Les Plages du Débarquement, Normandie, 1944, are better known in English as the D Day Landing Beaches in Normandy.
The five beaches that make up the D Day landings are (from west to east) Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword and they stretch along the Normandy coast from Isigny-sur-Mer in the west to Ouistreham in the east, spanning a total distance of 75 kilometers.
It is possible to visit the most prominent sights in a single day with the use of a car. And along the way there plenty of significant things to visit. Every small seaside town and village seems to have a monument to the landings often in the form of a preserved tank or a pillbox.
The remains of the floating Mulberry Harbour, an essential temporary harbour to allow ships to dock and unload men and equipment, can still be seen on the beach at Arromanches, defensive pillboxes showing the scars of battle, on the cliffs at Point du Hoc, where US Rangers scaled the cliffs with ropes and grappling hooks to engage the enemy, Pegasus Bridge on the Caen canal, the first building to be liberated on the day prior to the landings, the first Liberty Way marker at KM0, are just a few examples of the fascinating history of the start of the liberation of Europe.
There are personal poignant reminders of the human cost too, Rowe Road (pictured), named in honour of Private J T Rowe, just one of the thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice. The American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer or the quirky bell tower of the church at Sainte-Mère-Église, where a dummy paratrooper still hangs to this day in honour of John Steele, who's parachute caught on the spire and he watched the battle for town unfold from his position unable to do anything.
I think it's only right that the Landing Beaches and the towns and villages that are close by that saw so much of the fighting are enshrined as a full UNESCO Listing to keep alive the memory of those that gave so much for the freedom and liberation of Europe.