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After Arromanches we headed to the popular German battery at Longues sur Mer. Protected on a high bluff over the ocean it consisted of four 5-inch guns with an observation post for directing fire, and numerous defensive facilities. Much of its effectiveness was disrupted by allied bombing that severed the communications between the obeservation post and the batteries themselves. This Google Earth image shows the imposing layout of the defenses and gives some perspective. (click to enlarge) Longue sur Mer as seen from Google Earth I also dug up from the web an old plan of the original layout (in French) showing mine fields (mines), barbed wire (barbelas), trenches (tranchees), tobruks (tobrouk), shelters (abris), and munitions storage (soutes). Original Longue Battery plan Here is a small excert from Stephen Ambrose's D-Day about Longue. Excerpt from D-day about the Longue battery Here is the layout of the four guns of Longues as Redington I visited them. The concrete was barely tou...

Our next stop was Omaha beach. Omaha was by far the hardest fought beach. Here the German defenses were their most deadly. With American officers leading their squads off the landing boats, the German machine gun and artillery fire killed them instantly. The men who made it ashore in one piece were shocked, demoralized, and leaderless. The German fire was accurate because they had pre-ranged all their guns for every feature on the beach. Gunners only had to note where the soldiers were, consult their charts, adjust their sights and fire. The soldiers reported all was quiet until the doors of the landing craft opened then all hell broke loose. The men huddled on the stone shingle or behind anti-tank walls pinned down and leaderless. Many had dropped their weapons in the deep water to avoid drowning, many of the tanks were never landed or disabled by the German 88s (88mm artillery). These men were now systematically shelled by German mortars. And it was here that some men assumed leaders...

Pointe du Hoc is probably one of the most famous sites of the D-Day invasion. It was where the first Army Rangers (called Rudder's Rangers after their commanding officer) were ordered to assult the beach and scale a cliff under enemy fire to disable 3 guns between Omaha and Utah beaches. A coworker of mine at Lattice has a grandfather who was one of the Rangers on the cliff that day. In the weeks before the invasion bombers had dropped tons of ordinance on the location. Below is a reconaisance photo at the time with different guns highlighted. Reconaissance photo with Gun placements marked (click to enlarge) And here is the Allies map of Pointe du Hoc. Notice it says 'Top Secret Bigot'. For the British their term for war secrets was Bigot. Any person to have clearance for secret war documents was said to be 'bigotted'. Secret Allied map of Ponte du Hoc Here are the bombers over Pointe du Hoc with the smoke and dust from their bombs visible. Bombing of Pointe du Hoc ...

During her last visit (see previous posting), Vicki and I headed out for a weekend trip camping on the coast. She had seen the coast on other trips before but always the northern sections more accessible from Portland. Now we had time to see points further south. We drove from Hillsboro to Lincoln City and Newport. From there she was in fresh territory. Tide Out at Siletz Bay The day was clear but cold and windy. We stopped to see the estuary of the Siletz river at Lincoln City. The tide was out and on the distant sand bar seals were sunning themselves. This is called Whale cove. This is where the sandstone bluffs and basalt meet for some interesting color contrasts. Seals Lazing in the Sun Sea stars and mussels At the Driftwood house you learn how to dream... Beach We stopped at the Siltcoos river which is one of my favorite places. It is a short river that runs through the dunes from Siltcoos lake before breaking out to the ocean. On past trips I have seen salmon in this river and ha...