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Joe Steinbring

Cricqueville-en-Bessin

A battered concrete bunker topped by a viewing platform, as my Mom walks past on the gravel path.
A German bunker on Pointe du Hoc, the headland the Rangers took on D-Day.2019 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring
Static offline map showing Cricqueville-en-Bessin in France with a location pin.

My Mom and I were here early in the afternoon of October 31, 2019, after a morning at the Mémorial de Caen, on our trip through Spain, France, England, and Morocco, and went on to Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and Omaha Beach afterward. Pointe du Hoc, a headland on the coast here, is where U.S. Army Rangers climbed the cliffs on D-Day to take the German gun battery on top. The ground is still cratered from the bombardment, and the German bunkers are still there, broken open.

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  • A low, moss-covered bunker of stacked stone, its dark opening choked with rusted wire.

    One of the German bunkers on the headland.

    2019 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • The shattered concrete front of a gun emplacement, its roof sagging, taped off to visitors.

    A damaged gun emplacement at Pointe du Hoc.

    2019 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • The grassy, cratered headland from a metal staircase, with paths, visitors, and my Mom below.

    Craters from the D-Day bombardment still cover the headland.

    2019 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

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