THE FORGOTTEN GERMAN MONUMENTS AND REMAINS
'The forgotten monuments and remains of the Germans?' I hear you think. Every where you go you are confronted with the Atlantic Wall, casemats and bunkers made by Germans.
But the bunkers don't wear German memorial placards, but from the conqueror of the Germans, the Allies. But there is more where the regular visitor to Normandy may walk on by. I have no
intention not to mention these objects to you. It belongs to these pages to make the story complete.
LA CAMBE
In my guestbook (Dutch) appeared one day a entry by Harm de Beer. He made a point, quite rightly, that the Allies were having the overtone in Normandy.
You could say, no wonder, the liberation of the west of Europe was started at this point. The German rulers, occupying France for over four years, took a heavy beating over here. On every
corner or beach-exit stands a memorial. It reminds me of the American Civil War. I visited the battlefields of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There you are confronted with the same phenomenon,
dozens of monuments for the so called 'Union', but for the defeated Confederates only some nameless small headstones. But, that's how it goes in this world. Hero's are worshipped, the defeated forgotten.
Two killed German soldiers buried at La Cambe (note the date)
German memorials are only to be found at the six German wargraves. As monuments, you can consider the Atlantic Wall as a standing monument to the thousand of forced
labourers who had to work on these objects. Another monument is mentioned below, the Tiger tank of Vimoutiers. After the war, the French were not very keen to give any ground to the former (killed) occupier.
Harm says in my guestbook, 'these boys had no intention to die, many parents grieved over the losses of there childeren'. No, the German soldier was sent. Of course, there were soldiers
who fought for the ideal of a Greater Germany. Brainwashed by a dictator and his riff-raff, but most of of them were lonely and far from home, and died on foreign ground. The most impressive monument
for the killed German soldiers is the war cemetery near the village La Cambe (23 kilometres form Bayeux on the N13, heading to Carentan). Original intended as a combined American and German cemetery.
However, in 1947 the American soldiers were reburied at St-Laurent or were sent back to the USA. The following year the British and French war grave organisations collected and brought the German dead to
La Cambe and the other five cemeteries. The Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge was established to look after the graves. The work was and is manly done by schoolchildren and students.
The Allied could take a example of this. Young people are here confronted with the uselessness of war, a lesson to future generations.
Spread over the terrain stands little groups of black stone crosses, to symbolise the 'comradeship in to death'. A total of 21.200 death Germans are buried here,
under which 296 in a mass grave (a hill central at the terrain). The hill can be climbed for a view over the cemetery. It is quite a contrast with the Allied war cemeteries.
It is very sober and robust, and that gives the visitor a heaviness to the heart and he whishes: 'THIS NEVER AGAIN'.
OTHER GERMAN WAR CEMETERIES IN NORMANDY:
Champigny-St André, between Evreux and Dreux,
19.795 graves
Huisnes-sur-Mer, near Mont St Michel, 11.956
graves
Marigny-la-Chappelle, near St Lô, 11.169
graves
Orglandes, near Valognes, 10.152 graves
St Désir-de-Lisieux, 3.735 graves
In these six war cemeteries about 100.000 dead Germans found their last resting place.
Germany lost in Normandy 450.000 men. An offer to think about.
THE 'TIGER' OF
VIMOUTIERS
A unique monument of the German occupying is found near Vimoutiers. As a lonely remnant to the 'Falaise Pocket' stands a 'Tiger' type-E tank. The tank lay until 1975 beside the same road were it came to a halt when
it ran out of fuel on 19 August 1944. The crew tried to destroy the tank, but they failed. An American bulldozer pushed the tank in a ditch beside the road. The 'Tiger'
was sold to a local scrap dealer. But the tank stayed at its place and became a playground for the local children and during the years it lost some parts.
Other tanks that were left in the surroundings were all scraped (at least 60). When the owner died, his sister decided to sell it to a scrap dealer in Caen. The smelter became a threat.
 
After the Battle no 8. and how the 'Tiger' stands today as a monument at Vimoutiers
Through a publication in the magazine 'After the Battle'
no.8, and the intervention at the last moment by a former member of Leclerc Division (see the page on UTAH) the 'Tiger' is saved. Alain Roudeix from Vimoutiers
gets the assignment to salvage the tank. After a battle of two hours and much pulling by two bulldozers the tank is recovered from the ditch. After a big restoration the tank was
placed almost on the same spot were it once came to a stand still, 30 years before. You can find the tank on the D979 (the old N179) in a corner just outside town heading for Gace.
THE V1 LAUNCHING SIDE, LE-MESNIL-AU-VAL
To liberate Cherbourg and her harbour and obstruct the re-supply from the south to the Germans, it was necessary to cut off the peninsula Cotentin.
This was accomplished on 18 June, 1944 when troops of the VIIth Army (US) reached the westcoast. Between the 25.000 and 40.000 German soldiers were trapped.
The 21st of June, the 8th and 12th Infantry Regiment (US) started the attack to the north, heading for Cherbourg. First target was the V1 launchside near Le-Mesnil-au-Val.
The concrete remnants are still there.
From the N13, between Valognes and Cherbourg, take the D56 to the right. After a few kilometres are on the left the concrete constructions visible.
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to inspect the place up close because it is part of a farm.
A short history on the V1.
The V1 on display at Musée Le Grand Bunker, Ouistreham
(see this page) .
The V1 was a flying bomb, launched from a land base. The unmanned vehicle had a range of 250 kilometres (later enlarged to 370 km.)
The bullet shaped projectile had short wings and a pulsating jet-engine was pushing the 2200 kilograms heavy weapon with a speed of 600 km/h through the sky.
When it reached its target, a little propeller gave an indication to shut off the fuel. The engine was cut and the bomb dropped as a brick to earth.
Between Calais and Cherbourg their were 17 launch sites. 13 June 1944 the first ten V1's were launched and headed for London, but they all fail to reach it.
The first one dropped in Gravesend. From the 16.000 launched V1's, 2.419 hit London and 2.448 Antwerp. The others just crashed or were shot down by anti-air
artillery or became the victim of fighter pilots. The No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron brought 110 V1's down with their Spitfires Mk XIV (top-ace F/O R.F. Burgwal destroyed 19 )
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