Bricquebec was liberated on June 19 by the 2nd Battalion, 39th Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. The town was not the victim of heavy shelling and was to to bad damaged in the battle. The citizen had fled the town because they thought that their town would also be destroyed as Valognes and Montebourg. The picture below shows a typical scène of the situation on June 21, 1944, at the Place Sainte-Anne in Bricquebec. In the back the dojon of the medieval castle can be seen. A single Command Car Dodge with a GI as driver talks to three MP’s, and are welcomed by a citizen who stayed in town.

Continue your route on the D 902 towards Valognes. A couple of kilometers out of town, you come across the crossroad to Le Foyer. Here stands an impressive statue, a monument built by sculptor Pierre Fouesnant, of a crashing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. It is a reminder of two B-17’s who crashed nearby.

In the north of the Cotentin, the Germans were busy building many concrete constructions. Reports from the local resistance and own recce gave suspicion that these were placements for rocket launching sites. These places became targets for Allied bombers. For the highest rate of success, daylight bombing was the best option. So the American heavies came over te Cotentin, nicely projected against the clear blue skies. Many bombers fell to the German AA guns. Also on April 27, 1944, for bombers with Sottevast as target. In the group of sixteen B-17 bombers of 384th Bombardment Group, 544th Squadron, was also the relatively new machine, the 42-97136. The target was bombed at 10.51 uur when 63 tons of bombs were released. German Flak opened up from the hills at St. Joseph all the way to Breuville. An 8,8cm shell smashed into the wing of 42-97136 and the pilot, Herbert Small lost almost at once controle of the aircraft, which plummeted to earth,… all 10 men on board were killed.

On May 8, 1944 the 384th Bombardment Group were again assigned , with two parts of the squadrons 544th and 547th, to repeat a mission on Sottevast. During this mission four bombers failed to return. The First who was lost, was 42-31495 "WABBIT TWACKS" SU-R (544th Sqn) which was hit by Flak, just before ‘bombs away’. On board of the B-17 was also the observer, Maj. Sanders. He was an administrator. Col. Smith thought it a good idea to take sometimes ‘not fliers’ on board, so they good witness what bomber crews did during a flight. When the plane went down, Sanders will have had thoughts that flying a desk wasn’t that all bad. After this tragedy, no longer ‘observers’ were permitted to fly in bombers during missions. Another unnecessary victim during this mission was Sgt. Overcash. He had flown his tour of 30 missions, but because of an administration error, he was ordered for one more mission. Three other crew members, Lt. Foster, Lt. Uniszkiewicz, and Sgt. Boone, also did their last trip before they could return to home, but they also perished in the crash, nearby this monument. (According to the memorial, 2nd Lt. Clifford Lee Johnson was made prisoner of war, but on the black plaque (below)his name is added, and in the official reports, he is also noted as KIA.

The second B-17 that was shot down, was 42-31211, BK-H (547th Sqn). Two parachutes were seen when the plane went in. A third B-17, the 42-97081, BK-K (547th Sqn) crashed into see, 25 kilometers out of Cherbourg. Two men were rescued, and one body salvaged. The other crew members went down with the plane. A fourth B-17 could not make it back to it’s own base, and had to make a emergency landing on RAF Ford, with all four engines out. The last two bombers are not mentioned on the memorial.

At the monument at Le Foyer take the road on your left , the D 519, and head for Rocheville.You drive through the typical landscape of Normandy, the bocage. In Roscheville turn right to the D 418 towards Les Sources. Before the railway crossing (a viaduct) stands a monument as a remembrance tot crashed C-47, in the night of June 6 1944, with paratroopers from 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division.

Drive on towards Croix-Jacob and go left to Sottevast,and keep to the right there to go to Brix. Head on the D 50 and turn left for St. Martin-le-Gérard. After a kilometer on the D 56 turn right to Tollevast. From Tollevast onto the D 152 towards Hardinvast. In Hardinvast a last remnant of a V1 launching site can be found on farmyard. This is private property, but from a side road the object can be observed.

