UTAH BEACH LANDING MUSEUM

This museum is located on the very site of the landings, in the sector assigned to the Americans to take Cherbourg. On the evening of June 6, 1944, 23,000 men, 1,720 vehicles and 1,695 tons of supplies were landed on this site. Compared with other landing beaches, this sector was relatively unscathed: the human toll was "only" 197 soldiers killed in action and 60 missing. The operation was a complete success: Utah Beach was transformed into an artificial harbour managed by 70,000 men from the US Army and Navy. The eponymous museum boasts two masterpieces: the assault barge and the Water Buffalo, an eight-by-three-metre vehicle unique in Europe and fully restored. In a purpose-built 800 m² hangar, visitors can see a life-size replica of a B26 Marauder used during Operation Overlord (only five remain worldwide), as well as a flight simulator. The Utah Beach Museum has always demonstrated its commitment to the transmission of memory and understanding of the events of June 1944. On leaving, visitors understand why this beach was chosen and how the landing was both a military and technological success.

The exhibition areas follow different themes. Everything begins with the German defences and enemy occupation. The museum is located next to one of the blockhouses built by the Germans. The projection of the award-winning film "La Plage de la Victoire" (The Beach of Victory) aids the chronology, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the daily life of the people and to follow the preparations for D-Day hour by hour. This is followed by areas devoted to Allied strategy and the military forces involved (naval, air and land). Then on to the panoramic room to discover the exact chronology of this historic day on the beach. The exhibition goes on to show how the paratroopers and infantrymen joined up and made their perilous advance to Cherbourg. The museum then presents the Utah Beach artificial harbour, built to compensate for the destruction of the Cherbourg harbour. The nature of the objects on display (photos, eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, equipment, personal effects, etc.) brings these events to life for the soldiers and the local population. Moving documents at the service of memory and history.