Lest we forget Europe's beaches of freedom

Films such as Saving Private Ryan have kindled the interest of a new generation in Second World War history. On the eve of D-Day, WALTER GLASER revisits the Normandy beaches.

Early in 1944 the forces of Hitler's armies had unchallenged possession of what they called Festung Europa - Fortress Europe. Giant guns embedded in seemingly impregnable positions on the cliffs of Normandy would, the German High Command assured themselves, blast any invading armada to smithereens.

But on the morning of June 6, 1944, their complacency was shattered. After a bombardment from the air and from large warships out at sea, the forces of the United States, Britain, Canada and Free France gained a foothold on the beaches of Normandy. It was the first step in freeing Western Europe.

Fifty-seven eventful years have passed. Old enemies have become the best of friends, colonialism is history, and the Western section of the Continent, now rebuilt, is on its tenuous way to becoming the "United States of Europe". New crises have replaced the old. Yugoslavia, South Africa, Somalia, some states of the former Soviet Union and the Mid-East are now the flashpoints. The world has doubled in population, the Russian ex-ally has turned to Cold War enemy, and then, hopefully, to friend again.

Today contented cows graze again on the lush pastures of Normandy and farmers again turn apples into Calvados. But, as you take an indepth look along the coast, you feel that the ghosts of 1944 are not completely exorcised.

From Caen we took the D515 through Ouistreham, now a busy channel-ferry port, to Riva-Bella and turned west along the coast. Here the ugly architecture is proof that, along this stretch of coast, all the original buildings had been destroyed during the landings. Their replacements, mainly 1950s to 70s vintage holiday homes, are sad relics of the immediate post-war period - one plainer and more unsightly than the next. In France, where architecture is an art-form and most buildings are visual expressions of joy and beauty, the contrast could not be more vivid.

This was the section of the coast known as Sword Beach, where French-Canadian regiments had stormed ashore. It was the first of the bloodied and historic Second World War landing beaches we were to see on this trip.

The next village, Colleville-Montgomery Plage, was named after the leader of the Anglo-French commandos that landed here. Then came La Breche d'Hermanville, where the old French battleship Corbet was scuttled off the coast to act as a breakwater during the landings.

As we drove past the stretch of seaside villages that continued the Sword and then Juno beachheads, reminders of D-Day were everywhere. Here was a monument, there a sign to a war cemetery. Gun emplacements, their artillery pieces long removed, would remain mute testimony of battles that had taken place.

Soon we were approaching Arromanches-les-Bains, the focal point of Gold Beach, with its more dramatic reminders of those fateful days.

This resort was where British forces had fought their way ashore. Here the ghosts of Allied invaders and German defenders still reach out to touch the heart and soul of the visitor. Half close your eyes, and you will find it easy to imagine being there on D-Day.

From the cliff one can still see remnants of the Mulberry Harbour B (for British) which the Allies constructed of floating caissons on their side of the Channel and then towed across that waterway at 6km/h. The logistics were awesome - 146 caissons, using 600,000 tonnes of concrete, 33 jetties and 16km of floating roads were all towed across and put into place. The artificial harbour thus created enabled the landing of 9000 tonnes of material each day during the critical period when no other harbours were under Allied control.

Nearby is the Musee du Debarquement (museum of the invasion). The museum has bilingual explanations of the landing operation, scale models of ships and equipment involved, including the Mulberry Harbour. The museum also has a movie theatre which screens footage of the landings, and graphically shows the horrific storm which sprang up within days of the completion of Mulberry, nearly bringing the harbour, and thus the whole landings, to grief.

Next we took the port to Port-en-Bessin, again turning west to drive along the road that followed Omaha Beach. This is where the Americans made their major landings, scaling the daunting 27m cliffs that end near Pointe du Hoc. Here, overlooking the landing beaches of the D-Day invasion, we entered one of the German concrete bunkers, a grim reminder of the almost impossible task of the invading forces that charged ashore here, both sides covering the area with a withering field of fire.

On the beach below are rusting landing barges, stretching in a row from cliff to surf. This beach was the sector known as Dog Green, where, of the 116th Regiment, 70 per cent of all officers and NCOs were dead or wounded within minutes of landing. Some distance out to sea were the remaining caissons of Mulberry A (for American), the second floating harbour which enabled supplies to be brought up to the landing forces.

This section had been battered by the storm, the worst in 40 years, that almost destroyed the temporary harbour on June 19, 1944.

Shortly afterwards we arrived at a symmetrical field of manicured lawns and Carrara-marble Crosses and Stars of David. This was the US War Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.

Seemingly endless, the rows of graves emphasised the magnitude of the slaughter, and made our visit a humbling and thought-provoking experience. Men landed, fought and moved on. But for each of the 10,000 young Americans buried here, this was the end of their journey. Anyone thinking of starting another war should be made to visit such a cemetery and to read the headstone inscriptions. The experience might be a guarantee of peace.

This is only one of a scattering of war cemeteries to be found in this part of France. Five kilometres from Osmanville is a German war cemetery, where 21,500 Germans are buried.

We finished our tour of the Normandy Invasion area at Utah beach, the fifth American landing beach. The American Fourth Division faced murderous defensive shelling from coastal artillery as they stormed ashore near La Madeleine and les Dunes de Varreville, later making contact with air-borne troops dropped further inland.

A German artillery blockhouse at La Madeleine is one of the few completely preserved defence posts along this coast. It is now a memorial to the US Army's Special Brigade of Engineers.

As we looked across the water towards England for the last time before returning to Paris, it was easy to imagine the scene on June 6, 1944 when, as daylight slowly dawned, 4266 Allied vessels, filled with soldiers and material, loomed out of the morning mist to fill the year's longest day with the battle that would herald the arrival of freedom to Europe.