Private Tour WW2 D-Day Americans 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 allied 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 stop at “The Pointe du Hoc”, 100 feet high cliffs between Omaha and Utah beaches.

In mid 1943 the german TODD organisation set up 6 long range artillery guns (155mm caliber) housed in concrete bunkers and facing the english channel above the cliff.

In fact, "Pointe du Hoc" was one of the thousand german stronghold positions of Hitler' project to build a wall of defense along the coast in Europe. Known as « The Atlantic Wall » and which consisted to build bunkers, guns battery and beach obstacles network along the coastline, from the spanish border to Norway in order to prevent any allied invasion.

In June 6, 1944 at 07h10 am  225 US Rangers aboard barges landed just below from the cliffs and began to scale them using ropes in order to stormed the guns emplacement and then destroy them all. Blown up concrete bunkers, bombs craters and traces of the battle are still visibles today.

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.

At Easy Green sector, two monuments were erected after the war and still stands facing the beach :

Monument « Signal of the Liberation » (photo stop on the spot)

This Monument commemorates the landing of the Allied Forces on June 6, 1944 on Omaha Beach, and the liberation of Europe. Two frescoes can be seen on either side of the monument, one dedicated to the 1st US Infantry Division, the other at the 116th Regimental Combat Team of the 29th US Infantry Division

Monument « The Braves » (photo stop on the spot)

A monumental work by sculptor Anilore Banon which pay tribute to the courage of Allied Forces soldiers.

There you will have a bit of time to walk along the beach and maybe grabb a bit of sand to fill in a tiny glassed container as a souvenir to bring back home.

WN65 (photo stop on the spot)

Blockhaus WN65 The coded fortified position WN65 (Wiederstand Nest 65) commanded the Ruquet valley leading to the top of the plateau. The casemate type H667 was the central point of the position, it housed a PAK 5 cm anti-tank gun still in the shelter.

Memorial Native American Tribes (photo stop on the spot)

A memorial honouring all the Native Americans who participated in Operation Neptune and landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. The monument was inaugurated on June 5, 2017, in the presence of Charles Norman Shay, an Indian soldier, who fought as a nurse in the 1st US Infantry Division.

Charles Shay was 19 years old when he reached the beach of Omaha and was awarded the Silver Star for his dedication to serving his wounded comrades. The granite turtle was made by Charles Shay’s nephew. The tortoise is a sacred animal that represents the earth, wisdom and longevity in Native American mythology

Located at ashort distance of the famous « Omaha Beach », on the D514 facing the roudabout that provides access to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer. Overlord Museum chronicles the period of the Allied landing until the liberation of Paris. The collection was collected by someone who was both a witness to the conflict and involved in the reconstruction of Normandy. Personal items from individual soldiers and armoured fighting vehicles from the six armies in Normandy will be presented as a series of reconstructions showing over 35 vehicles, tanks and guns

There, we will take a break for lunch in a local restaurant or you will      just decides by yourself of your own choices of meals (own expense).

The monument of the 1st U.S Infantry Division (Red Sector / Easy) in the shape of a commemoration-obelisk.

The obelsik stands in the middle of the area of Wiederstandnest (WN62). WN62 was one of the strongest defending positions in that area.

WN62  or Widerstandsnest 62  (Resistance Nest 62) overlooks Easy Red and Fox Green Sectors of OMAHA Beach at Colleville sur Mer.  WN62 was the most powerful resistance nest on the OMAHA beach coastline.

The guide is now taking you to visit the beatiful maintained American Cemetery in Colleville sur Mer which overlooks Omaha Beach nearby. The 180 acre site contains 9,387 perfectly aligned white crosses and a memorial chapel which adds the finishing touches to this moving scene, allowing visitors to reflect on the price of war.

While walking along row upon row of white grave headstones, your historian guide will share with you stories of soldiers who fought in the vicinities and then were awarded for gallantry the highest miltary decorations.

On the Walls of the Missing, in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial, are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing large maps and narratives of the military operations; at the center is the bronze statue, “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.” An orientation table overlooking the beach depicts the landings in Normandy. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool; beyond is the burial area with a circular chapel and, at the far end, granite statues representing the United States and France.

In 2007, the Normandy Visitors Center opened. The $30 million visitor center was dedicated by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) on June 6, 2007 during the commemoration of the 63rd Anniversary of D-Day.

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).