world war 2 places to visit france

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13 WW2 Sites in France You Must Visit | Popular Attractions for History Buffs

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Masterminded by a Kansas farm boy-turned-West Point-educated general, D-Day is often cited as the turning point of World War II. As dawn began to break on June 6, 1944, soldiers, sailors, and airmen from 12 nations executed General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Operation Overlord and carried out the largest amphibious attack in history.

While there are hundreds of World War II museums, memorials, and other sites around the world, the invasion of Northern France was a significant victory against the German soldiers and the allied Axis powers and helped change the course of history.

From the sandy beaches of Normandy to the modest red-brick school building in Reims where the Germans surrendered, ending the six-year global conflict, these are the most moving WW2 sites to visit in France .

13 WW2 Sites in France You Must Visit

1. museum of the liberation of paris, paris.

The newly restored Museum of the Liberation of Paris recently opened in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the city’s release from Nazi power. Located in Paris’s 14th arrondissement, just across the avenue from the Catacombs of Paris, this beautiful 18th-century gatehouse chronicles the actions of Jean Moulin and General Philippe Leclerc, two of the most prominent figures of the French Resistance.

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2. Museum Of National Resistance, Champigny-Sur-Marne

Less than 10 miles to the east in Champigny-sur-Marne, the National Resistance Museum is located in a 19th-century mansion overlooking the Marne River. There is currently no fee to visit this collection, which focuses on the French Resistance between 1929 and 1947.

It should be remembered that on D-Day the Resistance and French troops played a crucial role in the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Free French Forces, under General Charles de Gaulle, contributed significantly to the liberation of their homeland from German occupation. Their bravery and sacrifice on the beaches of Normandy marked a pivotal moment in World War II.

It is important to note that this World War II museum is one of several dedicated to the Resistance throughout France. You’ll find similar experiences in Lyon, Grenoble , and Limoges.

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3. Pegasus Museum And Memorial, Ranville

Leaving the City of Lights and heading northwest toward the English Channel, the Pegasus Museum and Memorial in Ranville pays homage to the men of the 6th Airborne Division of the British Army. Several hours before the D-Day invasion, they surprised the German forces, capturing the Pegasus Bridge that spanned two parallel waterways, the Canal de Caen a la Mer and the Orne River. This pre-invasion act was essential for clearing a route for the troops scheduled to land on Sword Beach at the break of dawn.

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4. Caen Memorial Museum, Caen

Cross the Pegasus Bridge and head to the northern edge of the city of Caen to visit the Caen Memorial Museum . The recommended starting point for your visit leads down a dark spiraling walkway that details the lingering turmoil from World War I that led to World War II. After covering WW2 in great detail, the museum addresses post-WW2 issues like the Cold War.

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5. Beaches Of Normandy

The 50 miles of coast stormed by the allied forces on D-Day were divided into five beaches that stretched from Ouistreham, directly north of Caen, to Vierville-sur-Mer. While American forces led the invasion of the western beaches of Utah and Omaha, British and Canadian troops commanded the surprise attack on Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches to the east.

If time allows, I recommend visiting each of these beaches, because learning about WW2 from the perspective of the other nations is incredibly enlightening.

My recommendations from east to west:

Sword Beach

The Grand Bunker Museum is a five-story German command center that displays everything from German machinery and equipment to examples of everyday life in the concrete fortress.

To better understand the contributions Canada made to World War II, visit the Juno Beach Centre .

Continuing westward, the Gold Beach Museum details how Britain prepared for and participated in D-Day.

Omaha Beach

The Omaha Beach Memorial Museum honors the 2,400 men who died on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy.

If you only have time to visit one Normandy beach museum, make it the Utah Beach D-Day Museum. Built on the spot where the first American troops landed, this D-Day museum is one of the most comprehensive.

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6. Arromanches-Les-Bains

As you make your way westward along the Normandy coast, watch for the remains of the Mulberry harbors floating off the coast near the town of Arromanches-les-Bains. These floating roadways connected naval ships to the sandy shore, allowing the Allies to quickly unload personnel and equipment during the attack. To learn more about this wartime invention, visit the D-Day museum in Arromanches. France really yields fascinating places to explore for World War II history buffs .

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7. Normandy American Cemetery And Memorial, Colleville-Sur-Mer

One of the most emotional experiences an American can have in Normandy is to stand among the nearly 10,000 white limestone crosses and Stars of David on the manicured green lawn above Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer. The average age of the brave men (and four women) buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is 24, and the weight of their ultimate sacrifice hangs heavy in the air.

If your itinerary allows, try to remain at the cemetery through the flag retirement service and ceremony about 30 minutes before the cemetery closes for the day.

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8. Pointe Du Hoc Ranger Monument

About 8 miles west of the American cemetery is the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument . As the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, Army Rangers scaled the 100-foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc and seized the German artillery that could have fired upon the troops arriving from the English Channel.

While it is now a serene spot above the Utah and Omaha landing beaches, the area remains riddled with deep green craters that indicate where bombs fell and lives were lost during the invasion of Normandy.

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9. La Cambe German War Cemetery, La Cambe

It wasn’t until my fifth trip to Normandy that I visited the German cemetery in La Cambe . I’m not sure why I hesitated. Maybe it was because visiting the German graveyard felt like supporting the dark side. But if anyone should understand that not all Germans are Nazis, it’s a German-American like me. And, during my visit, I learned that the majority of the young men buried here — often two in one simply marked grave — were forced to fight for an ideology they didn’t support.

In stark contrast to the white crosses that dot the green hill at the American cemetery, La Cambe features dark basalt lava crosses and flat brown markers, and visiting the site reminded me that there are never any winners in war.

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10. Airborne Museum, Sainte-Mere-Eglise

Roughly halfway between Bayeux and Cherbourg is the small village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. If you’ve seen the movie The Longest Day , you’ll recognize the town’s Catholic church and the statue of the soldier hanging by his parachute on the steeple. Visit the Airborne Museum to learn more about how the Screaming Eagles and other paratroopers helped pave the way for the amphibious landings down the coast on D-Day.

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11. Museum Of The Surrender, Reims

Upon your return to Paris, consider traveling northeast to Reims. A room in the red-brick Lycee Roosevelt just steps from the train station preserves the site where the declaration of unconditional surrender was signed by German armed forces on May 7, 1945. Roughly one year after the invasion of Normandy (but several months before two atomic bombs dropped on Japan would fully end WW2), the fighting in Europe was over.

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12. Oradour-sur-Glane Village

This was the most shocking and disturbing Second World War site that I encountered during my tour of France. The charred remains of the village still stand as a memorial to those who were massacred by Nazis on June 10, 1944.

Touring the village is free though the Centre de la mémoire d’Oradour has a small admittance fee. As you walk around the rubble in stunned silence, you’ll be surprised that this memorial is not better known, as this is the site of the worst Nazi massacre of civilians carried out on French soil.

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13. Fort de Schoenenbourg – Maginot Line

Fort de Schoenenbourg was the most important Maginot Line fortification in Alsace, built on the border of Germany and France after WWI. Fort de Schoenenbourg is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and visitors can explore the fort, and all its underground twists and turns. It takes about two hours to see it all.

Despite the time, effort, and money that the French government spent on the Maginot Line, it saw relatively little action during the war. German soldiers bypassed it entirely in May of 1940 and invaded France by way of Belgium.

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A Final Tip

While it’s important that we never forget the more than 70 million who died or the pain and suffering inflicted around the world during this global conflict, each of these WW2 sites is a somber experience. I recommend incorporating lighthearted, present-day experiences into your itinerary as well. If you love the era of the WWII, there are a lot of destinations in Europe you can visit .

What Is the Most Important World War II Site in France?

The Normandy landing sites in North West France are some of the country’s most important World War II sites. They include Omaha Beach, Juno Beach, Utah Beach, and Gold Beach, plus the landing site of Pointe du Hoc.

What Is the Best WW2 Museum in Normandy, France?

The Caen Memorial is a must-see WW2 memorial museum. It is dedicated to the Normandy landings and the Battle at Normandy but also houses a huge exhibition dealing with France’s position during WWII.

Can I Reach the Best WW2 Sites in France by Car?

Yes, it is by far the best way to get around Normandy, Paris, and other popular France World War II locations. Driving is often the most convenient and comfortable way to have the events of this tumultuous period of history brought to life before your eyes.

What Is the Most Popular WW2 Site in Paris, France?

The Museum Of The Liberation Of Paris is arguably one of the most popular World War-related sites in Paris and one of the best spots to learn about the French Resistance and the liberation of Paris.

What Is the Best Time to Visit the Landing Beaches in Normandy, France?

Without a doubt, the best time of year to visit the landing beaches in Normandy is during the D-Day Anniversary in June. Winter is the quietest time to visit, but avoid January if you’re interested in museums, as they take the annual break after Christmas.

Bitten by the travel bug as a preschooler when her family moved abroad for the first time, Sage Scott is addicted to travel. From her nomadic upbringing in a military family to her personal and professional travels as an adult, Sage has visited all 50 states, lived abroad twice, and explored nearly 30 other countries.

Now settled in America’s Heartland, Sage writes with a midlife traveler’s perspective from Kansas City — the Midwestern cowtown affectionately called the Paris of the Plains and the undisputed Barbecue Capital of the World — and is always in search of new experiences whether in her hometown or halfway around the world.

Road Trip Normandy WW2 Sites

Article written by Elisa - Travel Writer & Local in France This article may contain compensated links. Please read disclaimer for more info.

Exploring the Normandy Landing Beaches & Other Key WW2 Sites in France

The coast of  Normandy , in  Northern France , is a pilgrimage site for people interested in World War 2 and history in general. It is incredible to think that much of the chapter that shaped Western Europe as we know it today happened in this region in France. We are talking, of course, about the Landing on the Beaches of Normandy  and the battles that followed, one of the most momentous chapters in modern history that led to Western Europe’s liberation from the Nazis.

People visiting Normandy can still see the Normandy landing beaches and other key WW2 sites in France on a day trip or, even better, on a Normandy road trip. This trip to the D-day landing sites can be emotionally exhausting, but it is essential to keep this chapter of our history alive in our memories so it will never be repeated.

