Build-Up To D-Day 1944
- Duration: 5 days
- Board Basis: Half Board
- Tour Ref: D2TLEG5UBDD
Holiday Summary
- Travel Type: Coach
PLEASE NOTE: Price is per person and based on two people sharing a twin/double room. Single room supplements and upgrades are not included.
Itinerary
5-Day Itinerary
Day 1
Local departure by coach, then onto Folkestone Services. Here, we join our coach and journey to Portsmouth for a three-night stay.
From the comfort of your centrally located hotel, a wide choice of restaurants are within easy reach this evening.
Day 2 - D-Day Story – D-Day Sites at Portsmouth
Today we start in Portsmouth, at the heart of the D-Day preparations in 1944, with an included visit to the superb D-Day Story Museum. Here, you can see many important D-Day artefacts, the incredible D-Day Tapestry and an original Landing Craft Tank used in Operation Overlord. We also visit the Portsmouth Naval Memorial which commemorates many of those killed in the Naval operations for D-Day and Normandy.
In the afternoon, we visit the Gosport area to look at where the landing craft loaded men and tanks for the D-Day beaches. We will discuss the role of Haslar Hospital and visit a local cemetery where some of the wounded brought home from D-Day, who later died of their wounds, are buried.
We then visit the village of Southwick, home to Southwick House which contains the famous D-Day Map Room. As this is still located on property used by the Ministry of Defence, we will visit only if possible. Otherwise, we will see some D-Day Marshalling Areas in the locality.
Meals - Breakfast
Day 3 - Tarrant Rushton Airfield – Bovington Tank Museum
This morning, we travel into Dorsetshire and visit Tarrant Rushton Airfield to look at the story of the D-Day gliders. This is where they took off from and went on to land at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
Later, we have an included visit to the Bovington Tank Museum, with its world-renowned collection of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, including many used on D-Day or in Normandy.
We also have an included visit to the superb Castleton D-Day Centre which tells the story of the American build-up for D-Day through exhibits and vehicles. This visit will help us understand how this area became one vast military camp in 1944, with troops departing for Omaha and Utah beaches.
Meals - Breakfast
Day 4 - RAF Tangmere – Chatham Naval Memorial
We depart Portsmouth and stop at the former RAF Tangmere in West Sussex, having an included visit to the excellent Aviation Museum here, and also seeing graves in the local cemetery.
After lunchtime in Chichester, we continue to Kent and the Chatham Naval Memorial, which commemorates many Naval and Royal Marines casualties from operations in Normandy in 1944.
We then continue to our overnight hotel in Kent and enjoy a fond farewell dinner.
Meals - Breakfast, Dinner
Day 5
We depart for Folkestone Services and return home.
Meals - Breakfast