History | Suze en France

After our walk along the cliffs above the Normandy Landing Beaches we drove through the countryside in the sun towards Caen. We stopped at a War Cemetery which we saw a sign for, for some reflection.

We happened upon Ryes War Cemetery. Here are buried 630 British, 21 Canadian, 1 Australian, 1 Polish and 326 German Soldiers.

A most tranquil place. It still shocks me to see the young mens’ ages, heartbreaking. It is still hard to imagine that it wasn’t really that long ago. The inscriptions on the headstones are personal and interspersed among them are anonymous – ‘….known unto God’, chilling and so sad. It naturally has a subdued atmosphere, it is a perfect place to reflect.

My own Grandad was part of the Normandy Landings, he survived and then went on to fight in Burma. He died never speaking of the war, only once can I remember him mentioning it to me. I had a German pen pal when I was at school in the 80’s. He just coldly said to me that maybe her Grandfather had fought him in the war and that was that.

My husband’s Grandad is French, he’s still with us and was a little younger during wartime. He’s from Douai in the North of France and was a young teenager through the occupation of France by the Nazis. His parents’ house was bombed (something that was just accepted), he has many, many stories of that time which are just fascinating. He also got up to much mischief during that time too. Once stealing German uniforms and throwing them into a river. Brave or silly – he was reprimanded by his mother and lucky not to have been caught, but he didn’t like the soldiers being in their school. I must get these stories down on paper. It is such a shame that my Grandad and him didn’t get to meet. A regret.

Ryes War Cemetery – Bazenfield
We must never forget.

It is important to visit the sights of our quite recent history, World War II was obviously a significant time period in history and one of the most meaningful places to spend time where you can think over what you learned at school, read in history books, watched films, watched about it on television or heard about it from Grandparents, is Normandy in France. A terrifying time in history is brought to life here. I’ve been a number of times but there is always something different to see.

Firstly we went to the museum at Arromanches. This is quite an old museum but it effectively explains and describes the building of the Mulberry Harbour (A & B, B is at Arromanches). There’s also a film to watchThe Mulberry Harbour was constructed under the orders of Winston Churchill after the ideas were proposed to the war office by engineers. It really was a feat of engineering. After Mulberry Harbour A was damaged an no longer able to be used during a storm, Mulberry Harbour B became known and Port Winston and was invaluable for many months after the D-Day Landings. It was used to more than 2 million men, 1/2 million vehicles and tonnes of supplies for the mission in France. The remains of the Harbour can still be seen out at sea.

A view of Mulberry Harbour from a distance

When you drive through the tiny villages of Normandy or drive along the coast it is just so difficult to imagine the horror people experienced during World War II. When you look at the calm peaceful beaches, what happened is unimaginable. When you stroll along the cliffs under a beautiful blue sky it is surreal to think of what it would have been like at that time. We went to visit Longues-sur-Mer – the Battery. This is where the stroll along the cliffs still houses the former German fortifications. The soldiers manning these surrendered the day after D-Day. The scars of bombardments are visible. They are quite eerie to walk around.