Port-en-Bessin

After a day of driving, Dave and I arrive in the early evening to Port-en-Bessin, the first port to be captured by the Allied invaders. Pictured are the port as seen from a nearby hill and I check out an old German position overlooking the coastal city. As we survey the hill above the town and the channel, we find more German strong points and I notice looking down at the canal going into the port that it looks like the setting in the 1962 movie "The Longest Day".

As it turns out this is where the filming of the Free French attack on the casio at Ouistreham was recreated. On the afternoon of June 6th, French forces that landed on Juno Beach assualted the heavily defended village. After being pinned down by intense fire, a British tank arrives and blasted the casio thus turning the tide of the battle. We stay the night in Port-en-Bessin and plan on getting up early as we will be visiting Omaha and Utah beaches along with St. Mer Eglise the next day.