Anyone notice I was gone ? Got back from a week in Normandy staying in Hermanville Sur Mer. Got ferry from Dover-Dunkerque with DFDS , what was Norfolkline. Booked it earlier this year for £57. Had a cottage from Welcome Cottages for £280 for the week. Ref number W13125 Almost called the trip off due to the fuel situation in France caused by the strikes over the retitement age change. Glad we didn't as there was fuel to be had at the sevice stations on the autoroutes & at the larger supermarkets. Even so we thought it best that once fuelled up for the return home we'd stay fairly local & really get to know the area. Having only been down that way once before back in October 2005 when we stayed down near Falaise. Thanks to Mike L for supplying me with some then & now pics from ATB & Paul Reed for supplying war diaries. about 200+ photos to come. Here's the first one. B 5018 British troops passing a First World War memorial in Hermanville-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944. Me & my boys Sun 24th Oct 2010
Church in Hermanville. Then & Now. This plaque on Church wall tels of BBC Braodcasts soon after Liberation. At Midday on the 14th June 1944 the BBC recorded and broadcast the sound of two bells of this belfrey the third having been hit by a shell. On the 18th June 1944 in this same church the first mass in liberated territory was celebrated this Mass was broadcast by the BBC to the world to whom it brought a message of encouragement and hope
Paul mentioned the well in this thread. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-battlefields-today/19964-well-st-pierre-hermanville.html The info panel he mentioned was nowhere to be seen though. I got my Then pic of the church from a book in our cottage.
Then picture from After The Battle’s ‘D-Day then and now’ Volume 2 Some German POWs escorted back towards the beach through Hermanville.
Another one , on south side of Hermanville looking north Universal Carrier pointing towards Colleville.
Thanks chaps. Just worked out where a Then & Now was I was after but didn't get it last week, drat! Lots , lots more to come, must go & do stuff in the real world.....
Those were from last Sunday morning, had lunch then walked down to SWORD Queen at La Brèche d'Hermanville. Opps , angle not quite right on this one.
Oh!.. have you been away? Can't say I missed you Owen!! However, looks like you had a good time. Some great "then and now" photos mate, Keep'em coming!
Some of the memorials at La Breche. 3rd Div Insignia. 13/18 Hussars RA. 1 South Lancs. 2 East Yorks 5 King's Norwegian Navy. Allied Navies.
This Centaur is parked up next to the road at La Breche. There used to be a Churchill AVRE nearby but it's gone. They have put it's plaque by the Centaur, sure to confuse the unknowing non-tankists. The wrong plaque. That's Sunday afternoon done. We walked back to the cottage in Hermanville & had dinner. I popped around to the Cemetery again to get some more pics. I'll post them here later. We've a weeks more pics to go....