This 3-day Normandy road trip from Caen to Sainte-Mère-Église covers the landing beaches in Normandy and other important WW2 places to visit in France. This road trip to the Normandy WW2 sites, map included, is a good itinerary for those who love history, sightseeing, and natural sites.

This 3-day itinerary around the Normandy landing sites is one of the best road trips in France . Read more about road-tripping in France:

Road Trip Normandy Landing Sites Overview

• Start:  Caen
• Finish:  Sainte-Mère Église
• Duration:  3 days
• Suggested Route:  Caen – Bayeux – Sainte-Mère Église
• Total distance:  165 km, 3 hours drive in total
• Regions covered:  Normandy
• Best for:  history, nature, sightseeing

Road Trip Normandy WW2 Sites Map

Click here to view this WW2 Sites France Map on Google

Landing Beaches in Normandy – Road Trip Itinerary 3 Days

This Normandy road trip starts from Caen. If you want to visit Paris before taking a self-drive vacation to Normandy in a hire car, you can travel from Paris to Caen by train and pick up your rental car in Caen. Check out our best tips for car rental in France .

Click here to rent your car in Caen

Day 0 | Arrival in Caen

The first stop of this road trip to the WW2 sites Normandy is  Caen , where you will spend two nights. For your stay in Caen, we recommend the Hotel Best Western Plus Le Moderne , which is beautiful, comfortable, and very central. This hotel is located a few minutes walk from the Château Ducal and the Caen Abbey.

Click here to book your stay at Hotel Best Western Plus Le Moderne

Day 1 | Caen

Morning in Caen

Day 1 of this Normandy road trip visits Caen. On this day, you only need the car to travel to the Caen Memorial Museum, which is outside of the city center.

Caen  is the third-largest city in the region of Normandy, after Le Havre and Rouen. At only 2 hours from Paris and connected to England by the ferry line Caen – Portsmouth, its strategic position makes Caen a great place to start your Normandy WW2 sites road trip.

Caen is the city of William the Conqueror and the City of a Hundred Bell Towers . However, the city was badly damaged during the Battle of Caen in WW2, and many of these churches were destroyed.

At dawn on 6 June, the bombing of towns in Normandy began. The Allies’ objective was to destroy the towns to obliterate all communications and slow down German reinforcements. On the morning of 7 June, about ten of Lower Normandy’s towns, including Caen, Lisieux, Coutances, Saint-Lo, and Vire, had been wiped from the map.

Today the reconstructed Caen is a lively and vibrant city. There are many fun things to see and do in Caen, especially if you are interested in history and architecture.

Apart from the Caen Memorial Museum (more on this below), the list of must-sees in Caen includes:

• Caen’s Citadel, built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century
• Château Ducal
• Musée des Beaux-Arts
• Church of St. Pierre Caen
• Abbaye-aux-Hommes, in Norman style, was founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. It hosts King William’s tomb
• Abbaye-aux-Dames
• Beautiful traditional architecture, timbered houses built in the 15th century

Afternoon at Caen Memorial Museum

Caen’s Memorial Museum  is one of the musts of any Normandy WW2 Sites trip. If you decide to visit the   D-Day Sites on a day tour from Paris , this is usually the tour’s first stop.

This Memorial and ‘Museum for Peace’ displays a vast collection of objects and documents related to the Second World War, mainly focusing on French and European content. The museum was built above  General Richter’s command bunker , which is today restored and open, so visitors can also see how was the daily life of the German soldiers in the bunker during the occupation.

Among the different exhibition rooms, there’s one dedicated to D-Day and another one devoted to the invasion of Caen. There’s also a short documentary about the D-Day landings replayed every 30 minutes, which is interesting and, at the same time, heartbreaking.

Don’t miss the  three memorial gardens  dedicated to the three leading allied nations involved in liberating France. They are located at the back of the museum, in front of the German bunker entrance.

DAY 2 | D-Day Landing Sites

The Normandy Landing Sites are some of the most important World War 2 sites in France. There are four Normandy Landing Beaches (Juno, Omaha, Gold, and Sword) plus the landing site of Pointe du Hoc.

From Caen, drive along the D79 to  Courcelles-sur-Mer  to explore the tranquil sand dunes of Juno Beach. Juno Beach was the codename for one of the main Landing Beaches in Normandy that was stormed by Canadian troops.

Juno Beach was one of the best-fortified sites after Omaha Beach. The delay of the tanks and the bombardments, which had left most of the German positions intact, led to high Allied losses in the first waves of assault. By midday, the division had disembarked entirely and, early in the evening, controlled Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer. The following evening, the Canadian forces (21,500 survivors) joined forces with the British troops who had captured Sword Beach.

Every day, from 1 April to 31 October, the on-site  Juno Beach Center  offers 45-minute guided visits by Canadian guides through this historic site. During the tour, visitors can see firsthand the evolution of the Atlantic Wall defenses throughout the early 1940s and, of course, Juno Beach. The guides also show and explain how these defenses were overcome by the Canadian soldiers who landed on 6 June 1944.

This guided tour is also the only way to visit the German Command Post and the Observation Bunker.

Arromanches-les-Bains and Mulberry Harbors

After Juno Beach, head west along the D514 to  Arromanches-les-Bains  to visit Gold Beach –  which the British attacked on D-Day – and the  Musée du Débarquement .

The  Musée du Débarquement  details how the artificial Mulberry Harbors (temporary ports for the offloading of cargo crucial to the invasion) were engineered. Dioramas, models, and two films explain the logistics and importance of the artificial harbor of Port Winston in Gold Beach.

A good alternative to the Musée du Débarquement is Arromanches 360 Circular Cinema , a nine-screen cinema covering a 360º field of vision. Inside, visitors can watch a film about the Battle of Normandy. The cinema is located on the Arromanches clifftops not far from the Liberators Museum – Normandy 1944 – Click here to buy your tickets now

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach   is one of the Normandy Landing Beaches stormed by the American troops and the one where the soldiers suffered the worst losses on D-Day.

Before the landings, the bombardments proved ineffective in wiping out many German positions dotted along the slopes above the beaches beyond Colleville-sur-Mer, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, and Vierville-sur-Mer. Some 1,800 GIs died in the waves or on the sand mown down by German bullets and shells – hence the beach’s nickname  Bloody Omaha .

Almost 2,300 more soldiers had been more or less seriously wounded and were evacuated by an unceasing shuttle of landing craft between the beach and the ships offshore, where they were given initial treatment before being transferred to hospitals in Britain.

Despite heavy losses, small groups of Americans made it up the slopes and took German positions from behind, so some gains were made, if at a high human cost.

Omaha Beach is a long beach with many memorials along the shore. The memorial  Les Braves is is located in Omaha Beach, while the Wounded Soldier Memorial (pictured above) is located at Sector Charlie.

Pointe du Hoc

La Pointe du Hoc  is the highest point between Omaha Beach to the east and Utah Beach to the west. La Pointe du Hoc was one of the key German fortified sites along the Normandy coast and was equipped, at that time, with extensive heavy artillery; that’s why Pointe du Hoc was considered the most dangerous mission of the D-Day Landings.

La Pointe du Hoc was the scene of a daring assault in the early hours of 6 June 1944. On that day, 225 US Army Rangers scaled the perilously steep 30m-high cliffs with the help of cords, ladders, and grappling irons to capture the site. Once they reached the top, the soldiers discovered the guns had been moved inland, so they set off to find and disable them while successfully enduring enemy counterattacks.

By the time the force was relieved on 8 June, only around 90 men had survived.

Today La Pointe du Hoc is a lovely place, even if the landscape remains scarred by the events of 1944. The hills and valleys that you can see in the picture above are holes and craters made by the bombs’ explosion. Amongst this particular landscape, visitors can still see the ruins of some German bunkers.

The First American War Cemetery Memorial in France

On the way back to Colleville-sur-Mer to visit the Normandy American Cemetery, take a short stop at Vierville-sur-Mer to see the Memorial of the  first American War Cemetery in France .

The text on the stone memorial reads:  “This marks the site of first American Cemetery in France World War II since moved to American Cemetery N:1

1st Infantry Division, 29th Infantry Division, 5th Engineer Special Brigade, 6th Engineer Special Brigade”

Normandy American War Cemetery and Memorial

The World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial  is one of the most moving WW2 sites in France. It is situated on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. Here, we are on American soil because the French government granted this land to the United States of America forever.

The cemetery contains the graves of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom gave their lives during the landings and ensuing operations of World War 2, and it is the most visited cemetery managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).

On the walls of the semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial are inscribed the names of 1,557 Missing Americans who gave their lives in their country’s service but whose remains were not located or identified.

The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing maps and narratives of the military operations. At the center is a bronze statue titled  ‘Spirit of American Youth.’ An orientation table overlooks the beach and depicts the landings at Normandy.

Day two of this road trip to the Normandy D-day sites ends at Bayeux, where you will spend one night. For your night in Bayeux, we recommend Clos de Bellefontaine B&B , a beautiful 19th-century private mansion set in a beautiful 2,000m2 park, with private parking on-site. Clos de Bellefontaine is located 200m from the Bayeux Tapestry.

Click here to book your stay at Clos de Bellefontaine B&B

Day 3 | Bayeux – Other Normandy WW2 Sites

Morning in Bayeux

Day 3 of this road trip explores Bayeux and other Normandy WW2 sites. Bayeux  was the first city to be liberated in mainland France. The city was very fortunate to avoid most of the destruction and tragedy that other towns in Normandy suffered following D-Day. For a very brief moment, Bayeux was the capital of Free France, and General Charles de Gaulle came to give a stirring speech here on 14 June 1944. Bayeux’s War Museum and the British Cemetery commemorate the sacrifices made in these parts.

Other interesting attractions in Bayeux include:

• Bayeux Cathedral, consecrated with the presence of William the Conqueror
• The Bayeux Tapestry

The  Bayeux Tapestry , a 70-meter-long and 50cm high embroidery, is an invaluable record of the conquest of England’s throne by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. It is listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. The incredible Bayeux Tapestry depicts the clothes, castles, ships, and living conditions in the 11th century.

Afternoon at German War Cemetery at La Cambe

On the way to Sainte Mère Église from Bayeux (N13), take a short stop at La Cambe to visit the  German War Cemetery . The Kriegsgräberstätte has 21,160 graves. The hill in the middle of the cemetery is a mass grave with 296 casualties.

