Battlebus - Tours of the D-Day Beaches - British Highlights Tour

The Tour in greater detail
Airborne sector - The drop - zones where the 6th Airborne Division landed and particularly we see the assembly area and approach to Merville Battery taken by Otway’s 9th Parachute Battalion . Time-permitting we'll show you other sites - perhaps Varaville château , or Breville a village almost totally destroyed in the fighting on and after D - Day. The bullet holes and ruined church are a clear indicator of the struggles fought here. Wherever we stop, it will be a key place where the red - bereted British and Canadian Paratroopers and Glider Troops held the line.

Ranville Cemetery - Your guide will give you the stories behind this particular cemetery, and a personal insight into the lives and deaths of some of the men buried here.

Pegasus Bridge - At 12.16am on D - Day, gliders of British Airborne troops landed here, becoming the first Allies into occupied France. Major Howard of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry led his men across this vital canal crossing.

The Pegasus Memorial Museum , opened by HRH Prince Charles . It’s probably the best museum in Normandy with fantastic explanations about the Airborne on D - Day.

Commando Drive - Retrace the route, used by Lord Lovat’s Commandos , to reach the beleaguered Airborne troops at Pegasus Bridge , and push on over the Orne canal .

Sword Beach - See where Monty’s British Tommies and Commandos came ashore. Caen was the D - Day objective of the troops landing here. But German armoured counter - attacks and fierce resistance near the city prevented this.

Lunch - We generally stop at a snack - bar in Ouistreham, close to where the French Commandos attacked the German Casino position, made famous in The Longest Day film.

Hillman (WN17) - A German underground HQ with views of Sword and Juno . It’s a key place to understand the struggle faced by the troops on Sword as they pushed inland on D - Day. Also a memorial to the Suffolk Regiment .

Juno Beach - We pass by the beach where the Canadians landed, but the sector is covered on our Canadian Juno Tour.

Gold Beach - See where CSM Stan Hollis of the Green Howards landed. We follow his route past the bunkers he took out single - handedly , and on past the Mont Fleury Gun Battery tothe village of Crepon where again Stan’s actions saved the day. Stan Hollis the sole D-Day recipient
of the Victoria Cross .

Mulberry Harbour – From a vantage point on the beach we look at the remains of Winston Churchill’s brainwave - the artificial harbour . Hear how this contributed to the logistical success of the ensuing battles in Normandy.

Other stops - Depending on the time of year, how many people in the group, the weather etc. There are other stops we can include if we have spare time. It’s the little “extra stops ”, that make a Battlebus Tour truly special.

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Customer comments about this tour
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Very informative with the right balance of humour and seriousness baring in mind the enormous undertaking and loss of life during D-Day. The professionalism and knowledge displayed by our guide was outstanding.

The knowledge of the guide was without doubt of a standard I have never come across before in any tour I have ever been a part of .

The guide took us to the house in Crepon and related animatedly Stan Hollis' further actions on D-Day which earned him the VC, the Battlebus tour experience was unmatched and unforgettable.

The guide was excellent - extremely knowledgeable and good at keeping things on track! There is no way that I would have been able to see all the things I had wanted to on my own.

We can now say that the customer comments on your internet site are true. We saw places we had seen on our own last year, but now we learnt why these places were important and what happened in 1944. I think that a battlefield tour is THE way to know a lot about the D-Day landing and the Battle of Normandy in a very short time.

This tour visits the British 6th Airborne Division Drop-zones and Sword and Gold beaches where the British 3rd and 50th Divisions stormed ashore. It includes a visit to the famous Pegasus Bridge and Museum, the Ranville Cemetery , the Hillman German command post and many more interesting sites. We see the Mulberry artificial harbour and visit the sites of Stanley Hollis’ Victoria Cross winning actions . A good tour to take in addition to this would be the Canadian Juno Tour or American Highlights Tour.

We reserve the right to alter tour itineraries as necessary and without prior notice. This can be because of traffic delays, museum closures or bad weather etc

Please note that 12 years is the minimum age to take this tour

There is a moderate amount of walking and a considerable amount of standing on this tour

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