Page 12 - PGA Community News - June '20

Page 12, PGA C.A.N.! June 2020 June 2020
Normandy, Home Of D-Day

By Don Kiselewski, years of battles that ended
MCC, D.S., Palm Beach in the year 911. In that year,
Gardens Travel Leaders Charles the Simple conceded
Battle sites hold a some western territory to
unique place in the heart Rollo, who in return swore
of Americans. We visit homage to Charles, accepted
the locations and attempt baptism and agreed to
to picture the actions and defend his kingdom against
events that surrounded the other Vikings. Normandy,
confrontation. We focus on the duchy of Northmen
a picture in our mind’s eye (or Normans) was thus
of how it must have been created. The 14th and 15th
during the heat of the conflict. At memorials like Pearl centuries again saw this
Harbor, we wonder in amazement at the oil that is still area in conflict, this time
floating to the surface from the Battleship USS Arizona with the British. During this
that lies below the water. And, in Normandy, we crawl confrontation, the French
through the concrete bunkers that formed the Atlantic expelled the invaders,
Wall and stare in amazement at the remains of the concrete sending them back across
structures that were towed from England and sunk at the English Channel, only
Arromanches to form the Mulberry Harbour. to welcome them with open
One would have to be oblivious to not realize the arms some 500 years later The rolling hills and cliffs of Normandy where much of the D-Day battle took place
attention that our media has paid to this world-shaping when they were liberated
event, perhaps the most important battle of World War from Hitler. of years, increasing in thickness and density. The hand-
II. June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, was the launch The white (chalk) cliffs of Dover are reflected on the to-hand fighting that took place in these hedgerows was
day for the final drive to expel Hitler and his forces south side of the channel in the Le Havre and Cherbourg some of the most costly of the war.
from dominance in Europe and perhaps the world – quite area. The waterfront between these two locations varies The Orne River cuts Normandy in two, making a
possibly the most important date in the 20th century. The from flat, wide-open beaches with minimal dunes, much major natural obstacle. The bridge crossing at Bénouville
consequences of the events that occurred on the beaches the same as we have here in Palm Beach County, to an near Caen was a key ingredient of the Allied Invasion
and battlefields of Normandy, France, changed the destiny area where the beaches are quite narrow. In these narrow on D-Day. By gaining control of this bridge, Rommel’s
of the world. The history speaks for itself, however the areas, there is an initial dune line backed up by steep cliffs. Panzer Divisions lost the access to reinforce the German
emotional impact to visitors of these historic beaches is In some locations, these cliffs are in excess of 200 feet. It troops defending the beaches, and were confined to the
simply remarkable. was just this type of beach that confronted the American eastern portion of Normandy. Control of the bridge also
The lands along the 50 or so miles of the Baie de la troops at Omaha. The Germans greeted them from dug-in, gave the Allies the pathway from the beaches to Paris.
Seine, between the Cherbourg (or Cotentin) Peninsula and concrete-reinforced, heavy artillery positions that formed A few moments after midnight on D-Day, British
the mouth of the Seine River, underwent a coded name the Atlantic Wall. German units commanded these catbird troops of the 5th Airborne Division, using three gliders,
change for the D-Day invasion, which in some instances positions that made it so difficult to secure and cost so landed silently at this key bridge location. Within minutes,
have marked the area forever. The code names, Utah many lives in the effort. the bridge had been captured by this small courageous
and Omaha, used to define the beaches of the American Behind the reaches of the shore lies the gently rolling force, which was also able to withstand the German
involvement, along with Mulberry, the name given to countryside which on the eastern end of the beaches counterattack until their efforts were reinforced by troops
the prefabricated harbor built at Arromanches, for the is open and fairly clear from landowner to landowner. coming overland. The Pegasus (winged horse) was the
invasion points can still be found on many maps today. It is the western areas, south of the beaches at Utah symbol of this British airborne unit and from this insignia
However, Gold, Juno and Sword, the cryptic names for and Omaha, that the land parcels are divided into thick
the British and Canadian landing sites, have disappeared. hedgerows. These hedgerows have stood for hundreds Normandy on page 13
Normandy has had a long history of invasions
and even received its name as a result of nearly 50

The Pegasus Bridge at Bénouville

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