ADVENTURING Fatih Aksoy: 2014

Those who already read my earlier blogs in reference to North-west France and Normandy region would easily see my bicycle route. And now I was in lower Normandy region getting much closer towards a section where its history was one of the major turning points of World War II. Ever since I entered into France from Belgian border then coming down to Calais taking the route D940 French nationale I fell in love with the north-west region of France. Of course, north-west section of France divided into several regions (States). I came down all the way from the regions of Nord Pas de Calais, Picardy, Upper Normandy and now I was in lower Normandy bicycling towards four different towns: Vierville-sur-Mer, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Colleville-sur-Mer and Bayeux. And all of these towns were part of a history where the main and biggest part of amphibious Normandy landing took place.

This is lower Normandy, France. Omaha Beach where the American troops landed in June,6, 1944

I was still riding my bicycle to get there in a daylight, but I was late. Cold and dark evening. You can see my bicycle underneath the road sign.

After I left Honfleur, Deauville and the flowery coast, I was blazing towards the historical amphibious landing area. I was actually excited to see this area with details and with my own eyes. I studied political science at the university and during those years while taking those courses I’ve become attached to history so much that, even now, every day I have to read something related to history along with other subjects. History can be an obsession which you may never able to let go and I’m one of those people I’ve got a have it.

British War Cemetery in Bayeux, Normandy, France. As you can see from this photo, my bicycles carries so much weight. But because it's a trekking bicycle, it's sturdy and fast. Photo: F.Aksoy

This is also the British War Cemetery in Bayeux. It's really sad to see youngsters lying dead.

Photo: F.Aksoy

He was only 18 years old. Photo: F.Aksoy

British War Cemetery in Bayeux, Normandy, France

Unfortunately, lately when we read about the current events or follow it very closely, we notice how fake, how sad, how corrupted world leaders, politicians and the main stream media has become. And they’ve also became a puppet for corporations who now runs the entire show around the world. Take a good look at most developed countries, Western European nations, and super powers, it’s not the Presidents, Prime Ministers or Chancellors who runs or controls their countries, but all of these rich nations even run and controlled by greedy corporations. And these greedy corporations even control their military, the intelligence organizations, United Nations organization and even world criminal courts in Belgium and in Holland. Therefore these filthy crooks may even use the entire military and its intelligence units to steal other poor nations’ national wealth (Oil, Natural Gas, Etc.). By using its corrupted main stream media, they can easily lie by bringing in disinformation campaign to dupe and brainwash their own citizens to make them believe promote and support their cause and policies of using force, invading and occupying. Current events aren’t fun for me anymore. Current events are all based on lies, disinformation, and deception. This is where history becomes so handy. If you have a decent background in history and if you already followed the current events since long time, then they can never fool you or dupe you. If you are aware of the past, you can easily tell these corrupted politicians and the puppet media is taking you to the different directions and away from the main course. Propaganda has always been in the media. It’s because they do not want you to know the truth. The truth would hurt the entire nation and it would expose many criminals and crooks in our own governments.

Omaha Beach, Saint-Lauren-sur-Mer, Normandy, France
This is where the American troops were landed in 6, June, 1944. Photo: F.Aksoy

Even all these nations’ intelligence organizations have become the new mobsters. They’re the main tools for the crooks on top. They would make it look as if they’re the real patriots, but in reality they’re the main traitors who sell their nations to greedy corporations and to corporations’ interests. And just like in a military organizations, “No questions asked “ Prior to September 11 2001, in a span of 2 months FBI changes 3 different directors and last one comes in 4 days before 9/11. And a former FBI counter terrorism supervisor John O’Neill happens to become the Security Chief of the Twin Towers and takes over his job the day before 9/11. What a coincidence huh? No, it’s not a conspiracy theories, it is the truth. And how shocking it was to witness after a major disaster and an attack by outsiders supposedly, no one in U.S. Intelligence organization resigns. Wow! So were they the ones who were committing these crimes? Were they the ones who orchestrated 9/11 so they knew in advance and this was the reason why they wouldn’t resign? These are bunch of sick puppies that are still around. There are many other stronger clues about 9/11, however, I’m not going to touch them here. These filthy governments by changing the education system in many developed countries in Western Europe, U.K U.S. Canada, Australia, in super power nations and others, today’s generation became very poor in history, geography, world and international affairs to understand the current events. And this is exactly what they want. They want you to stay dumb and ignorant. This would help to their cause which in return people would be easy to be duped or lied to. Anyways, before moving onto our main subject which has a lot to do with these historical places, I just wanted to point out how history is so important which it played and plays a major role in our lives.

