Remembrance La Fière, June 6h 1944. The site, today.

[Nansouty]

I spent a few days in Normandy, walking some landing beaches and battle sites. Of special interest to me was the site of La Fière. There the 82nd Airborne stopped a German counterattack before crossing the river and moving on to Cauquigny on the west bank.

The position of the bridge (1) relative to Ste Mère l’Eglise. It’s easy to see why the position was so important on June 6th, flank-guarding the W flank of Operation Overlord. This is where a first German armored counterattack took place (red arrow)

A view of the road, looking W. You can see the bridge over the Merderet and the meadows on both sides of the road were flooded and unpassable to vehicles.

The view from the 82nd Airborne position : the 57mm AT gun must have been positioned there. You have a commanding view of the road on which the German Beute Panzers (R 35) were compelled to run.

Closer view of the bridge. A Bazooka team was positioned behind the parapet.

The Merderet nowadays taken from the bridge: seemingly such a small affair… in 1944, at that point it ran through marches, complicating offensive operations in both directions.
Norwards

Southward

The bridge from the west. Some buildings helped the defense

A view of the All American position from the road. On top of the knoll, you will find some commemorative monuments

To Airborne forces

And to the 8th Air Force

 

[Jake84]

Excellent post and photos @Nansouty!

I was in Normandy in March this year need to scour in my phone and find something worthy and somehow relevant. Thanks.

ETA:

Handful of photos from Arromaches les Bain and the landing beaches - Omaha beach here. Last photo at the bottom is the Pointe du Hoc:

 

[Nansouty]

We've been to Omaha beach as well, but the weather was much hazier on that day... The Pointe du Hoc was really blurry, barely discernible, but just enough so that I could point out what a dangerous flanking position it was.
There is also a nice museum a few yards from the beach. My camera was somewhat unhelpful, so i could retrieve but 2 pics i took there, but they are not the least interesting IMO. First an 88mm 71 cal Pak 43. That thing is huge, the car in front gives the scale... sure, it could kill any Allied tank from afar, but there was no way you could pull it back in a hasty retreat, or change its facing quickly if needed (though there was a version on a similar base as the 88mm flak gun)

Also, for modelling purpose, a photo of a US tanker helmet in mint condition, with goggles. I see now what I painted wrong.