La Cambe was originally the site of a battlefield cemetery created on 10 June 1944 during the Battle of Normandy. American and German soldiers, sailors, and airmen were buried in two adjacent fields.

Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, the American Battle Monuments Commission began exhuming the remains of American service members and transferring them to their final resting place in accordance with the wishes of their families. Two-thirds of the fallen soldiers were transferred from this site back to the United States, while the remainder were re-interred at the new American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking the Omaha Beach landing site.

The sign in front of the cemetery reads: ‘ The German Cemetery at La Cambe: In the Same Soil of France.

Until 1947, this was an American cemetery. The remains were exhumed and shipped to the United States. It has been German since 1948 and contains over 21,000 graves. With its melancholy rigor, it is a graveyard for soldiers, not all of whom had chosen either the cause or the fight. They too have found rest in our soil of France.’

Afternoon at Sainte-Mère Église

The last stop of this road trip WW2 sites, France, is the town of  Sainte Mère Église , which gained a place in history on D-Day as one of the first towns to be liberated. This was achieved through the efforts of American paratroopers who were dropped into Sainte-Mère-Église on the night of 5 June 1944.

One of the paratroopers, an American named John Steele, got his parachute caught on the church steeple and remained suspended for several hours until he was cut down and taken prisoner by German troops. Days later, he managed to escape from the Germans, and he returned to his regiment and survived the war.

To commemorate this event and the liberation of the town, a paratrooper effigy remains hanging from its white parachute near the windows of the bell tower (see picture above).

In Sainte-Mère Église, don’t miss the Airborne Museum dedicated to the memory of paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the United States Army who parachuted into Normandy on the night of June 5–6, 1944.

This Normandy WW2 Sites road trip ends here. If you have some extra days in France, you can consider this Brittany road trip , which covers pretty medieval villages, natural sites, and world wonders.

D-Day Landing Sites – Historical Background

The Normandy Landing operation was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion took place on Normandy’s beaches on Tuesday, 6 June 1944, by the Allies. The operation, known as D-Day , was the beginning of the liberation of German-occupied France (and later Europe) from Nazi control and laid the Allied victory foundations on the Western Front.

The planning of the Normandy invasion was begun in 1943 by the US, Canadian and British governments. The French resistance also had an essential role in this operation. The main constraints for this operation’s success were the weather, the tides, and the logistics (shipping of soldiers, machines, and guns from the US and Canada to the UK).

On the other side, the Germans were expecting an invasion from the sea, and of course, they were prepared. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces. He was also in charge of developing fortifications along the  Atlantic Wall  in anticipation of an Allied invasion.

The first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive. . . . [T]he fate of Germany depends on the outcome. For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day — Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, 22 April 1944

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! The tide has turned! The freemen of the world are marching together to victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, 6 June 1944

We have a sufficiency of troops; we have all the necessary tackle; we have an excellent plan. This is a perfectly normal operation which is certain of success. If anyone has any doubts in his mind, let him stay behind. — Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery, commanding Twenty-first Army Group.

The supreme battle is underway. It is, of course, the Battle of France and the Battle for France. For the sons of France, wherever they are, and whoever they are, the simple and sacred duty is to fight the enemy by all means at their disposal. — Gen. Charles de Gaulle, 6 June 1944

After many losses from both sides, the Normandy landing sites were all taken, and the Allied Forces connected on 12 June. Casualties were very high, and towns and cities were heavily destroyed. This was the price to pay in Normandy for our freedom.

Museums, memorials, war cemeteries, and other WW2 sites in France offer visitors a glimpse of this terrible chapter in our history. There’s a huge amount of documentation and collection of memories here, so we don’t forget.

So, what are you waiting for? Book this road trip to the D-Day Landing Sites today!

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Nine essential places in france for war history enthusiasts to visit.

• World War 2
• World War 1

The top countries in Europe offer a variety of post-war sites to see, whether your interest lies in World War II, World War I or one of the many historic wars that have taken place on the continent. France is a great destination for anyone already living on the European continent, or those who are taking a short trip to Europe in the fall. However, don’t just stick with the normal tourist sites.

Check out some of the best war-related sites to see when you visit France below.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is situated right in the heart of Paris. It’s also one of the most iconic Parisian landmarks and is one that’s probably on your travel bucket list already. It was built in 1806 by Napoleon, to commemorate the French soldiers who had fallen during the Napoleonic Wars.

Completed in 1836, its design includes various military victories, soldiers’ names and various artistic touches. The arch is also the site of the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, honoring those who fell in both world wars. If you have friends, families or other traveling companions who don’t quite share your love for war history, this is one site that you’ll easily be able to drag them along to, as the beautiful surroundings and easy location make it a great spot to visit.

Schoenenbourg Maginot Line Fort

The Schoenenbourg Maginot Line fort was one of several forts built on the border of Germany and France. The partially underground forts were meant to protect the French from German invasions after World War I. This particular fort out of the entire series of Maginot forts was the largest and was created and designed to be entirely usable during extreme disasters.

With its own water source, plenty of food stocks, weapons and a small medic station, it was a totally fortified bunker that could support parties for an extended amount of time. Visitors can explore the fort for themselves, and all its underground twists and turns. It’s said that to see it all takes about two hours.

Somme Battlefields

While seemingly beautiful, the Somme Battlefields are the sites of major loss and destruction. During the battles, the plan was, the British would destroy German trenches, and then British and French troops would cross no man’s land to capture the German soldiers.

Unfortunately, the Germans were alerted to their efforts, and were prepared, and suffered very little damage to their trenches. An exceptional number of Allie casualties occurred, with more than one million on both sides killed or wounded over the months-long endeavor. Today, you can visit the large area on your own, or you can take a tour. There are even cycling tours in the area that will show you the history of the region.

Vel D’Hiv Monument

During the early days of World War II, the French police herded up Jewish families and held them in the Velodrome, which was at one time an indoor cycling track. There, more than 13,000 French Jews endured horrific living conditions, with no bathrooms, water or food, before being sent to various concentration camps.

The memorial stands for those who suffered at the hands of the French government, which has since issues an official apology for their actions during the war.

Oradour-Sur-Glane

This French village also suffered during World War II, as many villages did, but to an extreme extent.

The Nazis committed heinous crimes in this western French location, killing a large majority of the population in 1944. In addition to much of the village being completely destroyed, more than 600 individuals were killed at the hands of the German soldiers.

After the war, the village was rebuilt a few miles away, but the original site still stands, untouched and legally protected, as a remembrance of the horrors of war.

Musee de la Reddition

It was here that the Germans met with Allied troops to end World War II. On May 7, 1945, German high officers signed a document committing to unconditional surrender.

The document was signed in the Map Room, and that same room has been preserved behind glass, in perfect condition for visitors to see, when they also take a look at the museum.

Of course, the most important war site to visit when traveling to France is Normandy. This all-important destination was where the war turned its course, and the Allies began to gain considerable forward ground.

Just about any individual in the modern world can tell you what happened on D-Day, when the Allied forces landed successfully on the beaches. Today, there are a handful of memorials there on the beaches that you can visit and learn more about the day and surroundings as you pay your respects.

The German and American Cemeteries in Normandy

Both Germany and the United States have cemeteries in Normandy. The American cemetery in Coleville-Sur-Mer is graced with bright, white crosses and views of the sea – a somber, yet beautiful place to remember the fallen. However, a short distance away is the German cemetery at La Cambe, where rows of dark, flat grave markers solemnly mark the fallen, and a mass grave mound at the center of the cemetery drives the point home.

The significant differences between the two spots are saddening, but a necessary reality of war and the contrasting sides.

Memorial of the Martyrs of the Deportation

Near Notre Dame, this memorial in Paris honors those who more than 200,000 French citizens who were hauled off to the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

The dark, underground, yet beautifully designed monument features a haunting inscription – forgive, but never forget.

Seven Unmissable World War II Sites to See in Normandy

Normandy is a wonderful part of France. It’s dotted with picturesque half-timbered villages and seaside towns and is renowned for its cuisine. The region is perhaps most known for the historically significant D-Day beaches and memorials. We’ve created a list of seven unmissable World War II sites to see in Normandy.

Caen Memorial Museum

The Caen Memorial Museum is a great place to start any visit to the World War II sites in Normandy. This museum is dedicated to the history of the 20th century and a large part of it focuses on World War II, the D-Day landings, and the Battle of Normandy. You’ll get an overview of the events before moving on to see the beaches, monuments, and memorials in person.

Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is undoubtedly one of the most impressive World War II sites to see in Normandy. As you walk through, you’ll notice numerous bomb craters and German bunkers. Lieutenant Colonel Rudder lead 200 men from the 2nd Ranger Battalion up the 100-foot cliff to destroy a gun battery located between Utah and Omaha beaches. Upon reaching the top, the rangers discovered that the guns were already removed. They fought back counter-attacks for two days until reinforcements arrived.

La Cambe German Cemetery

La Cambe is the largest German military cemetery in Normandy. When visiting this cemetery, you’ll want to notice the somber color tones, design, and layout. It’s thought-provoking to compare it to the nearby Normandy American Cemetery.

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach is a main site for American D-Day history. On D-Day, it was the destination for over two-thirds of the seaborne troops. Many of the courageous soldiers drowned or were killed on approach. The Americans suffered over 4,000 casualties on Omaha Beach, making it the bloodiest of the D-Day landing sites.

French Side Travel’s Tours and Unique Experiences in Normandy Want to experience the World War II beaches, monuments, and memorials differently? French Side Travel can organize the perfect tour for you to see the unmissable World War II sites in Normandy. We can arrange tours in a classic Jeep, multiple day excursions to dive deeper into the history with an expert guide, day trips from Paris to see the sites from a helicopter and more. French Side Travel Tip : Weather in this part of Normandy can be unpredictable. We always recommend bringing extra layers and rain gear.

Normandy American Cemetery

One of the most emotional World War II sites to visit is the Normandy American Cemetery. Here you’ll find crosses and Stars of David that mark the nearly 9,400 who died during the Allied Liberation of France. Three Medal of Honor recipients rest here as well as 45 sets of brothers. You’ll also find over 1,500 names carved on the walls of the Garden of the Missing.

