BAYEUX - D DAY - THE BRITISH MEMORIAL, THE MUSEUM AND THE TAPESTRY

The city of Bayeux lies some 5 miles behind Gold Beach, one of the British D Day Landing Beaches, and approximately half way along the whole invasion area at about where the British and American zones of responsibility met.

The D Day mission of the British 50th Northumbrian Division , which landed on Gold Beach, included the taking of Bayeux and recce patrols of the 151st Brigade of the Division entered the outskirts of the city around 2030 hours on 6 June.

By mid-day on the following day troops of the 56th Brigade including tanks, entered Bayeux, the Germans having withdrawn without contesting the city streets. One week later General de Gaulle came to Bayeux and accompanied by rapturous citizens paraded through the streets, an event shown on the Bayeux French Memorial.

Almost adjacent to the Bayeux Memorial Museum, recently revamped, are the British Memorial and Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery the largest WW2 British cemetery in France.

Bayeux was the first major French town to be liberated and its famous tapestry, hidden near le Mans during the war, was preserved intact. Eindhoven, the first Dutch city to be liberated joins with Bayeux in an annual ceremony of remembrance.

Many more details are to be found in our Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches. Click here.