Normandy Beaches

The Normandy beaches in northwestern France were the location of D-Day during World War II, the historic simultaneous landings of Allied troops that liberated Western Europe and eventually put an end to the Nazi Reich. On Day 4 of Odyssey’s Anglo French Tour: Normandy, Brittany and the Channel Islands, our small group spends a full day on the D-Day beaches with a battlefield expert.

History of Normandy

Even prior to the D-Day landings, the Normandy coast was the site of incredible human drama and history, battered by the raids of successive foreign rulers. Conquered by Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), Normandy became part of Roman Gaul. During the 4th and 5th centuries AD, raiding Germanic tribes from the north-east wore down Roman rule, and in the late 5th century the region passed to the Franks under Clovis, King of the Franks. Clovis converted to Christianity, strengthening a faith already established in Rouen, and after his death in 511 the region became part of the Frankish kingdom of Neustria.

From the 9th century onwards, the Norsemen (Vikings) led regular raids into Normandy. In 911 one of their leaders, Rollo, signed a treaty with the King of West Francia and Lotharingia (Lorraine), Charles the Simple. Charles belonged to the Carolingian dynasty and ceded parts of what is now northern France to Rollo. The Norsemen settled in the region, adopting the French language and customs. This area would become known as “Normandy”, and the Viking settlers “Normans”.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Harold swearing an oath to William of Normandy. Harold later accepted the English crown as Harold II, and William readied his forces for invasion. Photo source.

After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror (Duke William of Normandy) became King of England, and Normandy became part of a larger Norman/English domain. It reverted to France in 1204 when it was re-taken by Philippe Auguste.

The Hundred Years’ War gave the English brief possession at various times. The Hundred Years’ War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the French House of Valois. There were two points of conflict: one, the duchy of Guyenne (or Aquitaine) belonged to the kings of England but remained a fiefdom of the French crown, and the English kings wanted exclusive ownership; two, as the closest relatives of the last direct king of the House of Capet (Charles IV, who died in 1328), the kings of England from 1337 claimed the crown of France.

In 1450, Normandy finally returned to France and the duchy ceased in 1469, with the French crown ruling it as a province. The 17th century saw much of the exploration to the New World depart from the ports of Normandy.

Normandy Invasion and the D-Day Landings

Although it escaped the ravages of the First World War, Normandy did not fare well during the Second. As the Germans advanced to the coast in June 1940, fire destroyed much of Rouen’s old quarter between the cathedral and the Seine, and in 1944 bombing and fighting during the Battle of Normandy left much of the region in ruins.

Normandy features steep, 100-metre high cliffs (falaises) of the Pays de Caux (the “land of chalk”) extending to the coast of the English Channel.

The chalk cliffs and arches of Étretat, on the Pays de Caux coast of Normandy, France

Normandy can be divided into upper and lower regions, each with distinctive landscapes and topography. The coastline of the Cotentin Peninsula in the north-west is much indented with rocky inlets; east of the peninsula, much of the Calvados coast is flat and sandy, and in the far south-west the bay of Mont St Michel has some of the largest tides in Europe.

Panoramic view of famous Le Mont Saint-Michel tidal island on a sunny day with blue sky and clouds, Normandy, northern France.

Most of the beaches where the landings occurred lie on the Côte du Calvados, with Utah Beach further west on the Cotentin Peninsula. By the end of the Battle of Normandy that followed the landings, part of the Allied campaign code-named “Operation Overlord”, very few towns in Lower Normandy were left intact. On June 6, 1944, thousands of US, British, and Canadian paratroopers and infantry on landing craft and various air, water, and land vessels landed on five separate Normandy beaches, code-named:

• Utah Beach
• Omaha Beach
• Gold Beach
• Juno Beach
• Sword Beach

Some of the American paratroopers dropped behind Utah Beach, at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, drowned in marshland the Germans had deliberately flooded, and the heaviest losses of any beach came at Omaha Beach. The Allied forces suffered more casualties against German attack as the troops moved further inland from the Normandy beaches to Paris.

Arromanches les Bains, seafront beach and remains of the artificial harbour, used on D-Day in World War II. Normandy, France.

By the end of August 1944, Paris had been liberated and the German armies in Normandy defeated, and the invading forces re-organised for the drive into Germany, where they would eventually meet with Soviet forces advancing from the east to bring an end to the Nazi Reich.

Remembering the D-Day Landings

Today, remnants of the “longest day” remain on the Normandy beaches, from the military cemeteries, the final resting places of the fallen soldiers, to the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy.

The year 2019 marked the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and in Normandy it was commemorated with several events, including a silent vigil and a re-enactment of the paratroopers’ descent to northern France, jumping from transport planes wearing World War II uniforms. In June 2024, the 80th anniversary brought veterans and world leaders back to Normandy for an international ceremony at Omaha Beach, and commemorations are held along the beaches every June.

Seeing the Normandy beaches on our Anglo French tour

On Odyssey’s Anglo French Tour: Normandy, Brittany and the Channel Islands, the D-Day beaches have a day of their own. The group travels from Paris to Bayeux on Day 2, by way of Monet’s garden at Giverny and Rouen, and tours the two abbeys of Caen on Day 3. Day 4 is a full day on the beaches with a battlefield expert, visiting Omaha Beach, the D-Day Landing Museum and a German artillery battery. The story returns near the end of the tour, with a morning at the D-Day museum in Portsmouth on Day 21. Our Normandy D-Day beaches itinerary follows a similar route from Bayeux, and our 22-day Normandy, Brittany and Channel Islands itinerary sets out the whole journey.

Articles about the Normandy Beaches and France published by Odyssey Traveller.

The following list of articles published by Odyssey Traveller for mature travellers to maximise their knowledge and enjoyment of France when visiting:

• Normandy, Brittany and Channel Islands: A 22-Day Itinerary
• Normandy D-Day Beaches Itinerary: A Guided Route from Bayeux
• Questions About France
• Historic Loire Valley
• The Loire Valley in France
• Southwest France
• The Elegant Arcades of Paris
• The Ten Best Art Galleries in Europe
• Living at Versailles
• Conserving Versailles
• Bayeux Tapestry and the Norman Conquest

External articles to assist you on your visit to the Normandy Beaches and France.

• D-Day
• Normandy Invasion
• D-Day and the Battle of Normandy (Normandy Tourism)
• Pictures of Utah Beach
• Photos of the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer
• The strange tanks that helped build D-Day