Caen

Today we explored the lovely city of Caen. Much of it was badly damaged following the 6th June 1944 D-Day landings. Caen is situated only 10 miles from the landing beaches but it was the 18th July before it was in Allied hands. Sadly, under orders from Hitler, the Germans were told to defend it to the death. On the 6th July an air-raid on Caen started a fire that raged for eleven days, and on the night of the 8/9th July 2,500 tons of bombs were dropped on the city. Fortunately, many of the churches and fortifications from the time of William the Conqueror survived. We visited a number of these and the photograph is of the cloisters of the Abbaye
Aux Hommes, some of the walls of which still bear the scars of the fighting that raged within its walls.

Pegasus Bridge

The Caen Canal Bridge at Benouville is better known to people in the UK as Pegasus Bridge. This bridge became famous because it was liberated, along with the Orme Bridge, on the night of 5th/6th June 1944 by Major John Howard and his troops. It was the first objective for the Allies on D-Day and the first bridge to be liberated in mainland France.

The eastern, or left, flank of the Allied beaches, Sword, was on the river Orne next to the Caen canal. To the east of this river valley a ridge separates it from the valley of the Dives. The Germans had flooded the Dives and thus, provided the British could secure the ridge and blow the brides over the floods, they could create a moat that would protect the invaders from counter attack from the east. To support their airborne forces, the Allies had to capture the Orne and canal brides undamaged. At 11:00 pm on the 5th June the glider-borne men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry took off from England to be released one hour later. The leading glider bounced and smashed its way to a halt only 50 yards from the canal bridge with its two companions close behind. These men took the bridge in a swift fight and within minutes D-Days first objective was in British hands.

The original bridge was replaced, by a similar bridge, when the canal was widened. The original is now in an excellent museum, which was well worth a visit, situated close by in the area that the gliders first landed.

St Vaast to Caen

We had enjoyed our stay in St Vaast but this morning we had to move closer to the River Seine and we had chosen to visit Caen. The 48 mile journey by sea to Ouistreham was uneventful; which is just the way we like it. The sea was calm and we were able to maintain a steady 18 knots. However, once we arrived we had to pass through our first lock in France and enter the 8 mile long canal to Caen. When we arrived at the relatively narrow harbour entrance a cross channel sea cat decided to leave its berth and do a U turn. They create a lot of turbulence and I was forced to take avoiding action.

We expected the lock to be large but the one that we were directed to enter was actually the smaller of the two locks available. The other one is used by large sea going freighters which, fortunately, we did not meet during the canal passage. After a stop in Benouville, we transited the three opening bridges in convoy with another boat and tied up in Caen Marina. Unusually, the marina is right in the centre of Caen and surrounded by bars and shops. Needless to say, on a Friday night we got little sleep until the late night revellers had gone home.