Wargaming Your Way Across Europe

Part IV: France

by Charley Elsden

"God Bless The Americans!"

    --French entry, Visitor's Book Paratroop Museum, St. Mere Eglise

Our second sojourn in France began with my chance to try the delicious mussels in St. Omer, a pleasant old town not far from the coast, where German panzers had runbled during their initial blitzkrieg in 1940. Did you know that "Bistro" meaning "hurry up," was a term derived from the Russian expression, heard in France after its postNapoleonic occupation. But this was traditional food served at regular pace. So when the bus driver and tour manager left, I decided to wolf down the last two dozen or so, get our check, and trot back to the bus--we had a schedule to keep. Luckily, my tourist French was keeping pace with our modest needs.

The first major site was one you've probably never heard about. Bunker Eperlecques (Kraftwerk Nord West or KNW) is still hidden in a forest in northern France, where technical experts from Peenemunde and the Todt Organization placed it. When construction lagged, slave labor from many allied nations was added to the work force. KNW was to launch V2 rockets against England as soon as possible, by order of The Fuhrer! The site would include a railroad siding and a factory for liquid oxygen. But RAF photo recon found it.

On 27 August, 1943, an air bombardment from 185 B-17s devastated the area. Among the many plaques to those who died here is one to a French fighter pilot who was shot down while escorting the bombers. Another is to the Jewish prisoners who perished working there. Construction continued, but so did the air missions finally with 12.000 lb Tallboy bombs. The site never quite became operational.

You walk through the forest, passing WWII vehicles, and even a V1 launch track set up for comparison. Then you emerge into a clearing. The bunker is like a giant structure from a science fiction movie. looming at 35 metres wide, 75 meters long, and 22 meters high (another 11 meters is sunk underground); only a third of its projected size when completed. It also reminds you of a lost Mayan city in the jungle, perhaps. You walk down under a ramp, past doors that weigh 213 tons each. Inside it is cold and damp. Giant chambers are in place, with a full scale cardboard rocket on one wall showing where the launch site would have been. The end of the free world we know today could have come from this place, had it been ready a bit earlier. You walk away quietly, thankful to be able to walk away at all.

A smaller invading army landed in France from England in 1415 AD with their less deadly missle launchers--the long bow. this design motif is cleverly worked into the doorhandles and very framework of the visitors center at Agincourt (Fr. Azincourt), where one can see that those longbows were indeed long, and the French crossbows were heavy. The field is pretty, although there is not much to see there. A minor site, but well worth a short stop. Medieval warriors in the form of road signs become plenfiful as you approach, as if an army is gathering. On the way south are many other sites we don't have time for: the WWI Somme battlefield, Crecy, and Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burned, and the ruined castle of Robert the Devil. Here the bizarre local cows, all white in color, graze in the meadows.

We finished our long road trip at Caen, to begin our excursion in the single most interesting trip area the next day. Like Anzio-Nettumo in Italy but on a much larger scale, the Normandy coast is today dotted with picturesque little resort towns, and almost every one of these pretty towns has a small museum of some kind. From specific actions to objects salvaged by a diver from under the water (including entire AFVs), this provides an interesting and usually non duplicative plethora of historical exhibits. The D-Day invasion areas are today dotted with picturesque seaside resort towns with lovely shops. A number of fine historical D-Day guide books, maps, and companion books are available for travelers. (For some specifics, see the bibliography below). Where some focus on what there is to see and do, photo essays in color, or historical outlines, others may suggest detailed walking or driving tours with maps for the visitor., or even detailed diagrams of beach obstacles, of which there are at least a dozen types, and the German fortifications at various locations. These are not dusty old volumes, but up to date and well written narratives. Here, the American flag and the Sherman tank are a permanent part of the landscape. Every road sign you see points you to someplace you have heard of from some history account or film!

For an example of guide book information , did you notice that in the film Saving Private Ryan, the tree trunk log obstacles are facing backwards? They should have their low end toward the sea, carrying mines or metal hooks to rip the guts out of landing craft at high tide! But it is an easy mistake to make, since they look like they could actually block an incoming vehicle with their mass the other way. When I was to look at various media celebrating the next June 6 anniversary back home, I saw two examples of the log obstacles. Oddly enough, they were placed correctly in a "Peanuts" cartoon showing Snoopy paddleing under one in a GI helmet. But that night they seemed to be placed the wrong way again in the History Channel program: Modern Marvels. The Atlantic Wall

I suppose now you'd like to hear something wrong with The Longest Day? Ye gods, is nothing sacred to you people? Very well, here goes: the casino at Ouistraham was actually leveled before the invasion purposefully by the Germans.. The battle for the bunker however, did take place on the site. However, Kieffer's French No. 4 Commando assault was actually filmed down the coast at Port-en-Bessin down on Gold Beach.

