Private Tour WW2 D-day Canadians in Normandy (PRIVATE TOUR)

As you booked a Private tour, the driver guide will pick you up around 06:15 am at your hotel location in Paris.

You will travel aboard a comfortable and air-conditioning minivan (7 passengers max).

Expected time for being pickup at your hotel: From 06 :00 am till 06 :30 am

Due to new traffic rules in Paris which ban on the majority of vehicular traffic crossing the city center in 2022, Hotel Pick-up and Drop-off would be operated only in the following listed Paris districts: 75008, 75007, 75006, 75005, 75016, 75015 and 75014.

LIDO DE PARIS 116 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris

Dowload the map here

This journey of one day in Lower Normandy will embarks you in the footsteps of the brave Canadian soldiers who fought for our liberty so far away from their homelands. Operation Neptune was the codename of the largest military' seaborne and airborne invasion for D-day ever organized.

Logistics, infrastructures, air forces supremacy were the keys success and enabled the allies to win the battle of Normandy. During that day, you will discover not only one of the most important episodes in modern history (so well related in the movies « Saving Private Ryan » and «The Longuest Day») but also beautiful countrysides (known as « le bocage ») in one of the historical' oldest and greatest region of France

With your driver-guide you will travel to the Normandy beaches in an air-conditioned minivan. Once you arrive in the Calvados county in Normandy, you will pay your respect to the fallen at “The Canadian War Cemetery in Beny sur Mer”.

Many of those buried in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery were men of the 3rd Canadian Division who died either on 6 June or during the early days of the advance towards Caen, when the Division engaged a German battle group formed from the 716th Division and the 21st Panzer Division.

The cemetery, designed by P.D. Hepworth, contains 2,048 Second World War burials, the majority Canadian, and 19 of them unidentified..

As is typical of war cemeteries in France, the grounds are beautifully landscaped and immaculately kept. Contained within the cemetery is a "Cross of Sacrifice", a piece of architecture typical of memorials designed by the "Commonwealth War Graves Commission".

Leaving « Pointe du Hoc », at just few miles away you will plunge directly in history and tragedy of D-day when the driver will ride along the coastal road facing «Omaha beach » which is stretching 6 miles long.

In June 6, 1944 at 06:36 am the first wave of american soldiers who did belong to the US 29th Infantry Division landed there just in front on the german bunkers .

Once they rushed out from the landing crafts, then they had to run in the open through 500 meters among the beach obstacles before to reached and take cover along the sea wall. Sadly few made it...

To commemorate their bravery and sacrifice,severals war monuments were erected there directly on the sand of the beach after the war.

WN72 Omaha beach (photo stop on the spot)

Located in Vierville-sur-Mer, France, on Omaha Beach, the National Guard Monument sits on the spot (WN72) where the 29^th National Guard Division broke through German defenses on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The monument and the original bunker which it sits atop are maintained by NGEF to preserve the legacy and pay honor to all National Guardsmen who have fought in the European theater.

“Within sight of this house over 100 men of the Queen’s Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings.”

That stark inscription welcomes visitors at the entrance of a large, timber-framed house overlooking Juno Beach, in the village of Bernières-sur-Mer, France. “La Maison des Canadiens," or Canada House, is one of the most iconic buildings in Canadian military history. It was one of the first houses liberated by Canadian soldiers on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and has since become a familiar historic landmark, standing in the backdrop of the many black-and-white photographs showing troops landing on the sands of this village in Normandy.

This particular house was one of the few left intact, perhaps because it was the favoured home of an occupying German officer.

The left-hand side is owned by the family of Hervé Hoffer, whose grandfather owned the home during the war but was evicted by the Germans.

In 1984, the 40th anniversary of D-Day when large numbers of surviving veterans first began returning on pilgrimages to Juno Beach, Hoffer met some of the Canadians who had actually liberated his house.

The Juno Beach Centre’s permanent exhibit draws on photographs, documents, multimedia, maps, and artefacts to tell the story of the Canadians who volunteered for military service or mobilized at home to contribute to the war effort. It also presents the battles that took Canadian units from Sicily to Italy and from Normandy to the Netherlands.

The Centre pays homage to the 45,000 Canadians who lost their lives during the War, of which 5,500 were killed during the Battle of Normandy and 359 on D-Day.

The Centre is not only a museum about the war. It also portrays the personal accounts and real-life stories of the society that these soldiers bequeathed to their children and that now forms Canada.

