Battlebus - Tours of the D-Day beaches and battlefields of Normandy

The invasion area of Normandy is much bigger than people realise. In fact it is vast, the entire battlefield is 4000 square miles - the size of Israel or Wales. There are 27 cemeteries, over 30 military museums and many hundreds of memorials to the events of WWII.

The 5 landing beaches themselves, each of which is a few miles wide, span an area of 55 miles from Ravenoville on Utah in the west to Ouistreham on Sword in the east, and the D-Day airborne drop zones extend this area even further.

D-Day involved 160,000 allied servicemen and women and by July 1944 there were around 2 million men at combat in France. Over the years a myth has perpetuated that either in a half-day tour from Bayeux or in a day trip from Paris (3+ hours by road each way) you can adequately see and understand what took place here in 1944. To see it properly we firmly believe that you need a full day just to see one sector, i.e. American, British or Canadian.

We realise that travellers have a budget, and we know that people have limited time and lots of places to visit. But if you are making the journey to Normandy to see the D-Day sites, don't you want to leave knowing that you have done the area justice, and have seen enough of the history to have made the trip worthwhile?

If you are an American visitor don't you want to see both American landing beaches and see where the paratroops landed too? Some of the half-day tours only visit Omaha beach and don't venture up to Utah at all. Even excellent guide books omit incredibly important historical sites like Sainte Mere Eglise - officially the first town liberated by American troops, Gold Beach where Englishman Stan Hollis earned the only Victoria Cross of D-Day, and Abbaye d'Ardenne where a massacre of Canadian soldiers by the SS took place.

Whether you are American, British, Canadian or one of the many other nationalities that visit, please make your trip to Normandy meaningful. Over 2000 Allied service-men had their young lives cut short on June 6th alone, and 50000 more had been killed by August 1944. Don't cut short your visit by not spending sufficient time to reflect on what those men died for, to allow us the liberties we enjoy today. Particularly the freedom to travel the world and visit the D-Day beaches not in a plywood landing craft amidst a hail of bullets, but in peace and tranquilty.

The D-Day beaches are more than just golden sand, grey bunkers and marble memorials - they are silent sentinels that record and symbolise the sacrifices made by the participants in Operation Overlord who risked everything to restore freedom to Europe and the World.

Thank you for reading

Paul Woodadge - Battlebus Tour Director
Grand-nephew of Lt Cyril Rand, Royal Ulster Rifles, Sword Beach June 6th 1944
Myriam Woodadge - Battlebus Office Manager
Grand-daughter of Charles Drelon, Croix du Guerre, FFI (French Resistance) 1944