The design of the Normandy American Cemetery is particularly powerful as the long, regular rows of headstones almost appear to rise from the water below. In the center, there is a bronze statue, “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.”

Longues-sur-Mer Battery

The German artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer, located directly between the Gold and Omaha landing beaches, offered great positioning to oppose the D-Day landing. The immaculately preserved battery is the only place in France where you can see four original artillery guns.

Arromanches-les-Bains

Arromanches-les-Bains is in the center of the Gold Beach landing zone. Here, the British set up Mulberry Harbor (also known as Port Winston), a man-made harbor assembled in Britain and towed across the English Channel. Made up of sunken ships, concrete caissons, and floating roadway, Mulberry Harbor was essential to the war effort. Over 10 months, over 2.5 million soldiers, 500,000 vehicles, and four million tons of supplies came through the harbor.

You’ll also find the Musée de Debarquement and Arromanches 360°, a circular cinema with archival footage from the D-Day landings.

Chateau d’Audrieu Looking for the perfect base to stay in while exploring the historical World War II sites in Normandy? Try the 18th century Château d’Audrieu, a delightful property set amongst beautiful parks and gardens. From this hotel you’ll be able to easily reach Caen, Bayeux, Mont Saint-Michel and more!

The unmissable World War II sites in Normandy will surely inspire you to spend more time in the region. Our expert travel designers are available to suggest the perfect extension to your Normandy trip whether you want to focus on the Best of Normandy , a Foodie Roadtrip , or the Best of Normandy by Train . To extend your trip even longer, or start dreaming about a future trip to France, check out our sample trips focused on food and wine , history and culture , adventure , and romance and scenery . There’s truly something for everyone in France!

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5 must see WW2 sites in Normandy, France

• Normandy , Tours in France

To understand what WW2 was truly like, you must take a trip to Normandy, France to see where some of the most monumental events took place. The turning point of the war occurred in this region and the battle sites are meticulously preserved with many relics. It makes Normandy a must-visit to learn about and understand these historical events.

Nothing compares to standing at wartime sites like the beaches of Normandy with a guide bringing the historic events to life by retelling the intricate details of what happened in the places they occurred. TripUSAFrance offers incredible multi-day tours of the region. There are so many sites to visit and most people don’t have the time to see all of them in one trip. But some are simply unmissable. These are TripUSAFrance’s top 5 must-see WW2 sites in Normandy:

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach is one of the beaches where American forces landed during the Allied invasion of France. It’s also where the bloodiest battle was fought. This was the turning point in the war when the Allies broke through Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” and entered France. While you may have seen the powerful images of Robert Capa and read the words of Ernie Pyle describing the events that occurred on June 6, 1944, nothing matches the impact of walking where the soldiers landed to free France from German Occupation.

As you gaze at the hills, it is easy to imagine the difficulty the men faced in capturing the beach. The main area covers just about 1.5 miles. But, it’s estimated that Germany had enough power in the hills to unload 100,000 shots per minute. As you look across the water today, a peaceful scene unfolds with little hint of the sacrifices made by those brave soldiers.

Longues-sur-Mer

This is one of the most authentic sites that you can visit in Normandy. Wonderfully restored and conserved, the area looks just like it did when the Allied troops arrived along this stretch of the coast. Out of four original German bunkers, three remain in well-preserved condition. They are the only bunkers which remain in France that still house the original 150mm cannons, placed there to ward off incoming ships. At the site there are smaller air and land defense bunkers as well as a command post where firing orders were given.

The sight of the massive cannons surrounded by 5-to-6-foot thick concrete walls is astonishing. It enables you to develop an in-depth understanding of the efforts that went into holding France. Hitler’s army had spent more than two years building up these defenses, and many others like it, along 1,670 miles of the Atlantic coast in Europe. However, Allied troops were able to penetrate the “Atlantic Wall” containing more than 1.2 million pounds of steel and 17 million cubic meters of concrete. It was the largest seaborne invasion in military history.

This site was captured by soldiers of the Devonshire Regiment on June 7. A guided visit reveals intricate details about the history and role played in the battle of D-Day. After the war, most of the defenses and fortifications of the Atlantic Wall were quickly dismantled. Understandably as they served as a painful memory of the past. Here however, conservationists worked tirelessly to preserve this site so that we remember the lessons learned during World War II.

Pointe du Hoc

This site makes our list as it was where the famed US Ranger operation, depicted in the movie “The Longest Day”, took place. A strategic point, the Germans built a large battery complex of artillery cannons. They had a range of 12.5 miles and could fire at incoming ships. They could also reach the beaches of Omaha and Utah.

34-year-old Lieutenant Colonel James E. Rudder was given the daunting task of landing on the beaches below the artillery battery. During low tide with 225 Army Rangers. Using ropes and ladders, they scaled a 100-plus foot granite hill cliff to silence the guns amidst heavy resistance at the top. At the time, an intelligence officer on staff was heard stating “Three old women with brooms could keep the Rangers from climbing that cliff”. Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley later wrote, “No soldier in my command has ever been wished a more difficult task than that which befell the thirty-four-year-old Commander of this Provisional Ranger Force”.

One of the keys to the allied victory here is that they knew that they must capture the artillery located at the top of the hill. Failure would result in many of their brothers in arms being killed on Omaha Beach. At the end of the assault, only 90 men were left. Many lives were saved thanks to their bravery. As you explore this site while listening to the details of the battle, you can’t help but be amazed at their courage.

Normandy American Cemetery

Many visitors to Normandy describe the Normandy American Cemetery as the most powerful of all World War II sites that they visit. Here is where 9,386 American patriots are buried. An additional 1,557 still missing are also honored. As you stroll the pristine paths of the graveyard located high on a hill overlooking Omaha Beach, it’s impossible not to feel moved by the tragedy of such loss. For a truly emotional experience, make your way to the two flag posts in front of the reflecting pool around 4:45pm (during the summer months) to watch the flag ceremony and listen as the bugle call “Taps” is played.

Arromanches-les-Bains

If you could step back in time to before the D-Day invasion, then you would discover Arromanches-les-Bains as a luxury spa town filled with tourists. All that changed when the attack took place. This site was the key to supporting the British and American armies after they landed in France. Engineers constructed an artificial harbor to supply the troops and bring in machinery. Remnants of the harbor remain visible, and pieces are displayed around the area and in museums.

Known as Mulberry Harbor, it was also called Port Winston after Winston Churchill. If you don’t go with a guide, you should visit the Musée du Débarquement in the town. It has an extraordinary exhibition where you can learn more about the staggering work required to create the harbor. 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of supplies were moved through this port.

For the full experience of visiting sites with a knowledgeable local tour guide who will bring the history to life, TripUSAFrance’s Normandy discovery tour will take you to all 5 of these WW2 sites as well as immersing you into the history, culture and gastronomy of the area. The tour also includes Mont Saint-Michel , Monet’s house and garden , Honfleur , Rouen, Bayeux Tapestry, markets, fabulous restaurants and much more…

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DESTINATION: WWII

A World War II Travel Blog

WWII Sites in Paris: 20 Fascinating Museums, Memorials, & More (+ Tips!)

Last Updated: January 19, 2024 //  by  Ashley Smith Leave a Comment

Whether you’re visiting Paris before or after a trip to the beaches of Normandy or simply on its own, there are plenty of WWII sites in Paris at which to learn about the city’s wartime history. Though Paris may not have the monumental battlefields and grand museums of Normandy , it does have a lot to say about the events of its Nazi occupation and those who resisted it.

I’ve visited this city many times before, but I dedicated my most recent visit (March 2023) exclusively to compiling this list of Paris World War II museums, monuments, and memorials . One thing I discovered is that the Nazi Holocaust and the French Resistance are two themes that dominate the narratives at all of them.

On your next trip to France’s capital city, be sure to squeeze in some visits to these WWII sites in Paris.

Don’t miss this post: The 7 Best Normandy tours from Paris to see D-Day in a Day

Table of Contents

Paris WWII Sites Map

World War II in Paris

After invading Poland on September 1, 1939 and essentially starting World War II, Nazi Germany invaded France on May 10, 1940. After only a month of fighting, poorly-defended France fell to Hitler’s troops and the Nazi regime occupied Paris on June 14.

The French government abandoned the city and set up shop in the town of Vichy, about 220 miles south of Paris. French general Philippe Pétain took over as the head of what would become known as “Vichy France” and began a collaborative relationship with Nazi Germany. Another general named Charles de Gaulle committed to resistance over collaboration and began ruling “Free France” in exile.  

Back in Paris, citizens (and especially Jews) were forced to endure years of brutal Nazi occupation characterized by hardships, violence, and deportations to Nazi concentration camps. The situation remained like this until August 25, 1944 when American troops, together with French troops under De Gaulle’s command, liberated the city almost three months after the D-Day invasion .

Though the occupation of Paris was a nightmare to say the least, a vast network of underground resistance groups developed over the years —the work of which has become legendary. The French resistance began with demonstrations and other public displays of defiance but soon moved onto more clandestine measures like distributing materials and information, aiding Jews, espionage, and sabotage. As the war escalated so did they, eventually turning to armed resistance.

WWII museums in Paris

If there’s one thing Paris does better than anywhere else on earth, it’s museums. Paris is home to so many of them, many of which are among the best in the world. Luckily for us, there’s no shortage of museums in Paris that also focus on the events of World War II.

For everything else you want to see and do in Paris, you can save a ton of money and time with a Paris Go City pass . (I am such a huge fan of sightseeing passes when I travel!) All Go City Paris passes include a visit to the Eiffel Tower too.

1. Museum of the Liberation of Paris

Despite France’s complicated wartime history, it has always been keen on highlighting its roles as one of the “good guys.” Here at the Museum of the Liberation of Paris you can learn all about one of France’s greatest wartime accomplishments—freeing itself from Nazi occupation.

The Liberation of Paris Museum is also known as the Leclerc Moulin Liberation Museum in honor of Free France General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque and Jean Moulin, one of the biggest heroes of the French resistance.

Using these men as its muse, the Liberation Museum tells the story of France during World War II, the French Resistance, and the country’s liberation in 1944 . You’ll follow a chronological pathway that incorporates the lives and actions of these two brave men with the above themes.

