D-Day: Operation Overlord

D-Day: Operation Overlord

Breaching the Atlantic Wall

Military History and Battlefield Tours

6th - 10th October 2024
(5 Days)

Expert Historian : Dr Simon Trew

Tour price: £2,295

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D-Day: Operation Overlord

Breaching the Atlantic Wall

Military History and Battlefield Tours

Your Holiday Essentials

6th - 10th October 2024
(5 Days)

Return Channel Tunnel coach crossing, four-star hotel, expert historian and tour manager, entrance fees and meals as indicated.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Simon Trew

Incl. travel from UK: £2,295
Room sole occupancy supplement: £275
Non-refundable deposit: £450

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

Tour Introduction

Our five-day tour examines carefully selected events from 6th – 9th June 1944, appreciating the plight of the common soldier as he scrambled ashore amidst murderous German fire, his generation fighting to ensure the freedom that we enjoy today. What was it like to parachute into the night skies above Normandy or land by glider next to Pegasus Bridge at Ranville a few minutes after midnight? How did Colonel Rudder's Rangers scale the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc? What was the experience of American soldiers struggling through the surf at Omaha Beach, alongside renowned war photographer Robert Capa, or British assault troops faced with devastating enemy fire at the eastern end of Gold Beach? At the surviving German coastal battery position at Longues Sur Mer, we hear how terrified German gunners duelled with fearsome warships from their emplacements in the ‘Atlantic Wall’.

Background

On the morning of Tuesday 6th June, the largest amphibious invasion in history breached the defences of the Atlantic Wall, opening the way for the Second Front and contributing to the final defeat of Hitler's Third Reich. The flanks of ‘Operation Overlord’ were secured by audacious airborne landings: in the west by the Americans around Ste-Mere-Eglise, to the east by the British near the River Orne. Between them, Allied troops landed on five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, with varying degrees of success. Some forces were able to thrust inland immediately, others found themselves having to contend with withering German fire, a rising tide and an increasingly crowded beach.

Highlights

  • Told from the soldiers' perspective
  • Visit Pegasus Bridge, the site of the British glider-borne assault
  • Examine the fight for the Merville Battery
  • Visit the site of the US airborne landing at Ste-Mere-Eglise
  • Explore La Fiere causeway, scene of a desperate four-day battle
  • Spend time at Utah Beach, Gold Beach, Juno Beach & Omaha Beach
  • Explore the German battery with its extant guns at Longues sur Mer
  • Visit to the German battery at Pointe Du Hoc
  • Spend time at the American National Cemetery and memorial at St Laurent
  • Explore Bayeux's Battle of Normandy Museum

What's Included

  • Return Channel Tunnel coach crossing
  • 4 Star Hotel
  • Expert historian throughout providing a daily variety of talks, presentations and Q&A
  • Dedicated Tour Manager
  • Dinner parties hosted by your expert historian and tour manager
  • The company of like-minded travelers
  • Helpful and friendly travel advice
  • Meals as indicated in the itinerary
  • Two drinks i,e wine or beer at each dinner and a welcome drink on first evening
  • Entrance fees for sites included in itinerary
  • Tour information booklet
  • Modern, comfortable, air-conditioned coach
  • All taxes and gratuities

"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

General Eisenhower

Itinerary

Day 1: Outward travel
Assemble at Ebbsfleet International Station and travel by coach to Bayeux via the Channel Tunnel on Le Shuttle, picnic lunch en-route. Check in to our hotel for 4 nights. Welcome drinks before dinner. (L,D).

Day 2: The British Sector
To Pegasus Bridge, the site of the British glider-borne assault, followed by the fight for the Merville Battery. Continue to La Riviere and Gold Beach to follow the exploits of 69th Infantry Brigade and learn how the only D-Day Victoria Cross was won. (B,D)

Day 3: The British and American Sectors
We visit the site of the US airborne landing at Ste-Mere-Eglise and the La Fiere causeway, scene of a desperate four-day struggle to establish control over a critical crossing of the River Merderet. After a brief stop at Utah Beach, we visit Port-en-Bessin, captured by 47 RM Commando, and the German battery with its extant guns at Longues sur Mer. (B,D)

Day 4: The American Sector
We visit the German battery at Pointe Du Hoc, an area preserved as it was in 1944. Then on to several sites at Omaha Beach before ending our day at the American National Cemetery and memorial at St Laurent. (B,D)

Day 5: Bayeux
Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, the largest British cemetery in Normandy, and the nearby war museum. Return to Ebbsfleet International Station via the Channel Tunnel on Le Shuttle. Picnic lunch en-route. (B,L)

Recommended Reading List

Dr Simon Trew

Dr Simon Trew

Dr Simon Trew worked as a lecturer in the Department of War Studies at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 1993 to 2022. He was deputy head of department from 2002-2012 and acting head in 2013-2014. In September 2022 he retired to pursue new projects. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on British relations with the Yugoslav resistance movements during the Second World War, and lectured at the University of Keele before moving to Sandhurst. Since 1994 he has developed an enthusiastic interest in the Normandy campaign, travelling to France on many occasions to carry out research or to deliver battlefield studies to military and civilian groups.

Read more

Photo Gallery

  • Our guide in action at Port en Bessin
  • Utah Beach
  • Omaha Beach Statue
  • Omaha beach from the U.S. National Cemetery
  • Memorial to the missing at Bayeux War Cemetery
  • longues-sur-mer battery
  • Our 2019 group outside the Bayeux Campaign museum!
  • Bayeux War Cemetery
  • Bayeux War Cemetery

Video

Your Holiday Essentials

6th - 10th October 2024
(5 Days)

Return Channel Tunnel coach crossing, four-star hotel, expert historian and tour manager, entrance fees and meals as indicated.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Simon Trew

Incl. travel from UK: £2,295
Room sole occupancy supplement: £275
Non-refundable deposit: £450

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

Tour Review

Take a look at some of the images taken on our most recent tour

Photo Gallery

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