If you don't like the weather in Normandy, just wait a few minutes. This area to the north of Paris and bordering the North Sea braces visitors with constantly changing weather. In the course of a few hours, we've experienced bright sun, cloud cover, drizzle, pouring rain, thunderstorms and hail, seemingly in random order.
If it's sunny, bring a raincoat or umbrella. If it's cold and wet, dress in layers so you can shed your clothing when the weather gets warm.
Normandy Weather
D-Day: Pointe du Hoc
October 27: Just before D-Day on June 6, 1944, the Allies carpeted Pointe du Hoc with bombs to take out six 155mm guns that the Germans had captured from the French. Because the point was between Omaha and Utah beaches, Germans could easily fire on any advancing troops. Rangers were then sent to scale the 100-foot cliffs to take out the concrete emplacements that held both the guns and the Germans.
Unfortunately, because of weather, the Allied assault that was supposed to take place before sunrise, happened 40 minutes later in full sunlight. The over-220 men who started out were reduced to about 90 by the end of the day. In addition, they discovered that the Germans had moved the guns about a mile inland and replaced them with decoys. The Rangers eventually found the guns and destroyed them with thermite grenades.
All that leads to a modern memorial park that is peppered with bomb craters about 10-15 feet deep. (They used to be about six or seven feet deeper but 60 years of erosion has filled them in and softened them with grass.)
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| Cratered landscape with remains of a concrete bunker. |
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| Anthony at the bottom of a crater. |
