Private Day Tour 82nd and 101st Airborne Utah Operations

Our first stop will be the village of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, which has become the symbol par excellence of the American airborne operation. On site, we will begin with a briefing over a coffee or tea in order to review the events that took place there the night of June 5 to 6, 1944. We will then take the time to discover the heart of the village: the Church, the central square, the German command post, the Hospice (which was used by the paratroopers as an infirmary)...

After Sainte-Mère-Eglise we will take the road west to reach the hamlet and the La Fière bridge, one of the main objectives of the 82nd Airborne. From June 6 to 9, this place was marked by very violent combat between American paratroopers and elements of the German 91st Infantry Division, determined to keep control of this crossing point on the Merderet.

Located 2 km north of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, Neuville-au-Plain is a pretty little Norman village (with less than 100 inhabitants!) where during the day of June 6, 1944, Lieutenant Turnbull and his little group of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne.

A little away from the small village of Ravenoville, Ferme Marmion was, on the morning of June 6, 1944, the scene of fierce fighting between German soldiers and a group of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne. It is in this farm - which has not undergone any transformation since June 1944 - that some of the photos that have remained among the most emblematic and famous of D-Day were taken.

After this route in the heart of the Cotentin, we will reach the coast and Utah beach, the beach where the first wave of the 4th American Infantry Division set foot at 06:30 sharp. Infinitely more peaceful than 79 years ago, the landscape remains marked by history. While evoking together the course of the amphibious operation, you will be able to walk through the dunes and discover the remains of the German defense system - bunkers, anti-tank wall... - set up to prevent the success of the Allied assault. In vain, because on the evening of June 6, 1944, no less than 23,000 American soldiers will have landed on this beach.

Our new stage takes us barely 4 kilometers from Utah beach, near the Manoir de Brécourt, where on the morning of June 6, 1944 Lieutenant Richard D Winters and a few men from the "Easy company" (101st Airborne) led a memorable assault against a German artillery battery. In 2001, this feat of arms 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 leaving the Manoir de Brécourt site, we will take the way back through the village of Sainte Marie du Mont, also marked by the events that took place there during the night and morning of D-Day. We will take the time to discover its central square, typical of the villages of Normandy, and to visit the Church, some elements of which are forever marked by the impacts of the shots that rang out in the nave that day.

For the vast majority of our customers - often established outside France -, visiting the battlefields of Normandy is an almost unique event in their lives. Also, in order to give them the opportunity to also discover the museum collections that evoke D-Day in the parachute drop zones and in Utah, we give them the possibility of devoting about an hour and a half to the visit of one sector museums presenting the operations of June 6, 1944 and exhibiting important collections of uniforms, equipment, vehicles and materials. If you wish, you will have the choice between three museums: - The "Airborne Museum", in Sainte-Mere-Eglise; - The Utah beach museum, on the beach where the attack took place; - The "D-Day experience Museum", north of Carentan. The visit to a museum being optional, the entrance fee is not included in the circuit. But you will benefit from the reduced rate granted to Memory Tracks.