Pointe du Hoc

After visiting Utah Beach, an easy victory for the Americans, we traveled east along the coast to the Point du Hoc, a 100 ft cliff overlooking the English channel. During World War II it was the highest point between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east. The Germans fortified the area with concrete casements and gun pits. On D-Day (June 6, 1944) the U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs and seized the German artillery pieces that could have fired on the American landing troops at Omaha and Utah beaches. At a high cost of life, they successfully defended against determined German counterattacks.

The ground still carries the scars of heavy shelling