Permanent Exhibitions

Room A Courseulles, June 06th 1944

In this first room, visitors stand in a simulated landing craft to watch a film which puts them into the mindset of Canadians during the Second World War. Images of war, training, D-Day, as well as, Canada during the war years are projected on the walls, while Canadian soldiers and their families describe what they were thinking and feeling at the time.

Room B Canada in the 1930’s

Upon exiting the introduction film, which sets the tone of the permanent exhibit, visitors are given reference points from which to draw an understanding of Canada on the eve of war. The geography, demographics, economic situation, state of the military, politics and the social climate of the time are presented. Young visitors initially ‘meet’ Peter & Madeleine via a terminal located in the main hall. In this circular room and throughout the permanent exhibit, the “young public” circuit is presented through the eyes of these two young ‘virtual’ Canadians of the 1930-40s.

Room C Canada goes to War

This room, comprised of two areas, follows the transformation of the country as it enters the war and builds its armed forces which saw over one million men and women enlist into its ranks.

Canada declares war on Germany on September 10th, 1939 – In a simulated Canadian living room, the speeches of various protagonists announce the entry into war. The voices of Hitler, Daladier, Chamberlain and Mackenzie King can all be heard on period radios.

Civilians and Soldiers: Canadians on Every Front – This area shows that the entire country was mobilized during the Second World War. On both sides of a long curved corridor, visitors learn about the different aspects of this mobilization.

Room D Road to Victory

The visit continues with a presentation of the different campaigns in which Canadians fought, each contributing to the final outcome of the war: the Battle of Italy, Normandy, the Scheldt, Rhineland and Victory. This room also showcases some of the other military branches that played vital roles in the final outcome such as: the medical corps, war correspondents, engineers, etc. Finally this room presents different themes such as: the Canadians on D-Day, the First Nations at War in Europe, the Canadian Flag, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and Canadians behind Enemy Lines.

Many Canadian families lost loved ones: over 45,000 Canadians died in their fight for freedom. Their names scroll across the ceiling to be remembered. On the other hand, large numbers of Canadians returned home to resume their lives and actively participate in developing contemporary Canada.

Room E Some Came Back, Others Did Not

The evocative title of this room marks the human toll of Canada’s war, while at the same time introduces hope for a better future.

Many Canadian families lost loved ones: over 45,000 Canadians died in their fight for freedom. Their names scroll across the ceiling to be remembered. On the other hand, large numbers of Canadians returned home to resume their lives and actively participate in developing contemporary Canada.

In this room, four alcoves line the wall and give visitors another perspective of the war. They can listen to period letters or essays written by Canadians in either English or French. It is in this room that the young public encounters the two young virtual guides Peter & Madeleine for the last time.

Room F They Walk With You

The film entitled “They Walk With You” is an immersive experience using powerful video and emotionally engaging audio, including the voices of the Canadian war correspondents Marcel Ouimet and Matthew Halton. The film utilizes Second World War newsreel footage from a variety of sources and, along with dramatic recreations, re-enacts the role and sacrifice of Canadian infantry soldiers during D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Viewer discretion is advised.

An infantry soldier in war is often not privy to the “big picture”; his job is to fight and try to survive. “They Walk With You” immerses visitors in an infantry soldier’s experience.

Courseulles is a charming seaside resort located on the landing beaches, close to Caen and Bayeux. Its two sandy beaches, fishing and boating harbour are definitly an excellent location to take a break for lunch in a local restaurant or you will  just decides by yourself of your own choices of meals (own expense).

Monument of The Lorraine Cross

Cross of more than 18 m high, located facing the sea, this monument commemorates the return of General de Gaulle to the French soil on June 14, 1944 after crossing the English Channel on board the French destroyer La combattante.

Churchill AVRE Tank – One Charlie

A British Churchill AVRE tank which stands as a glorious memorial of the landing operations on 6 June 1944. It was unable to bridge a deep culvert on D-Day one hundred yards south of the site and the members of its crew were obliged to escape under enemy fire with very heavy casualties.

As many as 156 Canadian prisoners of war are believed to have been executed by the 12^th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following the D-Day landings. In scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy countryside, they were taken aside and shot.

In a garden next to the monastery Abbaye d'Ardenne a Canadian memorial is situated. The memorial commemorates 20 executed Canadians soldiers. The Abbaye d'Ardenne, a massive collection of mediaeval buildings -including an early Gothic church and several farm buildings  encircled by walls and surrounded by grainfields. This was where Kurt Meyer, Commander of the 25^th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (of the 12^th Panzer Division), had established his headquarters.

During the return drive to Paris you will have time to relax aboard the minivan before to be dropped off at your hotel location in the evening (between 08:00 pm till 09:00 pm).