Omaha Beach, Normandy, France

Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing zones designated for the amphibious assault portion of Operation Overlord during World War II. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces invaded German-occupied France through the Normandy Landings. The "Omaha" refers to an 8-kilometer-long area on the Normandy coast of France facing the English Channel, from Saint-Honorine-des-Pettes in the east to Vierville in the west on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. A landing here was necessary to link the British landings at Gordes in the east with the American landings at Utah Beach in the west, thereby providing a sustainable foothold on the Normandy coast in the Bight of the Seine. The U.S. Army was responsible for the capture of Omaha Beach, while the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard provided sea transport, minesweeping, and artillery support, and the British, Canadian, and Free French navies provided assistance. As a result, the U.S. Sixth Army captured Omaha Beach at the cost of 2,500 U.S. casualties, while Germany suffered 1,200 casualties. The classic war scene at the beginning of the Hollywood movie "Saving Private Ryan" was taken from here. The sunken area in the picture is the crater formed by the explosion of the US naval gun shell. Nowadays, the tourists who come here range from people sitting in baby strollers to white-haired old people. I didn’t want to appear in the picture of the couple in Figure 5, but they didn’t leave for a long time, and I didn’t have enough patience to wait, so I froze the two of them in front of this sturdy reinforced concrete bunker. #OverseasTravel #EuropeTravel #EuropeTourism #EnglishChannel #UnbeatableSeaView #WWIIRelics #USA #WarMemorial #FranceTravel #FranceTourism #Fortress