Normandy - Part 6.

My final stop in my journey through Normandy was the U.S. Memorial at Omaha Beach.

Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied Invasion of German occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944, during World War 2.

The other landing beaches in the D-Day invasion were Utah (U.S.), Gold & Sword Beaches (U.K.) and Juno Beach (Canadian).

However, it was here at Omaha Beach that the memorial dedicated to the memory of the American soldiers who landed there in 1944, was established.

In the cemetery, 9837 soldiers are buried, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operation.

On the Walls of the Missing in a semicircular garden are inscribed 1557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those soldiers since recovered and identified.

The memorial is a beautiful and peaceful resting place for the soldiers. The grassy cemetery overlooks the beach where a lot of them died whilst trying to land on the beach head. Others died on the green fields that were studded with land mines.

The sheer number of white crosses, sitting stark against the green fields, was very dramatic and extremely moving.

R.I.P.

A visitor in our garden.

We have had a little visitor in our front garden this week. He has been running back and forth digging in the lawn and the garden, seemingly burying something. The light bulb finally went off in my head and I realised that he was collecting walnuts from the tree behind our house and stashing them away for winter.

I am of course talking about a squirrel. Not having these cute little creatures in Australia, I find them fascinating...far more interesting than kangaroos or koalas!

I thought I'd give the little critter a helping hand (and a photo opportunity), so I collected a tub of walnuts and left them in the garden, then I proceeded to lurk around with camera in hand. Now this is no mean feat trying to get a shot of a squirrel, because they are very nervous, extremely high strung and very very quick. They twitch and shudder, ever watchful, ready to take off at the slightest noise.

But I persevered and got the little blighter!

He would then scramble back over the fence, adjusting the nut in his mouth before he took off.

Or he would simply bury them in our garden and lawn.

Of course the you-know-what is going to hit the fan when he comes back in winter and digs up our front lawn looking for his nuts!

You have to admit though, that he is really cute!

Red...

I just love the colour red. It always draws the eye, it stands out in a crowd, it makes a statement.......

I got a bit excited today when I took off to photograph the lovely house with the Virginia creeper....

It stands out in a crowd!

because I also found another cute house (not hard to do around here), with a red door....it beckoned me from the carpark...

Draws the eye!

Makes a statement!

then I found a red letterbox in another village, which was very exciting because it has a 'GR' on it instead of an 'ER' (but that's a story for another time).

You just can't miss it!

Wouldn't it be sad if these letterboxes were painted grey instead of brilliant red!


So I came home and took pics of  my 'red stuff'...

Part of my religious collection.

Well o.k. I didn't actually decorate with this....it lets the ash out.

 

Can't resist a red book!

The smallest detail can be effective.

Vintage pond yachts.

I like to decorate with red accents, it can really 'pop'.

A budding flower photographer?

I recently had to post a photo of a floral arrangement to a flickr photo stream as part of the course I am currently doing through decor8. This was mainly a photographic exercise to try and achieve a blog-worthy shot. Well I faffed around with various arrangements I had in the house, spurred on by some of the amazing achievements by fellow students. I started playing around with props as well and finally settled on my first shot which includes a good portion of the galvanized container...

 

I very nearly went with this one as I like the simplicity of the ivy against the gal. The number '40' adds a little bit of interest as well.

 

I really loved this shot of the white roses, mainly for the detail that emerged on the leaves....all accidental of course...at this point I never know how a shot is going to come out!!

I tried to get creative and bring in the music paper, but I definitely need to work on my f-stops (photography jargon for aperture settings)!

 

Then I dragged out a tea towel, but not just any tea towel it was my beautiful linen cote bastide tea towel, which never ever gets used...it just sits on the shelf all folded up looking beautiful!!

 

Although the red roses were not even in the house on the day I thought I would throw this shot in as who can resist a perfectly formed red rose??


I'm off now to take some shots of a beautiful virginia creeper covered house in a nearby village... will share soon!!

Normandy - Part 5.

Scenes from the town of Amiens....