To look for the V1 site, when you enter Hardinvast, take the fifth street on your right. The last of the five, the Chemin du Moulin à Vente is the one. Go into this street. At the end the hardened road becomes a dirt road. The first German concrete you come across is a former guard building. From this point you have the best view on the V1 site.

Drive on, and through the fence you see the double launch sites for the V1’s. To the left of the gate, a maintenance shop can be seen. When the owner is present, you may ask for permission to observe the objects closer. Not far from this site, there is another launching site. This one is near Le Mesnil-au-Val, and will be visited during the other daytrip.

Leave Hardinvast westwards on the D 152. Cross the D 900 and follow the D 152. After a couple of hundred yards, go left and take the D 505 towards Vastville. Go left onto the D 37. After three kilometers, go left to Biville. Here is a fantastic dune landscape to be found, the Calvaire des Dunes. Go through the village, pass the sign to Vauville, and go left at the end of the road. Follow the road with the rocky cliff towards the dunes. After this visit, turn back to Biville, and go left towards Vauville-Beaumont. Before Jobourg turn into the D 401 towards Jez de Jobourg. Follow the coastal road, (a good help is the Michellin road map 303, or better still, the IGN map 1210 OT), to find the most western point of the Cotentin, Cap de la Hague. For the one searching for bunkers, there are plenty to be found near Auderville.

Because of the battery near Auderville and two railway guns, Pointe de la Hague was a target which was visited many times by Allied bombers. The Germans had made a large tunnel near Laye, near La Roche, in which some 150 civilians from Auderville could find shelter during an air raid.

Cherbourg capitulated on June 29, and this part of the Cotentin, Cap de la Hague,was the last stand for the Germans in the region. On June 30 the frontline was at Beaumont. Before the last attack by the 9th Infantry Division on the Germans who were dug in around Auderville, the Allied bombers attacked La Hague. And after a rain of artillery, the last German surrendered around 05.00 hours. In this last stretch some 6000 Germans were taken prisoner.

The battery of Auderville is located on a piece of private land were cows do their thing (and lots of it!). So, if you like to visit some of the casemates, move with caution between the ‘boo’betraps.

But the most intriguing site is just south of Auderville. Here were two railway guns to be found in an open placement. Unfortunelly, the site is located on private property, but the site is too special, and on such a time, my French is lousy and I can’t read the faded sign, that say, to keep out!

The E.685 railway battery consisted of two 20,3cm K.(E) S.K.C/34 railway guns who lay in hiding in two concrete emplacements. With a reach of 37 kilometers and their 360 degrees rotation, they could cover the whole of the northwest of the Cotentin. To obscure them from view, the guns were camouflaged with a painted pattern and were covered in camouflage netting.

To find this interesting site, return to the D 901 and leaf Auderville again south. After some 500 yards in a long corner in the road (as a reference use a small ruined building on the left) and the complex can then be found on the right of the road. If you see the two large bunkers in the meadow, you have reached the spot.

After a stroll in the meadow, you coam afetr a hundred meter at the First emplacement. You notice at once the high degree of finish to the walls of the complex. Through a small corridor (halfway you come across a wreck of a car, a Kubelwagen?) with a personal bunker, you enter the second emplacement. This one is simpler in it’s construction, but you still can see the concrete bottom.

For the last object we visit in this region, we return to Vauderville. Halfway turn left, and head for the lighthouse, but, take the the road right, at the last house of Auderville, and take the road to the semaphore. Here you come across a large bunker with a huge slope. The gun stood in the bunker and was rolled to the top using the ramp. They could leave the gun atop of the bunker, but the weather can be harsh over here, and the sea salt could jeopardize the function of the gun when needed.

Return once again to Auderville, at the T-crossing, go right, onto the D 901 towards the coast. Here is the lighthouse Gros du Raz to be found. After this, return to the D 45 towards St. Germain-des-Vaux and take the northern coastal road. This is very nice route to follow, with great views over the sea and through old weathered villages.