One Day in the D-Day Landings Experience

The story of The Longest Day began in the most eastern of the five Normandy beaches. As your day unfolds you learn how months of careful, secretive planning allied to good fortune and quintessentially British bravura ensured the objectives were met.

A visit to a local cemetery reminds you that success had its costs.

Pegasus Bridge

Walk in the footsteps of the 6th Airborne Division where they landed at Pegasus Bridge. Visit the museum, cross the original bridge and discover the truth about what happened in the early hours of “The Longest Day”.

Merville Battery

A key German artillery fortification, the four casemated guns of the Merville Battery could have caused havoc on Sword Beach where the British troops were to land at 7.25am on D-Day. Instead the Battery was captured through the astounding bravery of a handful of the 9th Battalion Parachute Regiment. See what they achieved.

Ranville Church and Cemetery

This was the first British cemetery established for those who died in the early hours of D-Day. It contains 2,151 British troops, as well as a number of Germans. Your visit to Ranville British Military Cemetery does not fail to move.

Sword Beach

The 3rd British Division stormed ashore on this one mile stretch at 7.25am. A detachment of Commandos under Lord Lovat headed to relieve the parachutists at Pegasus Bridge, while others headed for Caen. Walk on the beach and sense their bravery in the face of the stiff German resistance.