View over Queen Beach, Sword Area at approx. 8:30am. Soldiers of No.1 Platoon, 84 Field Company RE are in the foreground, passing the heavily laden medical orderlies of No.8 Field Ambulance, some of whom are assiting the wounded. The men of the 1st Battalion, the Suffolk Regiment and Lord Lovats’s can be seen in the background.
Sword Beach was the site of the most easterly beach landings. Due to shallows and sand banks the assault was on a very narrow front.
The British 3rd Infantry Division was destined to land on this beach. The last time they had been in combat was in 1940 during the rearguard action at Dunkirk commanded by Montgomery himself. They were now re-fitted, excellently trained and raring to go under the command of Major General Tom Rennie.
At 07.25 the first troops hit the beach, closely followed by engineers and tanks. Confusion and chaos reigned as the Germans started to come out of their bunkers and lay fire down on the bunched British soldiers as they left their landing craft.
Come and see what the beach looks like today. Visit the amazing Le Grand Bunker. Find out why Cod, Trout and Sole caused such problems along with Daimler, Morris and Hillman. See where probably the most eccentric officer of the day landed along with his most unusual weapon to strike fear into the enemy and discover what some of the British troops did when they were confronted with adversity.
Le Grand Bunker; a fortified german observation tower, set behind Sword Beach.
A German soldier of the Waffen SS watches the Allies from behind a destroyed Sherman M4 tank, near Caen in Normandy
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