After a good night sleep and a good breakfast, I was at the Omaha Beach, Normandy, France.

Omaha Beach right behind my bicycle and American flag. Photo: F. Aksoy

Omaha Beach-Center- Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Photo: F. aksoy

After riding my bicycle, I finally arrived to Bayeux. I wanted to stop at Bayeux to visit British war cemetery before I went on to see the Omaha beach and the American cemetery and the memorial center. Bayeux is a small town with a population under 15,000 is the first town which was liberated from Nazi forces during the 1944 Normandy amphibious landing. And another invasion of Bayeux took place in the history during 1066 the conquest of England by William the Conqueror. This town hosts the biggest British war cemetery in Normandy. I went to visit this British cemetery in Bayeux and to be honest with everyone, despite the fact that I didn’t know anyone in this cemetery who were killed during an action of battle or combat, still, just looking some of these graves reading their names and their age completely brought tears down to my face. I couldn’t help it seeing these graves and very young boys not even man yet, not even seeing what life is all about, and not experienced….here they were lying dead. It really didn’t matter where they were from, their nationality didn’t matter and cause of the war didn’t matter, but what mattered to me at most was: they were really young and they were dead. Some of them were only 18 years old. There were some British families who were also here visiting the cemetery and some were crying and I was with them. I’m a veteran and a human I can totally understand their sorrow. And who knows perhaps they were a family member, but I didn’t want to ask and I just gave them a hug.

I left the cemetery sad and as I was pedaling out of Bayeux thinking how wars were/are terrible. And from the history I knew almost %78 percent of the wars were unnecessary. Human race is very greedy and most of these wars were based upon greed and interests. You would think all these terrible wars stayed in history, but no, still these years in our current times we have so many greedy corporations and crook politicians who still want blood in their hands and steal the resources from the poor and the defenseless. And because they’re powerful, they’re able to lie and blame the other side for the wars they start.

It was late in the afternoon and early in the evening which was getting dark slowly as I was pedaling fast towards the Saint Laurent-sur-Mer where the American forces landed at Omaha beach. I really wanted to make it there before the dark, but it was going to be impossible. Since I wanted to camp out at Omaha beach, time really didn’t matter, but I just wanted to see it during daylight. It was getting colder and I was still pedaling fast and hard also getting goose bumps all over. I just didn’t know whether from visiting British Cemetery or from the cold air. But still, those dead young men in their graves were in my mind and I was thinking deep at the time of 1944 about their parents and their brothers or sisters. Who knows what was going through their mind. How sad this was not being able to see your loved ones again. I was pedaling, but not even realizing how thirsty I was since I left Bayeux. I was getting closer to Omaha beach and I finally saw a little hotel and café.

American Cemetery and memorial center in Normandy. I filmed this while visiting Normandy, France. It's also on you Tube

