Back to Hedgerow Hell - D-Day Commemoration in Normandy

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For the commemoration of the Allied Landing in Normandy on D-Day 06. June 1944 during Operation Overlord. Willys Overland-Jeep & 29th Infantry Division

Geschichte

This Willys Overland MB291704 JEEP took part in the Operation Overlord and landed on the beaches of the Normandy Coast in June 1944 with the „Stonewall Brigade“ the 116 Infantry Regiment of the 29th US Infantry Division.
Now, 70 years later, this Jeep went the same way the 116th Infantry Regiment went during World War II, but in the different direction.

Starting point for the Commemoration-Tour was Mönchengladbach which was liberated in March 1945 by the 29ers. The way leaded us through the former battle zones to the town of Jülich to cross the river Rur and further to Teveren and Geilenkirchen.
We visited Aachen, Maastricht, Liege and went to Paris, to take a city round, visited the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Trocadero and Notre Dame and had a rest in one of the bars at Champs Elysees like the soldiers did after the liberation of the town in 1944.
Next citys to visit were Le Mans and Rennes to get to the Atlantik Coast and the city of Brest, which was a large german U-boat and battleship base from 1940 to 1944. The city was heavily defended by the Germans and therefore also referred as "Brest Fortress".
Then we went back east, made a stop-over at Mont Saint Michel and got to Tinchebray. From there on the most important part of the tour started and leaded us to town like Vire, Saint Lo, La Cambe, Isigny-sur-Mer, Grandcamp Maisy and finally Saint Laurent-sur-Mer at Omaha Beach; the 29ers called this area the „Hedgerow Hell“.
The arrival date was the 2nd of june, so we took part at the official celebrations on the Normandy coast.

Commemoration-Tour started on the 28th of May. Every day we reported about the progress of the tour and our experiences.
The hole tour will be dokumented and it is planned to be publish like a roadmovie in book form.
It was an unbelieveable journey with unforgetable moments. We are planning to go back to Normandy in May/June 2019 for the 75th anniversary again.