Normandy Tour Story

Gunner

Gunner

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You gys may have heard this before but we didn't.

Looking through pictures from my brothers and I last tour of Normandy I found some pictures I thought some may be interested in.

This time we were following the I SS Panzer Corps in defense of Operation Goodwood.

Normandy:

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Our guide, Gary, guides us through Caen discussing the fighting in and around the city.

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Following Operation Goodwood, Gary takes us to this open field outside of Cagny southeast of Caen.

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We make a few turns and he takes us down this quiet road. There out in this field pops up a monument:

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We get out of the van and go up to look at it

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Gary then tells us a story and to sum up:

Whilst taking part in Operation Goodwood east of Cagny, Lt John Gorman who was a Troop Commander in the 2nd Armoured Battalion was probing forward in his Sherman tank 'Ballyragget' when suddenly he found himself broadside to a German King Tiger , the massive German tank that no-one had yet seen. On seeing the tank he gave the order to fire his 75mm gun at it but it just bounced off the armour of the great German monster. On giving the order to fire again he was informed by the gunner that the gun was jammed and could not fire again.
By now the German Tiger Tank was traversing his 88m gun onto the defenseless Sherman tank. On seeing this Lt Gorman ordered his driver L/Cpl James Brown to ram the Tiger Tank. Ballyragget struck the German tank amidships disabling the tank and causing it's crew to bail out.
After seeing his own crew to saftey, Lt Gorman commandeered a Firefly, 'Ballymena', whose commander had been killed and continued to fire at the Tiger tank with his new-found 18 pounder gun until it's destruction was complete. For this action Lt John Gorman was awarded the Military Cross and his driver L/Cpl James Brown was awarded the Military Medal.


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(@Ithikial Thats Gary Weight at Pegasus Tours, amazing knowledge of the battlefields)
 
Which tour? Still the 12 day Normandy to Eagles nest? We're thinking of 4 days of Market-Garden and maybe Normandy from the German perspective, We would do Dunkirk but I'm not sure how the logistics would work.
 
Gunner said:
Which tour? Still the 12 day Normandy to Eagles nest? We're thinking of 4 days of Market-Garden and maybe Normandy from the German perspective, We would do Dunkirk but I'm not sure how the logistics would work.
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Yeah pretty much. The timetable that we'd drawn up was for the full 15 days maximum that the Normandy to Eagles Nest has on offer. The first seven was in Normandy split between the US/UK Beaches and then moving inland towards Falaise Pocket. This was followed by a driving day to Arnhem (can't avoid it given the distance involved) for two days to cover Market Garden. There was two days down in Belgium but no big drive day to get there from the Netherlands (maybe just a real early start). Then there was a drive day to Munich before the final leg of the tour.

The problem I've got is it's not worth it financially for me to sign up for one his smaller tours or a multiple block of his Normandy tours that may last a week. When you are coming from the other side of the world without the luxury of cheap cross channel/atlantic air tickets you want to max out the time you have there.

Last contact I had was the other week where I said I'm happy to be a plus one on any other tour of this length (but can't get away from work until August). No issues paying for seperate room accomodation.
 
Seven days in Normandy? Sweet. We did 6 and had 82 "stands". Gary says it's a record. With 7 days you'll probably be the new record holder. :)
We come across "the big pond" but vacation for my brother is an issue. We can only do about 14 days. With two days of travel on either end that leaves about 10 days for touring.
We did 9 last year and we were kind of "toured out" by the end. This time I think we'll take a day or two in the middle, sleep late and do some touristy shyte.

When we all are retired, next year, two at the most, we will take that 15 day tour.
So much to see so little time.
 
If I haven't gone by then please keep me in mind. If you don't mind a plus one that is.

Two weeks are incredibly short for me. Last one I did last year was 5 weeks non-stop. ;) Don't recover as quickly from a few drinks night before as I used to but still made it.
 
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