

Piper Bill Millin, who accompanied Lovat in the relief force.

THE YANKS ARE COMING

 To Utah & Omaha beaches. We spent a day on the US operations on D-Day. Saving Private Ryan is largely fictitious with elements of fact in it. The US cemetery overlooking the beaches is something, absolutely immaculate with all the crosses looking westward to home.

They got into a real mess landing on Omaha, dropping the tanks & troops too early into deep water so most of the tanks sunk & the troops drowned.

We next went to the museum which was pretty good & then on to St Mere Eglise to learn how the US 82nd & 101st airborne got on before the beach landings.

This is portrayed in the film, The Longest Day & may not be true.

The outdoor loos are good here.

The airborne made a bit of a cods up of their glider & paratrooper drops getting them on the ground all over the place so they couldn't fight effectively & took ages to get organised. In the end successful. 

This is the guy from Band of Brothers

Some touching stories about medics who treated both allies & enemy alike under fire. Robert Wright & Kenneth Moore were two young soldiers, one with one week's training in first aid & the other with 3 week's training took over this church to treat the wounded, under fire when a mortar shell came through the roof but failed to explode.

The German cemetery is a bit different.

When you look at the beaches & the well sited bunkers it's no surprise to see what a difficult job it was just to survive the first onslaught.