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Location Category ID:
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6025
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Address: |
D514, 14780 Lion-sur-Mer
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Telephone: |
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Email: |
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Opening Times: |
Accessible at any time
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Official Website: |
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Other Links: |
Normandy44LaMemoire
Tanks in France
Churchill Register
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Latitude, Longitude: |
49.30607896
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-0.32470018
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Location Accuracy: |
10
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Tanks Previously Here: |
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This Churchill AVRE is on display beside a road junction near the beach access road, Lion-sur-Mer, beside a monument in the form of a large sundial. The road is the D514 where it changes from the Boulevard Anatole France through Lion-sur-Mer to become the Route de Lyon to Luc-sur-Mer.
A plaque on the ground forms part of the sundial and commemorates 41 Royal Marines Commando. A nearby plaque on a small monument entitled “Liberation of Lion-Sur-Mer 6th-7th June 1944 41 Royal Marine Commando” includes a Roll of Honour.
There is an NTL Totem nearby that reads as follows:
| LION-SUR MER : THE SEA FOR THE LAST TIME |
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THE LANDING OF 41st COMMANDO
At the western end of “Sword” beach, Lieutenant-Colonel GRAY and his commando were met with accurate fire from the moment they set foot on land. Besides their human casualties, they found themselves with no radio until the afternoon and were bombed by the “Luftwaffe” the following morning. The survivors of 41st Commando, reinforced by the Lincolnshires and the Royal Ulster Rifles, went back onto the attack, liberated Lion-sur-Mer and marched on Luc-sur-Mer.
THE INCURSION OF 21st PANZER
“If you don’t push the British back into the sea, I believe we will have lost the war”. LXXXIV Army Corps commander, General MARCKS, told Colonel BRONIKOWSKI. Elements of 21st Panzerdivision slipped between British 3rd Division and Canadian 3rd Division. “Sword” and “Juno” had not been linked up. At 8 p.m., they reached Luc and Lion-sur-Mer. But reinforcements failed to arrive. As if on a training exercise, 249 gliders crossed the shoreline to land on the left bank of the Orne. Lest they be surrounded, General MARCKS’ Panzers decided to withdraw. They had seen the Channel for the last time. |
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here or on the image for this tank's profile page
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Unique ID: |
767
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Serial Number: |
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Registration: |
“T172091/C” painted on hull side ventilators and hull rear.
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Name: |
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Other Identification: |
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A plaque on the front left mudguard states “THIS CHURCHILL AVRE WAS REFURBISHED BY 15 FD WKSP 6 BN REME DURING MARCH/APRIL 1994”.
Another plaque is mounted on the ground beside the tank and reads as follows:
6 Juin 1944
6 Juin 1994
CHAR CHURCHILL
OFFERT PAR LE GENERAL
SIR IAN HARRIS
QUI COMMANDAIT LE BATAILLON
D’INFANTERIE LE JOUR J
2nd R.U.R. (ROYAL ULSTER RIFLES) | 6 June 1944
6 June 1994
CHURCHILL TANK
OFFERED BY GENERAL
SIR IAN HARRIS
WHO COMMANDED THE INFANTRY
BATALLION ON D-DAY
2nd R.U.R. (ROYAL ULSTER RIFLES) |
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