D-Day Beaches of Normandyĭ-Day and the Battle of Normandy were predominantly fought in the areas of Calvados, Manche and Orne, and it is here that you will find the many memorials, cemeteries and museums that commemorate what happened. By D-Day, the 7,000 strong workforces at Bletchley Park were decrypting almost 5,000 Enigma messages a day. Secret listeners in Hut 18 were monitoring German Enigma traffic round the clock to monitor the response to the invasion, as well as any threats to the invasion fleet at sea, and the movement of troops in northern France – so that nothing was left to chance. Notably, around the date of the invasion (May-July 1944), Bletchley Park took the risk of intercepting enemy messages directly on-site in order to speed up the codebreaking process. Bletchley Park – Alan Turing & D-dayīletchley Park had been compiling vital intelligence for Allied commanders for over 18 months in the run-up to D-Day, but the Codebreakers also supported the operation as it unfolded. The story of Harold and William the Conquerer as he became known is told in the Bayeux Tapestry which can be seen in Bayeux a few miles west of Caen. This wasn’t welcomed by Harold who took the crown for himself and as a result, William invaded England and in 1066 during the great battle of Hastings Harold was killed and William regained the Crown. When the King of England Edward the Confessor (he was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England) died without an heir he named his nephew William Duke of Normandy as his successor.
The Dukes of Normandy had the same status as the Kings of France to whom they pledged their allegiance. Normandy was one of the great dukedoms which rivalled the prestige and power of any in France.
D DAY MUSEUM FULL
Normandy is simply full of history and one of the great regions of France going back beyond the Middle Ages. There are overnight ferries from both the UK and Ireland depending on which port you leave from.Ĭatching the ferry to Normandy is easy from the UK you can sail to Normandy from Newhaven to Dieppe or come into the ports of Caen, Cherbourg and Le Havre. If coming from the UK or Ireland you can simply take a ferry across the channel. Depending on the time of day, there are direct trains or routes with an easy to navigate connection through Caen. The trains from Gare Saint Lazare are an easy 2-hour ride from Paris to Bayeux or Caen. Getting from Paris to Normandy couldn’t be simpler.
The drive from the airport to cities like Dieppe or Caen in Normandy is around 2.5 to 3 hours. The Normandy region is on the northern coast of France and borders on the Ile de France, which is the Paris region Most visitors to Normandy fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and travel the short distance to Normandy.