Memory Tracks

"US Drop Zones and Utah beach" Tour
(Full-day Tour)

​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This tour takes you to the discovery of South Cotentin, in the footsteps of parachutists and airborne troops of the 82nd and 101st Airborne charged with protecting - from the early hours of June 6, 1944 - the landing area of Utah beach and, more generally the western flank of the allied landing zones.
On the coast you will also discover the two areas of the beach of Utah beach, coded "Tare green" and "Uncle red", from where the 4th American Infantry Division launched to liberate France, then Europe...
 

  - Our first step will be the village of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, which has become the ultimate symbol of the American airborne operation. On the spot we will take the time to discover the heart of the village and to review the events that took place there on the night of June 6, 1944.
 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

  - We will then drive west to the hamlet and bridge of La Fière, one of the main objectives of the 82nd Airborne. This place was marked by fierce fighting between American paratroopers and elements of the 91st German Infantry Division determined to keep control of this crossing point on the Merderet River.
 

  - A few kilometres away, we will travel on typical roads in the Norman countryside to  C-47 Memorial Garden, the crash site of one of the "Dakotas" of 439th Troop Carrier Group. At this location, on 6th June 1944 at 01:14 am, the 4 crew members and 16 paratroopers of the 506th PIR - 6th Coy (101st AB) who were on board lost their lives. There, we will remember them...

  - Two kilometers further, we will then stop at a place where the spontaneous action of a small group of men of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment caused the death of the Commander of the 91st Infantry Division, German General Wilhelm Falley, hastily returned from Rennes to his headquarters "the Château de Bernaville" at the announcement of the first allied parachutes.

  - After this route in the heart of the Cotentin we will make a stop in Neuville au Plain (where on June 6th, Lieutenant Turnbull and his little group of 42 paras had to fight against nearly 200 German soldiers), and a second stop at the Marmion Farm. At this place you will have the privilege of discovering an extraordinary place of memory that has not changed since June 1944.

 

  - Then we will reach the coast and Utah beach, where the first wave of the 4th American Infantry Division landed at 06:30 sharp.
Infinitely more peaceful than 81 years ago, the landscape remains marked by history.
While evoking together the course of the amphibious operation, you can walk through the dunes and discover the remains of the German defense device - bunkers, anti-tank wall... - set up to prevent the success of the allied assault. In vain : on the evening of June 6, 1944, no less than 23,000 American soldiers landed on this beach.

​

  - Our eighth stage takes us just four kilometres from Utah beach, near the Manoir de Brécourt, where on the morning of 6 June 1944 Lieutenant Richard D Winters and some men from the "Easy company" (101eAirborne) led a memorable assault on a German artillery battery.
In 2001, this feat will be brought to the screen in episode 2 of the cult series "Band of Brothers" created by the duo Steven Spielberg - Tom Hanks.
 

  - After crossing Sainte Marie du Mont, we will reach the ninth and last stage of our circuit, Angoville au Plain. In the heart of this village, you will discover one of the most moving places among all the sites of the Battle of Normandy: the small church "Saint Côme et Saint Damien" in which, for almost 72 hours and while the battle was raging all around, two Medics of the 501st PIR, Robert Wright and Kenneth Moore, gathered and treated more than 80 wounded - Americans and Germans - with very limited means.
81 years later, in the heart of the Church, the traces of those hours, as dark as "luminous", are still visible...

​

​

Private tours only : visit of Museums on the route
 

The itinerary we will follow will take you close to four important museums evoking D-Day and the battles in the Cotentin: 

  - The "Airborne Museum" in Sainte-Mère-Eglise;
  - The "D-Day Collins Museum", a few kilometers south of Sainte-Mère-Eglise,
  - The "Utah Beach Landing Museum", on the beach of Utah itself;
  - The "D-Day Experience", a few kilometers north of Carentan-les-Marais.
 

If visiting museums is not an integral part of the Private tour, their interest is large enough for us to give you the opportunity, if you wish, to devote an hour and a half - maximum - to visiting one of these four museums.