Bayeux has one of the better museums about the battle for Normandy. You'll find here less on the D-Day landings but more on the battle that followed the landings. Take at least two hours to cover this museum. It is situated on the ring-road of Bayeux, on the south-westside. Opposite, to the north is the Bayeux War Cemetery, here are 4648 British Commonwealth soldiers buried. Across the road is the Bayeux Memorial, in the stones are the names of 1805 killed soldiers who's graves are unknown.

FROM BAYEUX TO THE NORTH (PORT-EN-BESSIN AND THE BATTERY OF LONGUES) FROM THE RING-ROAD AROUND BAYEUX TAKE THE D6 TO THE NORTH WEST TO PORT-EN-BESSIN.

A few hundred meters before your reach the roundabout of Port-en-Bessin stop on the right hand side of the road. Here is a more than unique museum. It contains only artefacts recovered from the sea that were lost during the invasion. Impressing here are the so called DD tanks (stands for; Duplex Drive). These tanks drove out of the landing crafts some miles out of shore and wade towards the beach. (see Hobart/Mulberry harbour) Not only DD tanks were recoverd, als other vehicles were retrieved from the sea, such as an M7 selfpropelled field gun. When this vehicle was recovered it contained under 2000 kilos of mud the preserved documents from John E. Glass.

TO PORT-EN-BESSIN:

At Port-en-Bessin follow the signes 'Le Port'. This harbour was a place of heavy fighting. Only on 7 June (D+1) the last Germans were driven out of there strongholds atop the dunes near the tower. After a barrage of fire from the navy vessel the HMS Emerald and a attack from, rocket armed, Typhoon fighters, commando's of the 47th RM cleared the hilly dunes. The harbour was from great importance.

This is the place were the fuel pipeline PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), see the picture below, from Southampton was brought ashore (70 miles!). From 14 June on, a daily 1000 tonnes of cargo was unloaded in Port-en-Bessin.

Return to the main road (D514) and turn left to Longues/Arromanches. Near the crossing at the church in Longues go left and follow the signs to 'Batterie de Longues'.

In September 1943 the construction of the four bunkers was started. Every bunker housed a rapid firing 155 mm ships cannon. In spite of 1500 tonnes of dropped bombs, the bunkers were hardly damaged. In the morning HMS Bulolo, with the command of the British XXX Corps on board, undertook a heavy shelling at the complex. From a distance of 10 km they shot in 20 minutes 144 grenades and silenced the battery. In the afternoon one of the battery's cannons was brought into life again and there was a duel of shelling between them and the French vessel George Leygues. The last managed to silence the battery at six o 'clock that evening. A few hundred meters in front of the bunkers is the range finding post, to control the fire for the guns. This is well worth the walk!