“We’ll go.” General Eisenhower’s famous two words that commenced the Allied invasion of Normandy on the 6th of June 1944 was the theme of our group’s travels to Normandy, France this past week. Eisenhower, faced with the prospect of halting the invasion in the teeth of bad weather, decided to go forward with the amphibious attack on the five beaches along the French coast. Conversely, for the past few days, we have been blessed with beautiful weather in the town of Bayeux as we make our own invasion of Normandy. Every morning when Professor Steigerwald asks the group if we are ready to get on the bus, many of us wittily respond: “We’ll go.” From Utah and Omaha Beaches, Pointe du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, Arromanches, and German, American, and British cemeteries, we have explored almost all of the aspects of the strategic and thoroughly planned attack on Nazi forces to bring down the Third Reich.
First on our agenda was the opportunity to compare the differences between Utah and Omaha Beach. Historically, Omaha Beach is where the most brutal fighting between the Nazis and the Americans took place on D-Day. It was Omaha, rather than Utah, that was the toughest beach to take. However, as a memorial to D-Day, Utah Beach does more justice in remembering the American lives lost on French soil than Omaha does. This is quite contrary to what I had expected. At Utah Beach, there was a space cleared for plaques, statues, and a museum. In fact, many of German General Irwin Rommel’s defense tactics were preserved on the beach. On the contrary, the beaches of Omaha have been recently developed, and summer homes, restaurants, and shops line the shore. The only visible commemoration to the Allied victory is an erected steel work of art on the shoreline. Besides one closed bunker and the empty encasement of artillery pieces, the beach has been wiped clear of remnants.
Additionally, our group has spent the last few days comparing and contrasting how three nations commemorate the lives lost during and after D-Day in Normandy. We first entered the German cemetery, where the headstones to graves were black and laid flat on the ground; they simply read, “Here lies a solider.” In general, the German cemetery had a much darker and less peaceful feel compared to that of the Allied cemeteries. We then explored the American Cemetery, where graves were marked with uniform white crosses. The buildings and attached museum gave the grounds a more pristine and clean feel. As Ohio State students, we also laid roses at each of the thirteen graves of fallen fellow Buckeyes that died in the D-Day invasion or soon thereafter. Lastly, we walked through the British cemetery here in Bayeux. It was sobering to experience the tranquility and serenity felt on the grounds. Not only did the graves have personal messages from family members on the headstones, but the rows were also lined with flowers and trees. Even more, the cemetery consisted of graves for the fallen Germans, Poles, Canadians, Czechs, Italians, and French, not just Brits.
Besides the various invasion points and commemoration memorials, our group has been enjoying the weather and endless amounts of bread, crepes, and Nutella in the land of the French. In the quaint town of Bayeux, many of us try to make due with the few phrases we know when speaking to the locals. “We’ll go” to Paris come Sunday, where I anticipate a more cultural aspect of the war to be studied.