This is arguably the most popular of the WWII sites in Paris and one of the most well-done museums on the topic. If you want to learn about the French Resistance and the liberation of Paris, don’t miss this one.

Liberation Museum of Paris need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting Paris’s Liberation Museum:

• Look for this name in French : Musée de la Libération de Paris
• Neighborhood : Montparnasse / 14 th Arrondissement
• Open : Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm
• Admission : Free
• Accessibility : Almost completely accessible to those with reduced mobility. For those who can’t access the one non-accessible room, a 360° virtual tour is available on request.
• Guided tours : The museum offers guided tours but only in French.
• Pro tip : Download the official museum app for a couple of free self-guided tour options. Available in English, French, Spanish, and German. [Get it here for Android / Apple .]

2. The Army Museum as Les Invalides

Les Invalides is most famous for being the location of Napoleon’s tomb (which you should totally visit while you’re there, by the way). But, Invalides is actually a massive complex that contains many military-centered museums , which is why this is a must-visit on the list of WWII sites in Paris.

Within the Invalides complex is the Army Museum , the national military museum of France. Inside you’ll find sections on French military history dating back to the 13 th century, arms and armor, and much more. But what we’re particularly interested in is the area dedicated to the Second World War .

This part of the Invalides Army Museum is broken up into four parts:

• Years 1939-1942 – the fall and occupation of France, the Vichy government, and the beginning of Free France.
• Years 1942-1944 – the first Allied victories, the French resistance movements, and the rebirth of the French army in North Africa.
• Years 1944-1945 – the Normandy landings, liberation of France, and the discoveries of the concentration camps .
• Berlin and the Cold War – what happened after/as a result of WWII.

This museum tells these stories through tons of engaging artifacts like French uniforms, soldiers’ possessions, personal letters, film footage and photographs, maps, and recreated models. (There’s an equally interesting area dedicated to the First World War too if you’re interested.)

Invalides Army Museum need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Army Museum at Les Invalides:

• Look for this name in French : Musée de l’Armée
• Neighborhood : 7 th Arrondissement
• Open : Daily from 10am – 6pm (9pm on Tuesdays, 10pm on the first Friday of each month)
• Admission : €15 standard adult admission (see website for all price levels)
• Accessibility : Much of the museum complex is accessible and wheelchairs are available to borrow. See all the accessibility info here .
• Guided tours : Guided tours are offered, but the options aren’t great. Or in English. I would recommend the digital guide instead.
• Pro tip : The €15 admission cost gets you into all the museums at Les Invalides including many of the ones listed in this post!

3. Museum of the Order of the Liberation

Also located within the Invalides complex is the Museum of the Order of the Liberation —not to be confused with the Museum of the Liberation (No. 1 on this list). As part of the larger Army Museum, this museum focuses entirely on the Order of the Liberation , an entity created by Charles de Gaulle “to honor the fighters who made an outstanding contribution to the liberation of France.”

This museum uses over 2,000 historical artifacts to retrace the history of Free France and the French Resistance through World War II. And though this museum is not as well-known as some of the other WWII sites in Paris, I was incredibly impressed with this place.

Descriptions make it sound small and simple, but this museum is much larger and more engaging than I ever expected. (Plus, it’s big on physical artifacts over reading tons of information, which I find much more interesting.)

Museum of the Order of the Liberation need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Order of the Liberation Museum:

• Look for this name in French : Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération
• Open : Daily from 10am – 6pm
• Admission : €15 standard adult admission, included with your overall Invalides admission
• Accessibility : Accessible entrance is by the north reception deck.
• Guided tours : For groups of 10+ only, see website for more info.
• Pro tip : Maybe give yourself a little more time here than you think you need.

4. Charles de Gaulle historial

Also located at Les Invalides is the Charles de Gaulle historial . This unique little museum showcases the life and work of Charles de Gaulle, army general, leader of Free France, and eventually the President the France.

The historial is less of a museum and more of an interactive multimedia presentation on Charles de Gaulle’s life. There’s a lot to read but there’s also lots of video footage, booming audio, flashing lights, and dramatic music. It’s clear how Paris wants De Gaulle to be remembered, to say the least.

Though the historial covers his entire life, I focused mainly on the World War II years to save time. However, you can learn much more here about the man behind Free France . (Just don’t expect an unbiased account, all I’m saying.) Pick up the audio guide when you enter to access over 20 hours of audio content. Needless to say, my visit was a lot shorter.

Charles de Gaulle historial need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Charles de Gaulle historial:

• Look for this name in French : Historial Charles de Gaulle
• Accessibility : The historial is wheelchair accessible.
• Guided tours : The audio guide is included in your admission cost.
• Pro tip : Skip through to the WWII years if you’re short on time.

5. Museum of the Armed Forces Health Service

What began as an anatomy collection back in the 18 th century is now the Museum of the Armed Forces Health Service showcasing 300 years of French army medical corps history. (Including its contributions to WWII.)

It focuses on such aspects as the development of the army medical corps and how it served the armed forces, historical medical instruments, and more. It’s housed in the church of Val-de Grâce. If you’re looking for something unique among the WWII sites in Paris , remember this one!

Museum of the Armed Forces Health Service need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Museum of the Armed Forces Health Service:

• Look for this name in French : Musée du Service de Santé des Armées (or École du Val-de-Grâce)
• Neighborhood : 5 th Arrondissement
• Open : Noon – 6pm, every day except Monday & Friday
• Admission : €5, full price adult
• Accessibility : Unknown (but given the museum’s content I would be shocked if it was not accessible)
• Guided tours : Not available

6. Mémorial de la Shoah

The Shoah Memorial of Paris is Paris’s main Holocaust memorial, documentation center, and museum (so it’s going under both sections). It focuses mainly on Jewish history during World War II (primarily the Holocaust) and especially that which occurred in Paris/France.

Outside the museum you’ll find large informational panels all the way down the block that explain a lot of what happened in the Jewish community in Paris during the Holocaust. Before you enter the museum you’ll pass through a Wall of Names, which is obviously not just one wall but many.

Inside, you’ll find 12 chronological themed exhibits that trace the history of France’s Jews during WWII and the Holocaust. There’s also a bookshop, an archival documentation center, and a symbolic crypt and memorial (to name a few of the spaces).

Memorial de la Shoah need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Memorial de la Shoah:

• Look for this name in French : It’s already in French, but in English you would call it the Holocaust Memorial.
• Neighborhood : Le Marais / 4 th Arrondissement
• Open : Daily from 10am – 6pm (10pm on Thursday) but closed on Saturdays
• Accessibility : Fully accessible
• Guided tours : Free every Sunday at 3pm in French and every second Sunday of the month in English. Tours last about 90 minutes.
• Pro tip : The Shoah Memorial is also closed on Jewish holidays. (See website for full list.)

7. National Air and Space Museum of France

Just a little outside central Paris is the National Air and Space Museum of France . This museum fills over 1.6 million square feet of display space with 150 aircraft, spacecraft, and the rest of its collection of almost 20,000 items.

Paris’s Air and Space Museum has halls dedicated to all kinds of topics, but the one we’re interested in is the Second World War wing. Here you get to see aircraft like a C-47 Skytrain, a P-51 Mustang, and a Submarine Spitfire . This section also displays a German V-1 flying bomb . But this is only a fraction of the awesome artifacts you’ll see here.

The Air and Space Museum is just a short drive from the center of Paris but is directly en route to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport. So if you can’t fit in a visit during your Paris trip, perhaps you can squeeze one in on your way in or out of town.

Air and Space Museum need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the National Air and Space Museum of France:

• Look for this name in French : Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace
• Neighborhood : Dugny, France
• Open : Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 6pm (Apr 1 – Sept 30) and 10am – 5pm (Oct 1 – Mar 31).
• Admission : €12, full price adult
• Accessibility : The Air and Space Museum is accessible for all – including those with physical, hearing, learning, and visual impairments.
• Guided tours : Unknown
• Pro tip : The first Sunday of every month is free!

Visiting World War II sites with kids : should you? Can you? Get everything you need to know on bringing your kids to sites like battlefields, museums, and concentration camps in that link.

WWII memorials and monuments in Paris

Beyond museums, there are also many WWII sites in Paris that commemorate noteworthy events in the city’s history or memorialize brave individuals. These are plentiful and can be found all over the city. Here’s a rundown of what to look for.

8. Deportation Martyrs Memorial

The Paris Deportation Martyrs Memorial is located just behind Notre Dame Cathedral and memorializes the more than 200,000 French citizens who were deported to Nazi concentration camps .

Underground and just at the Seine water line, this memorial takes you down under Paris’s Île de al Cité into what is more or less a crypt. The space is dark and disorienting, with flashing lights and red letters carved into the walls.

Inside are urns that contain soil from the main Nazi death camps and the remains of an unknown deportee. You’ll find information on the deportations, maps of the camps, and the names of those who were taken.

Deportation Memorial need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Deportation Memorial:

• Look for this name in French : Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation
• Neighborhood : Île de la Cité, 4 th Arrondissement
• Open : Daily from 10am – 5pm (Oct 1 – Mar 31) and from 10am – 7pm (Apr 1 – Sept 30). Closed on the first Monday of the month.
• Accessibility : You must descend a set of stairs to visit this memorial.
• Guided tours : Available in English and French (and German and Spanish by reservation).
• Pro tip : You can also pick up an audio guide for your visit.

9. Memorial de la Shoah

I’m putting the Shoah Memorial here again because it is indeed both a museum and a memorial, like many of the WWII sites around the world. This one in particular has both significant museum space and a number of meaningful memorials .

At the Shoah Memorial you’ll find a Wall of Names featuring the names of 76,000 Jews who were deported from France, the Wall of the Righteous featuring the names of almost 4,000 people who risked their lives to save France’s Jews, and a large black marble Star of David in the crypt that serves as a symbolic tomb to the Holocaust’s six million victims.

10. Vel d’Hiv Memorial Garden

As one of the sadder WWII sites in Paris, the Vel d’Hiv Memorial Garden is dedicated to the memory of the 4,115 children who were rounded up and deported to the extermination camps on July 16 & 17, 1942.

In this small park you’ll find a wall of remembrance that lists the names of the children, some memorial sculptures, photos and information on the children taken, as well as beautiful plants and flowers.

