Courseulles-sur-Mer is a popular port town in French Normandy, its beach being the site of the WWII, D-Day landing by Canadian troops. On that summer day on June 6 of 1944, more than 14,000 Canadian troops stormed the beaches between Graye-sur-Mer and St. Aubin-sur-Mer near Courseulles, referred to as the Juno invasion beach. After the German forces surrendered, some 150,000 more Canadian soldiers followed in the ensuing months and a total of 2,044 Canadians died for the cause.[1]
Today, Courseulles-sur-Mer is a popular tourist destination with many locals and foreigners interested in visiting the Juno beach, where the Canadians landed on D-Day. In the summer months, there are more than five times as many tourists as there are residents of Courseulles. Many Parisians also own summer homes in Courseulles.[2] Much of the influx of visitors of Courseulles is owed also to the ferry run by a Breton company that connects the town to Ouistreham-Riva-Bella.[3]
The town’s feature attractions, besides the Juno beach site, include the Juno Beach Center, which is a museum located behind the beach on which the Canadian soldiers landed on D-Day. There is also a strip of land donated by the French to Canada that serves as a military cemetery for the Canadians who died on that D-Day invasion.[4]
Another point of interest is the Sea Center (or Maison de la Mer), which has a fascinating diorama on the oysters found in the oyster beds of Courseulles.[5]
References:
“Courseulles-sur-Mer.” < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courseulles-sur-Mer>
Gaudez, René, Hervé Champollion, and Angela Moyon. Tour of Normandy. Rennes: Éditions Ouest-France, 1996. ISBN: 2737317185.
[1] Courseulles
[2] Id.
[3] Gaudez, 31
[4] Courseulles
[5] Gaudez, 31
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