Historical information
The "Big red one" opened
the way on Omaha beach
On 6 June 1944 after waves of bombers dropping seventeen warships opened
fire simultaneously on the beach defences. The first assault troops
landed around 6:30 a. m. The landing ships ran aground fifty meters
from the beaches. The Rangers and the soldiers of the 1st and 29th
American Infantry Divisions were heavily equiped, they walked in the
water to reach the dry sand. Then they discovered that all the Germans
defenders were not dead. The machine-guns and guns crushed the first
companies entangled in the obstacles. At 8:30 a. m. the beaches were
overloaded with vehicles, the order was given to stop any troops landing.
Aound 10:30 a. m. the men of the 116th Infantry Regiment and the 5th
Rangers rushed into the attack and broke through. In the evening Vierville-sur-Mer
was taken, a German counter-attack was pushed back and the only exit
of the area was built with the bulldozers.
THE MUSEUM
This museum tells about the history of the Landing on Omaha Beach.
Varied equipments are exposed : radio, optics, engineer equipment;
vehicles and ten dummies in uniforms of the two camps add to this original
collection. A German 88 mm gun is shown outside..
. The official website
of the museum stands here or
there.
Museum’s authorities can be contacted here.
A list of all museums
in Normandy can be found there
Location information
The museum is located
at:
Route de Grandcamp
14710 Vierville sur Mer
France
Tel: 00 33 2.31.21.71.80
Open daily from
9.30 AM to 18.30 PM
from 01 june
2009 to 31 august 2009
and from 01 september 2009 to 30 september 2009
and from 01 october 2009 au 11 november 2009.
RATES
Individuals full price
: 5.50 €
Children: 3 €
FREE FOR
:
- Children up to 7 years.
Dogs are welcome.
Personal note
This is a small museum
with amazing technical equipment (navigation devices for U-Boats, Telemetry
and so on).