I stopped to get a bottle of water from this café and the minute I put my bicycle against the wall, from the window I can see this old lady working by herself. I just couldn’t believe my eyes, she looked as if she was in her 80s, and yet, there were a few table occupied by French and American families whom she was serving. I thought how cute this was and at the same time seeing an 80 year old lady taking care of the entire café and no one was helping her. I walked inside the café and greeted her. She smiled and spoke to me in French. I smiled back and told her that I’m deeply sorry I can’t speak French. And amazingly she began speaking English which I couldn’t believe. She made me sit down and told me that she would be right back. And then she began passing out the checks of her customers. In a matter of 10 minutes, place got empty in a hurry. I was still waiting for her and I didn’t want to rush her. She finally came to my table and asked me if I want the special which was a pasta dish with garlic. I told her that I would love to have a plate. As I was having a dinner at this place by myself, she brought two glasses of lemonade and sat down next to me. I started to ask her question about Saint Lauren-sur-Mer, Omaha beach and its history. She began thinking very deep and gave me this look as if why did you have to ask this question. I loved listening her explain everything about the area and about her life. She was indeed 80 years old, but still very healthy for her age to serve to all these tables by herself. And this was actually her hotel, her house and her café which was left to her by her parents many years ago. She said she was born in 1934 right here in this location and by 1944 when the invasion and landing began by allied troops, during the night bombing raid, she lost her grandparents. She said all these were happening when she was 10 years old and she said it was too much to handle to see losing her grandparents and some of her friends. I listened her almost an hour and loved every minute of it. She was very experienced about life, war and people. And she was an incredible cook which she said she prepares the entire menu items by herself. I was amazed by this French lady who was 80 years old, yet, she was very active, healthy and still very intelligent. I finally decided to pay and leave, but she just wouldn’t accept my money. She hugged me and gave me a kiss on my cheeks and told me “It’s good to see people who still care” I was speechless and told her that “I will be back to visit you again in the future” I left her place sad and happy thinking about her age and what she does for a living. In reality, working and keeping herself busy was keeping her healthy and alive. And she loved talking to people which was also keeping her active.

After pedaling about 30 more minutes, I finally arrived to Saint Laurent-sur Mer. I followed the road sign and made it to Omaha beach. Now it was very dark and colder and I had to find a spot to camp out at Omaha beach. I looked at the Omaha beach and stared at the waves. I was tired and I knew I had a busy day ahead of me. There was a huge restaurant about 200 meters back from the beach and as I passed by I can hear American, British, French and other nationalities speak. I found a nice hidden camping spot on the beach and I finally unpacked my bags from the bicycle and set up my tent. Next thing I know it was already morning and I was hearing several kids who were running at the beach with their dogs. I had a long breakfast staring at the sea and then planning my day. I was very excited that I was getting ready to see all these amphibious landing spots with my own eyes.

Photo: F.Aksoy

American War Cemetery and Memorial Center, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Photo: F.Aksoy.

It's hard to believe that there are 9,700 American soldiers who is lying dead in this cemetery alone.
Photo: F.Aksoy

I’m not going to get into a detailed war planning or to an actual landing, but I would like to cover this historical landing from another perspective. Most Western historians who brings their own national, patriotic, or personal feelings into history or politics, fails to see the reality. My entire life I looked at things from neutral point of view and mostly analyzing chronological of events which actually brought me right into reality. And of course to cover this important historical event from a different perspective, little bit a history helps.
There is so much information available from different sources in reference to Normandy amphibious landing. Again, there are a few major mistakes were made by allies during the strategic planning which would had saved many soldiers’ lives, but I do not believe they really cared about loss of lives.

By the time June, 6, 1944 came (during the Normandy landing), German forces were all scattered around Europe and Russia. Up to 157 German divisions were in Russia fighting, 12 division in Norway, 6 divisions in Finland, 6 divisions in Denmark, 21 divisions in Balkans, 26 divisions in Italy, 20 divisions in Germany and 50+ divisions in France. So we clearly see most German divisions and bulk of their military power in Russia busy fighting against Russians. Therefore it really didn’t matter where the allies were coming from to land the forces on French coastlines: result would have been a victory. Germans hardly had any military power to defend the French coastline from allies. England and the U.S. knew it well that Germans were running weak in France and they took advantage of it. Had this landing been before the German invasion of Russia, it would have been a disaster. And in fact this is the reason England and U.S. never took a chance and never even thought about it. If Germans had never gone to Russia to invade and commit their most military forces to that region, then Germany would have invading England easily without any obstacle. But when you look at most Western historians, they would like to put their own feeling into the events and write the way they wanted to write to brainwash their own citizens. However, reality shows us the truth.

