Battlebus - Normandy Battles Tours

Tour Price
475 Euro
(total per day)
for 1 to 8 people

This tour begins in the area beyond Le Mesnil Patry , and moves on through Carpiquet Airport. Then heads inland calling in at the Canadian Cemetery at Bretteville sur Laize , passing the village where German tank-ace Michael Wittman’s Tiger was destroyed.

We then continue towards Falaise , stopping at the great viewing platform near Saint Lambert sur Dives to understand the battle for the Falaise gap . We stop at in the village where Major David Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross and also see the bridges the German army retreated over. Plus many other stops along the way of course.

Canadian Battles Tour

Itinerary - Because this tour is only available as a private option, it means there are unlimited possibilities as to where the tour can go. This is just a suggested itinerary.

Carpiquet - The first Canadian push for this, the airport for Caen was on 7th June , a month later during Operation Windsor the town was finally taken resulting in heavy losses and almost total destruction of the village .

Verrieres Ridge - One of Montgomery’s famous Normandy campaigns was Operation Spring . It was scheduled for 25th July. Two British Armoured divisions were to join in the attack once the Canadian infantry had broken through the German defences on Point 67 . This operation is one of the most controversial in Canadian history. It was the principal topic of the Normandy episode in the TV mini-series The Valour And The Horror. The operation has continued to attract armchair generals determined to prove that Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds and his commanders were wasteful of far too many Canadian lives .

Cintheaux and Bretteville sur laize - Cintheaux is the tiny village where German tank-ace Michael Wittman of the SS was killed, his Tiger tank being destroyed in a
corn-field, we look into the mystery of who killed him and
his accomplishments in Russia and Normandy. We then move on to the Bretteville sur Laize Canadian cemetery
where the youngest Canadian soldier killed in
Normandy (15 years old) is buried along with his fellows.

Falaise and Saint Lambert sur Dives - Finally we head off to where the battle of Normandy came to its bloody conclusion. Thousands of Allied troops were converging on the “corridor of death” as the remnants of the once mighty German Army tried desperately to retreat east across the Dives river to safety . We see the little town of Saint Lambert, where Major David Currie won the Victoria Cross in a hard-fought action to prevent the Germans getting away. We also see the stunning panoramic viewing platform showing the valley below. Then it’s off to the little Moissy ford where the last few German troops retreated. At the end of this battle nearly half a million German troops had been wounded, captured or killed trying to retreat east.

If there’s time we then head off to Montormel to look at the Polish involvement and Chambois where American and Polish Troops linked up - closing the gap, and ending the campaign.