During our recent trip to France, we used Bayeux as a base to explore Normandy, especially the Omaha Beach area. We spent two days driving mile after mile along back roads through the idyllic French countryside, past farms and through villages on the way to Omaha Beach.
One of the venues high on our trip list was Pointe du Hoc, a 110-foot cliff jutting out into the English Channel located about 4 miles west of the center of Omaha Beach.
World War II German fortifications built along this prominent cliff top location included a series of defensive artillery bunkers. On D-Day, the US Army’s 2nd Ranger battalion scaled these cliffs and took this critical position, pushing German forces back from the cliffs while taking heavy losses in the two-day battle.
The site is now the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument and managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
We arrived on a warm sunny day and, despite the crowd, found plenty of free parking nearby. The site is easily accessible from the parking area through a series of paths taking visitors throughout the battle site.
Pointe du Hoc has remained basically unchanged since 1944 and entrance to many of the concrete bunkers is allowed. We descended down tight step ways into small concrete bunker rooms able to gaze out the same narrow view ports into the English Channel as the German artillerymen had 79 years ago. (All artillery pieces have long since been removed.) Outside, the entire field area around the bunkers is pock marked by deep craters caused by heavy US naval bombardment prior to the assault, still highly visible today.
The Pointe du Hoc Visitors Center provides lots of information for those visitors interested in a deep dive into the events of June 6, 1944. Note: there is no gift shop and no place to buy food.
Pointe du Hoc is an important stop for visitors to realize the breath of the D-Day invasion. Allow about two hours to walk along the small battle site and see everything, including stooping down into a few coastal bunkers. As we peered over the railing at the top of the cliffs to the beach below, we wondered how Army Rangers could have climbed up rope ladders and taken the top under fierce enemy fire. But they did.