American War Cemetery and the Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer
Normandy, France. Photo: F.Aksoy

Let’s go back 2 years before 1944 Normandy landing. And this was the time before Germany pulled many of their military divisions from France to Eastern front. In August, 1942, Western allies decided to take the pressure of Russian Red Army who were fighting against German invasion. They came up with a disaster plan to test the German defense lines and test the feasibility of a cross-channel invasion. British and Canadian forces together decided an abortive landing at the French port town of Dieppe. The attack was poorly planned which ended up with catastrophe, disaster and humiliation for the British and Canadians who lost almost 5,000 soldiers for ill-guided strategists.

But two years later in 1944, it was different. Most German divisions left France to go to Eastern front to fight against Russians. And this was a huge advantage for Western Allies to invade French coastline easily. I still believe there were much safer ways and strategies to get into France without losing that many lives. It’s also important to mention that because the city of Calais and the region of Nord-Pas-de- Calais located at the narrowest point of the British Channel on French side, Germans thought invasion by Allies would take place in Calais area, therefore they brought their mostly strong forces to this area. And there were also a few deception games by allies to make Germans think Calais area would be the landing area.

On Tuesday, June, 6^th, 1944 Allied forces began invading Normandy beaches. These landings were in two different phases an airborne assault and an amphibious landing. Allied forces consist of almost 7,000 ships and almost 200,000 troops +24,000 airborne troops. This was actually a heavy handed landing compare to Germans which didn’t even have half of the size allied had. And it should be noted that more than half of the German troops who were defending these beaches were actually teenagers.

There were 5 different beaches allies landed. British landed at Sword and Gold beach. Canadians landed at Juno Beach, and Americans landed at Utah and Omaha beach. Of course I bicycled to all these beaches, but now I was at the Omaha beach. And they had also divided Omaha beach into many other codes. I was staring at the entire Omaha beach from this hill and completely picturing the entire amphibious landing in my head. It’s amazing to imagine troops coming out of Amphibious boats directly right on an enemy fire. Some dropping dead or wounded as they were advancing some taking cover behind dead bodies. What was really going through their mind as they were assaulting the beach? Most of these troops probably thought that was the day they were going to die. And some were probably more optimistic as they really knew this was a thin line which they were going to crush. Airborne assault began right after midnight 6, June, 1944. Sword Beach where the British landed first began an aerial bombing at 3:00 in the morning followed by 0730 naval bombing of coast defense line. After the landing Sword Beach, British troops advanced 8 kilometers deep inside, but still failed to capture the town of Caen. Actually Caen wasn’t captured until the middle of July where there was a fierce resistance by the German troops. Gold Beach was different as British landed 25,000 troops. Casualties were very high here due to the weather and strong German resistance. Canadians landed in Juno Beach faced against heavily armed German forces. In first wave of landing Canadians suffered %50 casualties. Nevertheless, two hours later they were able to advance inland. Omaha Beach was situated very different than other beaches especially for defenders. Omaha had high bluffs which gave so much advantage to the defenders. There were so many bunkers which were full of machine gun nests, mortars and artillery hidden very well and almost none of them were damaged from aerial or even naval bombing. So by the time when American troops landed, in first 2 hours Germans killed 5,000 American soldiers, but only losing 1200. And most of the German troops who were defending Omaha beach were %75 percent teenagers who were inexperienced in combat. It took about 3 full days for American troops to clear out of Omaha beach with the help of naval artillery and tanks. Utah beach was the luckiest as they gave only 197 casualties during landing.

I also went to Colleville-sur-Mer where American cemetery and memorial center is located. I walked between these 9,700 thousand graves at the cemetery and I was really speechless, sad and upset to see these many youngsters lying dead. Again nationality really didn’t matter, however, did this really have to happen?

ADVENTURING Fatih Aksoy

Monday, February 3, 2014

Mont-Saint-Michel, France. Lower Normandy.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Normandy, France : Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer American War Cemetery, British War Cemetery.