Musée du Débarquement
 Outside picture |
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Arromanches , France |
| Art |
Military museum
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| opening | 1954 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 330,000 |
| Website | |
The Musée du Débarquement is a French museum in Arromanches near Bayeux , Normandy region . It documents Operation Overlord , also known as the Normandy Landing, the landing of Allied troops in World War II on June 6, 1944, and is located in the center of the town with the main man-made port ( Mulberry B ).
The museum, which is quite small at around 500 m², had around 330,000 visitors in 2009. It was opened on June 5, 1954 by the then French President René Coty .
Historical background
After the failure of Operation Jubilee on August 19, 1942, the Allies decided to create the conditions for a new landing on the coast of Normandy occupied by the Wehrmacht , which was secured by the Atlantic Wall . An artificial harbor was planned. 115 so-called Phoenix caissons were produced from concrete. They were first sunk in the Thames to be invisible to German aerial reconnaissance and then shipped to Arromanches. Old ships and then the caissons were sunk about two kilometers offshore, forming a semicircular port of about 500 hectares. The new port was operational at the beginning of July 1944, despite a tidal range of around eight meters, and formed the basis for the Allied supplies. Three jetties made it possible for a large number of ships to unload. The American counterpart, Mulberry A off Omaha Beach , was destroyed in a storm shortly after it was built.
Exhibits
The model of the artificial harbor, Allied uniforms and medals, weapons, jeeps and many photos of the landing site document the Overlord action .
Services
There are two movie theaters, a souvenir shop and a book shop.
Web links
- Musée du Débarquement (French, English, German)
Coordinates: 49 ° 20 ′ 24.2 " N , 0 ° 37 ′ 16.5" W.