This memorial garden is named after the Vel’ d’Hiv’ Roundup , the mass arrest of Jewish families that took place at the former Rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver —the “Winter Stadium.” This park was built on the location of the former stadium, just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower.

Vel d’Hiv Memorial Garden need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Vel D’Hiv Memorial Garden:

• Look for this name in French : Jardin Mémorial des Enfants du Vél d’Hiv’
• Neighborhood : 15 th Arrondissement
• Open : Always open
• Accessibility : The park is at street level but the ground is covered in gravel.

11. Free France monument

Across the river from the Eiffel Tower stands the monument to Free France, the centerpiece to the Palais de Tokyo (Tokyo Palace Museum). Topped with a sculpture by artist Antoine Bourdelle, this monument is dedicated to:

The volunteers of the Free French forces who died for the honor and freedom of France / from June 18, 1940 to May 8, 1945.

Directly beneath the statue is a panel with a quote from poet Charles Péguy: “Mother, here are your sons who have fought so hard.” The Palais de Tokyo is a complex of modern and contemporary art museums and exhibition spaces.

Free France monument need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Free France monument:

• Look for this name in French : Le Monument de la France Libre
• Neighborhood : 16 th Arrondissement
• Accessibility : The Palais Tokyo is fully accessible.

12. The Pantheon

Paris’s Pantheon stands as a larger-than-life memorial to all the great men (and now women) of France. As far as WWII sites in Paris go, the Pantheon therefore serves as a shrine to those important figures who fought for France’s liberation .

Among the great writers, scientists, and politicians buried within, you’ll also find the tombs of:

French Resistance heroes

Jean Moulin – Served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance and was tortured and killed just two months later.

Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz – Member of the French Resistance and niece of Charles de Gaulle. (Her coffin at the Pantheon contains only soil from her gravesite as she preferred to be buried elsewhere alongside her husband.)

Germaine Tillion – French Resistance member and former inmate at Ravensbrück concentration camp. (Her tomb also contains only soil from her actual gravesite.)

Pierre Brossolette – Journalist and French Resistance hero

Josephine Baker – American actress who aided the French Resistance while living in Paris, among many other accomplishments and contributions. She is buried elsewhere but honored with a cenotaph at the Pantheon. She was the first black women to ever appear in a motion picture and the first black woman honored with internment at Paris’s Pantheon.

André Malraux – French novelist who joined the French army and then the French Resistance after he escaped capture. He later led the French attack on Stuttgart, Germany . Later appointed by De Gaulle as France’s Minister for Information and later the Minister for Cultural Affairs. (This guy was a badass.)

French fighters and politicans

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – French writer who joined the Free France Air Force and died in a plane crash during a reconnaissance mission in the Mediterranean. (Among his works is The Little Prince .)

Jean Monnet – Known as “The Father of Europe” and one of the founding fathers of the European Union. Unofficially worked very closely with Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill during the war and even became an advisor to President Roosevelt. Seriously, read his bio; he had a hand in so many of the war’s notable decisions.

Simone Veil – French politician, advocate for women’s rights, and Holocaust survivor (former inmate at both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen).

Jean Zay – French politician who was convicted of treason by the Vichy government for fleeing to Morocco to form a resistance group. He was imprisoned and eventually murdered.

René Cassin – Nobel Peace Prize winner and legal aide to Charles de Gaulle’s Free France in exile.

Félix Éboué – Served as the governor of Chad during the war and worked to encourage African support for Free France. He was a member of the Council of the Order of the Liberation and the first black man interred at the Pantheon.

Pantheon memorials

Beyond the tombs and memorials to these noteworthy figures, the Pantheon also houses a plaque dedicated to the 2,600 people recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations . These noted men and women risked their own lives to save those of Jews bound for concentration camps. Then president Jacques Chirac unveiled this memorial in 2007.

Other notable figures buried in the Paris Pantheon include Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, Marie and Pierre Curie, Voltaire, and Alexandre Dumas.

Paris Pantheon need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Pantheon in Paris:

• Look for this name in French : Panthéon
• Neighborhood : Latin Quarter / 5 th Arrondissement
• Open : Daily from 10am – 6:30pm (Apr 1 – Sept 30) and 10am – 6pm (Oct 1 – Mar 31)
• Admission : €11,50 full price adult
• Accessibility : Lots of accessibility options here. See them all here .
• Pro tip : For just €3,50 extra you can climb to the top of the Pantheon for the most amazing views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

13. Fighting France Memorial & Mont-Valérien Fort

The Fighting France Memorial at Mont-Valérien Fort opened in 1960 to memorialize those French combatants and resistance members who died in WWII . It features sixteen sculptures that tell stories of France’s heroism during the war as well as an eternal flame. Fifteen combatants as well as an symbolically empty grave are interred in a crypt.

The Fighting France Memorial is seen as the most important memorial to French WWII dead and is located below the Mont-Valérien Fort in nearby Suresnes. Fort Mont-Valérien was used by Germans as a place to execute French Resistance members from 1941-1944. (1,014 of them to be exact.)

There is also a visitor information center and a permanent exhibition area to learn more about the events and people being memorialized here.

Fighting France Memorial & Mont-Valérien need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Fighting France Memorial and Mont Valérien:

• Look for this name in French : Mémorial de la France Combattante
• Neighborhood : Suresnes, France
• Open: Daily, but hours vary according to group size, etc. See all hours here .
• Accessibility : Accessibility is a priority here. Get the details here .
• Guided tours : All visits require a guided tour, which are free. Reservations are mandatory.
• Pro tip : You can follow a memorial path from the crypt to the clearing where the executions took place, if you’d like to add an extra layer to your visit.

14. Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve

Located on the edge of the Hotel de Ville (the Paris City Hall) along the River Seine is the Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve . This lovely memorial garden is dedicated to:

The Spanish anti-fascist Republicans who continued their struggle by committing themselves to the [French 2 nd Armored Division] / Heroes of the Liberation of Paris

The name Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve refers to La Nueve , the 9 th Company of the Regiment de marche du Tchad which was part of the French 2 nd Armored Division. There were actually 160 men in this unit, not nine, most of whom were Spanish Republicans who fled Spain after Francisco Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War.

This unit served in North Africa as well as in the liberation of Paris. In fact, the men of “The Nine” were the first to enter Paris on August 24, 1944. The memorial garden in their honor enjoys a prominent location, lots of green space, a chicken coop and rabbit cages, walking paths, benches, and some statuary.

Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve need to know

Here are some key things you need to know for visiting the Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve:

• Look for this name in French : Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve
• Neighborhood : 4 th Arrondissement
• Open: Weekends and public holidays from 9am to dusk
• Accessibility : At street level, but mostly grass and gravel paths.
• Pro tip : Look closely at the exterior of Hotel de Ville and you’ll see bullet holes from the battles that took place during the liberation of Paris (and a memorial plaque to clue you in).

15. Children’s war memorials

Located all around Paris are small memorials to the child victims of World War II that are pretty easy to miss. These memorials exist as black plaques typically posted outside the entrance to the city’s elementary schools. Here’s an interesting write-up of these memorials.

The one pictured here reads:

In memory of the children at this school deported from 1942 to 1944 because they were born Jews, innocent victims of Nazi barbarity with the active complicity of the Vichy government. They were exterminated in the death camps. Never forget them.

Similar plaques exist all over the city and are usually found with some flowers or other thoughtful mementos. If you’d like to find some of these yourself, start here at the following locations: (But keep in mind these are elementary schools so act accordingly.)

• École Maternelle Poissy, 27 Rue de Poissy (pictured above)
• École Élémentaire Récollets, 19 Passage des Récollets
• École Élémentaire Publique Saint-Jacques, 250 bis Rue Saint-Jacques

16. Miscellaneous WWII memorials around Paris

In almost every other European city you’ll find Stumbling Stones—the small brass bricks installed outside the homes of Jews who were taken and (most likely) killed. But there are two cities where you won’t find these— Munich, Germany and Paris, France. (They each have their reasons.)

In lieu of these, Paris has installed simple memorial plaques all over the city that memorialize members of the French Resistance and other notable events that occurred here. Like the children’s memorials, they are almost hidden in plain sight.

I don’t know how many of these there are, but I know it’s a lot. And I don’t know all of their locations either, but I do know they’re everywhere. I made it a point to seek out a few on my recent trip, but the next time you’re in Paris, keep your eyes peeled. Here are some I recently found:

• Memorial to those who led the national insurrection from August 19-25, 1944 on their house @ 39 Avenue de la Bourdonnais (pictured below, left)
• “Here fell on August 25, 1944 Jacques Hardy . Died for France.” @ 11 avenue de Lowendal (pictured below, right)
• Memorials to Jean Boulogne, Pierre Bounin, and Jean Bachalet , French combatants killed during the liberation of Paris, at 60, 62, and 79 Boulevard Saint-Michel
• At Gare d’Austerlitz (train station), a memorial commemorating the deportations of Jews that originated here : that of 3,700 Jewish men on May 14, 1941 and 7,800 Jews (including 4,000 children) from July 19-22, 1942

You can also find similar memorial plaques at such well-known Paris locations as the Pont des Artes , the Musée d’Orsay (a former train station), and on the side of the fountain at Place Saint-Michel . And this is to name just a few. I mean it, these are everywhere.

17. The Drancy Memorial

While I tried to keep this list specific to WWII sites in Paris, I still want to mention one that’s close by and easily accessible – the Paris concentration camp. If you have some time to venture out of the city center, plan a visit to the Shoah Memorial and Drancy Internment Camp Memorial in Drancy. (You’ll see this place mentioned often during your time at the WWII sites in Paris, so you might as well check it out for yourself.)

Drancy, France is a small commune about a half hour drive northeast of Paris. It used to be the site of the Drancy Internment Camp which was essentially a holding camp for prisoners the Nazis were deporting to extermination camps.

In Drancy today, a large park and memorial space has replaced the former camp. On either end is a former rail car-turned-memorial and a large 3-piece memorial sculpture.

Across the street is the Drancy branch of the Shoah Memorial. It has a permanent museum exhibition that focuses on the history of the camp at Drancy and the lives of those sent here during the deportations.

Other kinds of WWII sites in Paris

The long list of WWII sites in Paris doesn’t stop at museums and memorials though. There are still a number of other sites that don’t fit into either of those categories.

