BRAVO BUNKER SWORD BEACH
Sword Beach was the codename of one of the five main landing
beaches in Operation Neptune, the initial assault phase of
Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June
1944.
Stretching 8 km from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer it was
the furthest east of the landing points and around 15 km from Caen.
The landing site was divided into four zones - Oboe, Peter, Queen
and Roger (west-east). The German defences consisted of beach
obstacles, anti-tank ditches, mines, machineguns and mortars at the
beaches and across the River Orne at Merville there were heavy
guns. The defending troops belonged to the German 716th Static
Infantry Division and could call on the support of the nearby 21st
Panzer division. The landing forces were the British I Corps,
comprising British 3rd Infantry Division and the 27th Armoured
Brigade.
The landing was concentrated in the Queen sector, on the beach
of Hermanville-sur-Mer. The key objective was to quickly reach and
capture the key town of Caen and the nearby Carpiquet aerodrome to
the west. Landings began at 0725 when the 3rd Division landed in
Peter and Queen. Attached Commando units were tasked with seizing
the bridges on the Orne River and the Caen Canal, linking up with
paratroops of the 6th Airborne Division who were holding the
bridges and had earlier destroyed the batteries at Merville.
Resistance on the beach was weak, within 45 minutes the fighting
had been pushed inland and on the east flank the Commando units had
reached the Orne and the paratroopers by midday. The British had
been unable to link up with the Canadian forces to the west until
much later in the day. The only significant German counter-attacks
of the entire landing came from 1600 into this area. In two attacks
the 21st Panzer Division pushed all the way from near Caen to the
beach between Lion-sur-Mer and Luc-sur-Mer and were only fully
neutralized by late evening. 54 German tanks were destroyed or
disabled out of 98.
The day ended with 28,845 British troops ashore and only 630
casualties. However Caen had not been reached and in the face of
stiffening resistance the assault had stalled 6 km short of the
town. British forces had been bogged down on the beaches by the
sheer volume of men and equipment being unloaded.
The beaches of D-Day are still known by their invasion codenames
today.
There are no gates into and out of this area. The barbwire fence
(for the Spenceville Area only) is there to keep vehicles out not
people.
(The POC in Tim Caldwell, the manager for the CA Fish and Game
concerns for Spenceville (530) 624-8658)
You must practice non-destructive methods for crossing it though,
perhaps a thick material to avoid any scrapes or scratches, best to
err on the side of good judgment.
I’ve found that if you go to the center (Between posts) you
can twist the upper two strands together and push the third strand
down and easily squeeze between them then return the fence to
normal after I’ve crossed.
You can also find parking at 39 07.687N 121 18.513W.