Other interesting trivia: most of the German guns except the heaviest were actually emplaced sideways rather than pointing out to sea, so that they could rake the beaches from the flank, and be more protected from Allied Naval gunfire. The German Ost battalions made up of Russian volunteers included many Chechens.

The Memorial Museum at Caen (Fr: 'Cuh', as opposed to Cannes, which is 'Can' with a hard 'h') is one of the largest on the area, with its British Typhoon airplane mounted on the ceiling of the huge entrance hall. Here are several modern floors of exhibits to help visitors understand the ebb and flow of WWII. Some original equipment and a few vehicles can be seen, but most are pictoral or video displays.

The coastal area has many small museums, some built around the actual battle sites (see Appendix below). We began our visit on the extreme northern invasion site in the British sector, and worked our way south. First stop Pegasus Bridge and the Pegasus Memorial Museum. Pegasus was the divisional insignia of the British Paras. The bridge itself is set on the museum grounds, a small drawbridge replaced now by a larger span. Inside are exhibits on the British Paratroops of 6th Airborne, including dioramas, dummies, and documents. Here are the tales of how the lightly armed British took the local areas and held them until relieved. Nearby stand the usual AFVs of WWII. Although personally, if my name was Pine-Coffin, like one of the British Leftenant Colonels, I think I'd be looking to get into another line of work. If that was my favorite British name, the Canadian prize goes to the skipper of the Canadian 8th Brigade on Juno: Brigadier K. G. Blackader!

Just over the modern bridge is Cafe Gondree, Hostess Arlette, who served us lunch and a bottle of Calvados, the local apple brandy, is the daughter of the famous family, documented in various books, who worked for the Resistance with the British. She like to say her house was the first one liberated on the morning of 5-6 June on D-Day (Fr: J-Jour). We gave her a copy of our tour bumper sticker "I Brake For Higher Weight Class" (with silhouette of tank, a la Command Decision) which she gracefully agreed to add to her large collection of visiting organization stickers displayed in her windows.

Driving past the British beaches on the coast, we stopped at Battery Longues, with its bunkers and three of four of its 10" guns, between Juno and Utah Beaches. The last gun is visible only as a section driven deep into the ground. Forward on the cliff is the command bunker used in The Longest Day scene where Pluskat first peers out at the Allied armada. (While this must have happened to some German who was on watch that morning, the real Pluskat was off in Bayeux with a babe).

Next we went to the Musee du Debarquement at Arromanches. From here one can see the remains of the Mulberry, the artificial pier that was used to offload crucial supplies. There is a very nice view of the cliffs down the coast, as the town is on a height overlooking the ocean. In the museum, a large diorama model of this unique equipment holds thousands of dollars worth of Solido toy WWII vehicles, busy supporting the landings. Many of the Solido vehicles were for sale in a shop across the street.

Omaha Beach was flat, terribly exposed to the cliffs above. We went to the small museum here, seeing more combat dummies with original equipment. At the level entrance to the beach, we paused at the modern abstract monument. Too early in the season, for swimmers, we and other visitors then wandered about on the beach, innocently reflecting the warm sunshine.. Except at such an entrance, here you look up at the bluffs looming above you. Or you can stare out to sea, watch the waves come in, and think about the waves of men desperately trying to get ashore here. There are only two kinds of tourists on this beach--those who stroll around in bathing suits, dipping into the water here and there, living only in the present, and those of us with binoculars and cameras, imagining June 6, 1944.

From Pointe du Hoc, where the American Rangers climbed, one looks down at the sea. A visitor is swallowed up in the shellhole of a 16" gun from a US battleship. On the cliff top, sections of trenches still remain by the edge, although erosion is taking its toll. Bunkers and remains of bunkers stand as they have since the invasion. One large gun on display shows the muscle of the defense.