18. Jeu de Paume Library

If you’ve read the book Monuments Men (and if not, you should!), then you’ll recognize this place immediately. The Jeu de Paume library is where the legendary resistance fighter and Monuments Woman Rose Valland worked as curator.

It was here at the Jeu du Paume that Nazi art looters stored their stolen artworks before sending them to Germany . Through her meticulous record-keeping and strength of will, Valland risked her life to help save (and return to their rightful owners after the war) countless priceless works of art from Nazi plunder and destruction.

Today, there’s a large memorial plaque to Valland and her brave work on the outside of the Jeu du Paume. (pictured above)

Get your copy of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel here. And please, don’t even bother with the movie.

19. Helene Berr Home

Just one block over from the Eiffel Tower you’ll find the former home of Helene Berr, a young Jewish woman popularly known as the “French Anne Frank.”

In 1942 at 21 years old, she began keeping a diary. Like Anne Frank’s, it begins simply with her account of daily life which evolves into a description of life as a Jew under Nazi occupation. She and her parents were captured and deported to Auschwitz in 1944; she died at Bergen-Belsen a year later.

Her diary was not published until 2008 but has become widely celebrated for the gift that it is. On the outside of her house at 5 Av. Elisée Reclus you’ll find a memorial plaque that reads:

Here lived Hélène Berr / Arrested with her parents on March 8, 1944 / She was deported with them to Auschwitz / She died at the beginning of April 1945 at Bergen-Belsen camp at the age of 24

Pick up your own copy of The Journal of Helene Berr here and give it a read before your trip to Paris.

20. Suresnes American Cemetery

Just a short drive west of central Paris is the Suresnes American Cemetery . This cemetery was founded as, and still mostly is, a cemetery for World War I casualties. But today it also serves as the final resting place for 23 unknown Americans who died in World War II.

Being that it’s an American cemetery, you’ll find the standard white marble cross grave markers and a number of memorials as well. Suresnes American Cemetery is open daily from 9am – 5pm.

Where to stay to visit the WWII sites in Paris

When visiting the WWII sites in Paris, I highly recommend staying somewhere as central to them all as possible. Paris is quite large and getting around can waste a lot of time if you stay in a remote location. Here are some hotels I recommendation for helping make the most of your time in Paris:

Hotel le Compostelle

On my most recent visit to Paris (2023) I stayed at the Hotel le Compostelle . This lovely hotel is in a great neighborhood just minutes from the Shoah Memorial, the Deportation Memorial, and more of the sites in this post. I could walk just about everywhere.

The staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating and my room was clean and had everything I needed. It was convenient to get to and I loved the view from my room. I would definitely stay here again.

Book your room at Hotel le Compostelle here.

Hotel Notre Dame Saint Michel

In 2017 I stayed at the Hotel Notre Dame Saint Michel and absolutely loved it. It’s in a perfect location—just across the river from Notre Dame and smack in the middle of most of the WWII sites in Paris.

The staff is lovely and the room views are incredible. It’s easy to walk to most places from here and the location just can’t be beat.

Book your room at Hotel Notre Dame Saint Michel here.

Champ de Mars Hotel

The Champ de Mars Hotel is another that’s in such a great location—right in between the Invalides museum complex and the Eiffel Tower. You’ll get to see a lot of the memorial plaques in this area too.

This hotel has fantastic reviews and the highest marks go to location, cleanliness, and staff. (All the most important things, no?)

Book your room at Champ de Mars Hotel here.

All other Paris hotels

Look, I’ve recommended three for you but there are tons of hotels in Paris. More than museums if you can believe it. Something may work better for you, so head here to check out all the available hotels in Paris for your trip. And to see exactly how I pick the perfect hotel every time , check out this post .

Check out all other Paris hotels here.

What to pack for your visit to the WWII sites in Paris

If you’re planning a trip to explore the WWII sites in Paris, here are a few essential packing items to consider:

European plug adapter – Often forgotten but desperately needed if you want to charge any of your devices! Pro tip: pick up a 6-pack, trust me.

Paris guidebook – Guidebooks are great for all the extra stuff like restaurant recommendations, local transportation, and lots more. Plus, pretty pictures. (Or get a more complete France guidebook if you’re exploring beyond Paris.)

Culture Smart France – I always get these pocket-sized customs and culture guides when I visit new countries. So much useful information the other guidebooks leave out! (Read my full Culture Smart review here.)

Travel gear from the DWWII Shop – Don’t head to France without some of the unique WWII travel gear in my shop like D-Day t-shirts, passport wallets, tote bags, and more. (I donate a portion of all sales to a WWII charity too.)

Comfortable shoes – I cannot stress enough the importance of comfortable shoes while running around Paris. In warmer weather I always wear Teva sandals or Chacos . In cold or wet weather I always wear Sorel duck boots .

Anti-theft purse/wallet – Keep yourself and your belongings safe in Paris by only carrying an anti-theft purse or wallet. (Pickpocketing is a real issue in Paris unfortunately.) I have gear from both PacSafe and Travelon and I can’t recommend them enough!

Refillable water bottle – I always recommend keeping a refillable water bottle on you while out exploring so you can stay hydrated.

Tips for visiting the WWII sites in Paris

For the best trip possible, here are some important tips for exploring Paris’s World War II sites:

Always check the opening and closing times.

Museums in Paris have different operating schedules than you might be used to. Some are closed on Mondays or on random days of the month. Some are open late on certain nights. Most are closed on French holidays, and some in this post operate on a Jewish holiday schedule. Always double check your specific days!

Paris is bigger than it looks on a map.

Keep in mind that some sites that look close might actually require an hour of walking. Always double check the walking times before you finalize your itinerary.

There are lots of discounts available.

In this post I listed the standard, full-price adult cost of admission to give you an idea of how much you’ll spend. But all of these sites offer tons of different discounts, some you may never have heard of before. Be sure to check the site’s long list of discounts before buying your tickets.

Visitors with disabilities are often admitted free.

Many of the WWII sites in Paris offer free admission to those with disabilities and their caregivers. Even if this is not listed with the discounts, most websites have a page specifically for those with special needs where you’ll find this information.

Be prepared for security checks.

At most of these sites you’ll have to go through security screening before you can enter. Be prepared to be metal detected and have your items screened. In other words, don’t wear tons of metal stuff and/or carry a lot of bags if you can help it.

Always be respectful.

As always, please please please no selfies or inappropriate behavior at the Holocaust memorials or cemeteries. Please.

For tips on planning your trip to the D-Day sites in Normandy , click that link for my full post.

More info for your trip to the WWII sites in Paris

• Heading to Paris?  Read reviews and find great places to stay here .
• Save lots of money and time by getting some Paris Go City passes .
• Need a rental car? Check out the best deals in Paris here .
• For more tours in Paris,  check out the great options from Walks ,  Viator  and  Get Your Guide .
• Don’t forget a   Paris guidebook  and this must-have  France customs and culture guide !

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About Ashley Smith

Ashley is a World War II historian and travel expert who has visited 32 countries. She specializes in quick trips throughout Europe and the Americas with a focus on World War II museums, memorials, battlefields, and other sites of interest. Originally from Memphis, TN, she currently lives in Boston with her husband and two feline commanders.

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Home » Visiting France’s 6 Best World War Sites and Attractions

Visiting France’s 6 Best World War Sites and Attractions

As we road-tripped through France, the wine wasn’t the only thing fueling our agenda. During our 28-day tour of the country, we were on a mission to visit all of France’s best world war sites and attractions scattered throughout France. Due to our love of history, we sought out anything and everything related to both World Wars.

The goal was to learn more about how both World Wars impacted the people and countries involved. To assist us in planning our trip to France’s most worthwhile World War sites, we used this Rick Steve’s guidebook . Also, we added a few of our own hidden gems to really make our whirlwind four-week tour of France amazing.

After tons of research and planning, we realized that the best way to tour France was by renting a car through one of the short-term lease buyback programs through Auto Europe. We ended up paying only USD 28 per day for a brand new fully-insured vehicle with a zero-dollar deductible. The catch is, the leasing period must also range between 21-175 days.

Therefore, if you need to rent a car for less than 21 days you must go the traditional way. If you arriving by air and are looking to rent a car, we always compare prices between Discover Cars  and  Skyscanner to make sure we’re getting the best price.

9 Popular WWII Tours in Normandy, France

The first six tours depart from the town of Bayeux while the seventh and eighth depart from Paris.

• 🎖️ Most Popular Tour > Normandy Beaches Half-Day Afternoon Tour
• ⚔️ Full-Day Tour of Normandy Battlefields Focused on American Sites
• 🌅 Fast-Paced Half-Day Tour of Omaha Beach Area in the Morning or Afternoon
• 🛡️ Follow in the Footsteps of the “Band of Brothers” on the Band of Brothers Full Day Tour
• 🏍️ Fun Half-Day Retro Motorcycle Sidecar Excursion to the Landing Beaches
• 🚙 See Everything in 1 Day > Private Full Day Classic Jeep Tour for Those Short on Time
• 🚆 From Paris > By Train to Caen for a Private  Normandy D-Day Tour
• 🍏🍺 From Paris > By Bus to Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches With Cider Tasting & Lunch Tour
• 🎫 Pre-Booked Admission Tickets to Airborne Museum

2 Meaningful WWI  Tours in France

• ⚔️ From Albert > Half-Day Private Tour of the Battle of the Somme With Lochnagar Crater
• 🎫 Pre-Booked Admission Tickets to the 1916 Somme Trench Museum

3 Other Interesting Excursions

• 🛴 Electric-Bike Self-Guided Tour to Normandy’s Landing Beaches
• ⛰️ From Bayeux > Journey With a National Guide to Mont St. Michel on a Full-Day Tour
• 🎨 From Paris > Take a Private Tour to Monet’s Gardens & House With an Art Historian

Touring France’s Best World War Sites and Attractions

Below is our guide to the best World War sites and attractions in France.

1. D-Day Beaches, Normandy France

It’s hard to imagine the death and destruction that occurred on this beautiful piece of France’s northern coast back in 1944. Along the stretch of historical beaches, there are memorials, monuments, museums, and bunker s that allow visitors to get a better understanding of the battles fought here. Pack a picnic lunch and take time to walk the sandy oceanfront to reflect on this significant part of WWII history.