Amiens is the chief city of Picardy, in the Somme River Valley and is about 100 km from Paris. The town was the scene of The Battle of Amiens which was the opening place of the One Hundred Days Offensive, leading to the armistice which ended World War 1.

Gotta love those garage doors!

Yep, I'll have a couple of those on my roof please!

 

The Notre dame d'Amiens Cathedral or The Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens is the tallest complete cathedral in France. It contains the largest medieval interior in Western Europe.
It's a very beautiful gothic cathedral with many chapels....

We tried but we couldn't get the little door shut!

Local Saints.

Amazing detail - inside the Cathedral.

Can you see the skulls peeking out....

 

In one of the many chapels within the cathedral hangs an Australian flag which was presented by the A.I.F. in 1920 as a memorial to the Australian soldiers that gave their lives in the Battle of Amiens.

Normandy Part - 4.

The Thiepval Memorial is the British Memorial mainly dedicated to the regiment and corps of the British Army as well as soldiers for the Royal Navy Division and South African Brigade.

The memorial is made of redbrick, faced with Portland stone - upon which is engraved the names of 73,000 soldiers who died on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 and who have no known grave.

'Here are recorded names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields July 1915 - February 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death'.

At the foot of the memorial lies a cemetery containing 300 British and 300 French graves, many of whom are unknown.

The grey stone French crosses bear the single word 'Inconnu' meaning unknown.

 

The British rectangular graves made of white stone bear the inscription 'A soldier of the Great War/known unto God'.

 

'That the world may remember the common sacrifice of two and a half million dead, here have been laid side by side Soldiers of France and of the British Empire in eternal comradship'.
As inscribed on the Thiepval Cemetary Cross of Sacrifice (source: Wikipedia).

Normandy - Part 3.

Whilst in Normandy we visited the Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux... this was an extremely moving experience. To see the graves lined up in this beautiful field, and the names on the memorial of so many soldiers that were never able to be buried.....

This memorial commemorates all Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium in the 1st world war. Our fighting men were instrumental in the area following the capture of the village of Villers-Bretonneux by the Germans on 23rd April, 1918. The following day the 4th and 5th Australian Division with units of the 8th and 18th Division recaptured the whole village.

Every year on the Saturday closest to Anzac Day, the local community hold a ceremony here to remember the fallen and those who liberated their village on the 25th April 1918.

On July 14th 1919, the mayor of Villers-Bretonneux made the following speech whilst dedicating a small memorial in the village...

'The first inhabitants of Villers-Bretonneux to re-establish themselves in the ruins of what was once a flourishing little town have, by means of donations, shown a desire to thank the valorous Australian Armies, who with spontaneous enthusiasm and characteristic dash of their race, in a few hours drove out an enemy ten times their number.....They offer a memorial tablet, a gift which is but the least expression of their gratitude, compared with the brilliant feat which was accomplished by the sons of Australia......Soldiers of Australia, whose brothers lie here in French soil, be assured that your memory will always be kept alive, and that the burial places of your dead will always be respected and cared for....'
                                                                                                                                  (source: Wikipedia).

10,700 Australian servicemen named on the memorial died in the battlefields of the Somme, Arias, the German advance of 1918 and the Advance to Victory.

 

 

A further 770 Australian soldiers are buried here in graves, along with those of the British Empire soldiers also involved in the campaign.

The Australian flag carved into the corner.

A little further away in the town of Amiens, our Australian solders are again commemorated for their efforts in defending that town. On August 8th, 1918, the 12th and 5th Australian Division advanced to the Battle of Amiens. Alongside the Canadian forces, they attacked the rear of the German lines taking them completely by surprise and after another 3 days of fierce fighting the Germans were defeated.
It would only be 100 days more until the Germans gave up completely bringing an end to World War 1.

On November 7th, 1920, the Bishop of Amiens unveiled a plaque, affixed to a pillar in the Notre Dame d'Amiens Cathedral. The plaque pays tribute to the soldiers of the AIF who fought on the Somme between March and August 1918 and defended the city of Amiens from the Germans.

As the inscription on the plaque asserts, the AIF had....'valiantly participated in the victorious defence of Amiens...'