At Utah Beach, only shallow sand dunes border the landing zone. This area too has its own small museum. At the entrance, where most of the exhibits have a vehicle or two, a large blue Buffalo amphibious tractor stands with its US Navy insignia. Facing the water is a small "Tobruk" ((Ger: "Ringstand"), a 1-2 man mini-bunker perfect for a machine gun or mortar position, or a very well protected sniper. Rommel had begun to put real teeth into the Atlantic Wall defenses in Normandy toward the end.

Everyone has their own private associations with the Normandy Invasion. My uncle Leo Meersand, one of the last Jews smuggled out of Germany, taught infantry weapons use up and down England, landed here on D Plus 6, fought through the entire European campaign, and ended up interrogating German prisoners of war. My cousin Jim and I bought 29th Infantry Division patches in his honor.. Jim has a photo of his father, a young soldier bundled up in a greatcoat, somewhere in Belgium during The Bulge. We thought of him often during the trip, as he had just passed away this year..

The most well known town square in Normandy is that of St. Mere Eglise. On the familiar church steeple is a dummy of a US paratrooper John Steele, hanging from his shroud lines. In the Paratroop Museum one can see a C-47 and a Waco Glider, surrounded by uniforms and equipment of the US Airborne. There is even an exhibit on the making of the film "The Longest Day," with photos taken in the square of the filming! Outside is an Easy Eight Sherman. The tank stands guard out the window of the cozy restaurant next door, where I rejoin the group to have pizza with lots of interesting items on it. Outside in the square are the old fashioned lamp posts, and you can almost hear John Wayne saying "Cut those bodies down! Get them down!"

No trip to Normandy would be complete without a stop at the lovely medieval town of Bayeux. The Tapestry itself is 76 yards long and 18 inches high. Although its a little hard to find in its museum, it is rewarding to finally see the real thing. The story of the Norman invasion of England (1066 A.D.) in contemporary pictures of embroidery (wool on linen) is an astonishing piece of work. I've always liked the ships best of all. Each section of this masterpiece shows its own charm, whether it is important nobles discussing diplomacy, workmen gathering supplies, or warriors fighting. This is an art treasure that the historically minded visitor can especially enjoy. This museum had the classiest gift shop on the entire trip. When I showed the 30 minute video back home on William the Conqueror, several pals would ask for copies to be made.

Heading to our southernmost point on our tour, we arrived in the magnificent Loire Valley, famous to general tourists for its chateaux and wine tours. We now approached one the best and lesser known major military exhibits of all, the French Army Tank Museum (Musee de Blindes) at Samur (pronounced Sow-mure). This is also horse country, where the French had their cavalry school. As in other armies, cavalry became armor. Here, in a setting quite comparable to the British major AFV museum at Bovington we were to see later on, is almost every major vehicle from WWII. They had almost everything from every major power except Japanese. This included French, British, German, Russian, Italian, and US. Our bus driver even saw the modern Dutch APC he drove in that army in his service days. It was of all places set up in the children's activity room, where they could enter the lowered back ramp to enter and sit in the troop compartment! Robert was an interesting fellow. He had been an extra in the film "A Bridge Too Far, when in the service. He reported in his Dutch accent that "One day I was a German, the next day British, running around going Bam-Bam-Bam!"

Most rare of all were the French heavies from WWI--the Schneider with its mgs and the St. Chaumond, with its hull mounted 75mm gun. Cut away sections allowed you to look inside. You can't even get models kits of these, let alone ever see the real thing! This museum was one of the high points of the trip. There's nothing like checking out a tricicle mounted machine gun from the beginning of the century, and then having your photo taken next to a King Tiger (and that's a BIG tank). On the rooftop, the American flag flies along with the European ones.

On the way to Paris for our flight out to London, we saw hours of the fantastically beautiful countryside of the Loire. Although I took a break at our hotel (a number of us were sick off and on during the trip), the gang had dinner with local gamer Francis Garnier. Bill thought it was funny that he put his shaking head in his hands dramatically when discussing the French 1940 and Vietnam campaigns! The floodlit tour of Paris that night of the city's famous monuments was delightful, according to both Bill and Jim. All together, the French were polite and friendly, their country is beautiful, and the food and drink incomparable--you can gladly make a meal out of bread and cheese and wine, which you would not expect if you're normally a meat and potatoes type of guy. Despite this moment of international tension over the war in Iraq, the trip was magnifique!

Wargaming Your Way Across Europe 2003: A Tour Commentary

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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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