Had a little time to spare in the Cherbourg peninsular on th way back to the UK, so re-visited the Pointe du Hoc (we went there for the first time some four years ago).
Pointe du Hoc overlooks both Omaha and Utah Beaches and carried major German Gun Emplacements in 1944. It was therefore a major threat to the allies on D-Day so was heavily bombed in the lead to D-Day, and on D-Day itself, was the subject of a daring and extroadinarily brave attack by US Rangers up the 100 feet sheer cliffs and was ultimately successfully taken. However, the guns had already been moved a mile inland by the Germans, but were quickly found and destroyed.
This is a shot from one of the intact gun emplacements looking south along the Pointe. There are deep craters about ten feet deep everywhere. A destroyed gun emplacement is visible fairly central of the shot.
I tweaked the contrast to try and give this some impression of the amount of bombing that took place and the loss of life suffered in this incredibly poignant place.