Our favorite museum to visit is the Overlord Museum , don’t miss it.

Recommended Accommodation > La Sapiniere in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

2. Pointe du Hoc, Normandy France

Pointe du Hoc overlooks a cliff overlooking the English Channel. After scaling 100-foot cliffs, over 225 United States Army Rangers assaulted and took over this German strategic site. There are bunkers, underground tunnels, and a bomb-cratered landscape to explore.

An interesting fact is that during the planning and training phases for this engagement, the teams practiced firing the grapnels with DRY rope. However, during the rough English Channel crossing, the ropes became soaked making them extremely heavy. When the Rangers initially fired the grapnels none of them made it to the top of the cliff. (Talk about having to overcome a huge problem at the worst moment!) Luckily, a few of the last ropes were dry enough to be fired to the top of the cliff. The rest is history.

Recommended Accommodation >   Le Lavoir des Capucins in Sainte-Menehould

3. La Main de Massiges, Massiges, France

We stumbled on this outdoor museum by chance. La Main de Massiges is a memorial and archeological site where visitors can walk the trenches of WWI. The site provides insight into what life was like in the trenches. Real artifacts are still in place and are free to be touched and held. This is one of France’s best World War sites.

When you’re ready to book your flight, follow these three easy steps to get the best price.

Historical photos in the ruins provide visitors the chance to get a glimpse into what daily life was like. The site is eerily quiet and often free from other visitors. As late as 2014, excavators and volunteers are still finding the remains of soldiers buried beneath the rubble.

Recommended Accommodation : Le Lavoir des Capucins in Sainte-Menehould

4. Oradour-sur-Glane Village, France

To us, this was the most shocking and disturbing WWII site that we encountered during our European travels. On June 10, 1944, 642 men, women, and children of the small French village of Oradour-sur-Glane were viciously massacred by Nazis. The charred remains of the village still stand as a memorial to all who died in this horrific event.

We walked around the rubble in stunned silence, getting a visual image of this war crime which historians claim still has no understandable motive. As this is the site of the worst Nazi massacre of civilians carried out on French soil, it’s a bit surprising that this memorial is not better known throughout the world.

Oradour-sur-Glane was one of France’s best World War sites that we visited. Touring the village is free. The Interpretation Center has a small admittance fee.

Recommended Accommodation : Le Clos de la Muse in Saint Junien

5. Sainte-Mère-Église

This WWII location tells the story of an American paratrooper (from our home state of Illinois) who accidentally landed on the Sainte-Mere-Eglise Church . He played dead for two hours. Unfortunately, he was shot in the foot and captured by Nazi soldiers. He eventually escaped and continued the fight against the German forces.

Check This Out : How to Combine France’s Wine Country With WW Attractions

Today, a mannequin hangs from the place where he landed back on D-Day in 1944. It’s an interesting and unexpected sight in the small village of Ste-Mére-Eglise, which is featured on the Normandy Battlefields Tour (#2 above).

We recommend pairing it with the Airborne Museum , our vote for one of the best WWII museums in France. The admission cost is EUR 8 per adult.

Recommended Accommodation : Logis Hotel Le Sainte Mere in Sainte-Mere-Eglise

6. Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

No trip to France’s WWII sites is complete without paying respect to the American heroes at rest in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. These soldiers bravely gave their lives to help liberate Europe from those damn Nazis. There is a good free museum inside the visitor center. It is worth exploring before walking around the beautiful grounds.

Recommended Accommodation :  Chambres d’Hôtes Le Clos Tassin – Colleville-sur-Mer

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2 thoughts on “ visiting france’s 6 best world war sites and attractions ”.

I would love to see these sights. WWII fascinates me. Although it was a terrible time in history, there are so many facets to the time period that I love studying it.

It was a fascinating, moving and important part of our RTW trip. Thanks for stopping by.

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In the footsteps of the WW2 landings in Provence

• Things to do
• Culture and heritage
• WW2 Heritage between the Alps and the Mediterranean

During your stay in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, open up a page of history. Discover the heritage of WW2 and the traces it left in the landscapes of the South of France.

WW2 Heritage in Provence

Let’s go back half a century to the 15th August 1944, when the Allied Forces landed on around eighteen beaches between Toulon and Cannes. Now it’s your turn to tread the beaches of Operation Dragoon in Provence! Relive history on the sand and pebble beach of Le Dramont in Saint-Raphaël and its unique panorama of the Cap du Dramont and L’île d’Or. Stop in front of the stone commemorating the landing of the allied forces on the beautiful beach of Le Canadel at Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer . Go round the Musée-Mémorial National du Débarquement en Provence in Toulon: a lovely visit somewhere between a historical reenactment and a remembrance awaits you at the top of Mont Faron . And for the more curious among you, we recommend you follow the circuit suggested by Le Lavandou Tourist Office, to discover the heritage which bears witness to this historic episode. And lastly, a date to save, 17th August in La Londe-les-Maures , which celebrates every year the liberation of the town with a commemoration of Operation Dragoon in Provence. In 2021, the town inaugurated the Chemin de la Mémoire du Débarquement de Provence.

• Tourist Office of Lavandou
• Tourist Office of La Londe-les-Maures

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Heritage and a visit of the Alpine Maginot Line high up in the mountains

Head for the Maginot Line for a long escapade. The French borders are dotted with forts and fortresses built between 1929 and 1940, and many of them can still be seen today. On your hikes, you will come across many lookout posts, forts, barracks, and even bunkers. The little infantry construction of Les Aittes in Cervières is well worth a visit. Explore the 350 metres of galleries carved out of the mountain and three firing posts. In those days, the soldiers could live there in complete self-sufficiency for around thirty days! And to continue this adventure, let’s head for the Fort on the Alpine Maginot Line in Sainte Agnès , high up on its rocky spur above the bay of Menton. A complete underground town was hidden there at more than 55 metres below the surface. The village is classified among the “Plus Beaux Villages de France”.

Places of remembrance

The commemoration of the Operation Dragoon landing also takes place in several museums and historical monuments in the region. If you are visiting Nice, the Musée de la Résistance Azuréenne has an immersive itinerary. A story in nine steps awaits you where you can trace the history of the armed resistance against the Vichy regime and the German and Italian occupation on the Côte d’Azur. The Camp des Milles in Aix-en-Provence is also an important venue: this French internment and deportation camp has remained intact and certain works created by artists who were interned here can still be seen. Continue your visit of Provence with the Musée d’Histoire Jean Garcin in Fontaine de Vaucluse. The venue tells the story of the life of the French people during the Occupation, the Resistance in Vaucluse, and highlights the commitment of many poets, writers and artists.

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On the Remembrance Trail in France

The north of France has seen some of the greatest bloodshed ever known to man, not just on its battlefields but in its towns and villages, too, as two world wars ravaged the land and its people. Justin Postlethwaite explores the sites, monuments and museums dedicated to those who so bravely gave their lives.

All lovers of France have their wish-list of places to visit and experiences to savour, from the cultural to the gastronomic, the architectural to the topographic. However, easily the most vital, meaningful and humbling trip you can ever make is to its battlefields, war museums and remembrance sites. From the World War II D-Day landing beaches in Normandy to the Somme and Verdun’s World War I-scarred landscapes, you will embrace history, honour the human spirit and depart feeling infinitely more respectful of the sacrifice and horror that befell millions in wartime.

In this multi-regional round-up, we explore some of the best places to pay respect to the dead from both wars, and reveal the finest memorials and museums – from the epic to the tiny. As well as the chilling facts of military history, many of these also provide riveting social backgrounds to life before, during and after war came to French towns and villages, leaving even its landscapes as living museums, forever scarred.

Note: Space does not permit us to provide in-depth guides or historical detail for each site, nor is it possible to list every cemetery or museum; rather, we hope that our selection serves as inspiration to plan your own trip soon, perhaps by exploring the many superb websites and social media channels relating to remembrance tourism in France.

Cycling along Omaha Beach. © Emmanuel Berthier

WORLD WAR II

D-Day Landings is the term commonly used to refer to the Normandy invasion by some 156,000 Western Allied troops (61,715 British, 73,000 American and 21,400 Canadian) on June 6, 1944. The invasion kicked off the Battle of Normandy, which marked the beginning of the end for Hitler’s German occupation of France, and within a year the war was over.

The Allied forces suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead (among them 2,499 Americans, as verified in 2016 by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation).

Normandy today, with its many superb museums, historical sites, cemeteries and cultural and teaching facilities, is like an open-air history book. If you have limited time, pick your destinations carefully – it is impossible to visit everything, even in a week. There are many ways to tour the region and view sites – you may consider a fat-bike ride along Omaha Beach or even kayaking around the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches. An application for the D-Day Landing beaches to be included on the list of World Heritage sites is still pending a decision by UNESCO . To gain entry to these cultural sites, always check Covid health pass ( passe sanitaire ) requirements for each one before travelling.

The British Normandy Memorial was unveiled on June 6 last year. © Emmanuel Berthier

MUSEUMS AND MEMORIALS

June 2021 saw the unveiling of the new British Normandy Memorial , designed by British architect Liam O’Connor with a sculpture by David Williams Ellis. Located just outside Ver-sur-Mer overlooking Gold Beach, it was conceived by The Normandy Memorial Trust (created in 2016), and is the only single memorial to the 22,000 British Armed Forces fallen.

All five landing beaches have a museum and there are many others where you can learn about the Battle of Normandy. Omaha Beach Memorial Museum recounts in harrowing detail the day’s events, through dioramas, an extensive collection of uniforms, vehicles and memorabilia.

Utah Beach Museum recounts the story of D-Day in 10 sequences, from the preparation for the landing, to the final outcome and success. Among its rich collection of objects, vehicles, materials and oral histories is an original B26 bomber – one of only six left.

In Courseulles-sur-Mer, the Juno Beach Centre pays homage to the 45,000 Canadians who lost their lives during the war, of whom 5,500 were killed during the Battle of Normandy, and 359 on D-Day. It is manned exclusively by Canadian guides.

The Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer. © Loic Durand

Gold Beach Museum explores how British troops advanced on Gold Beach on June 6, 1944, via scale models, slide shows and photographic documents while The America Gold Beach Museum is a short walk from Gold Beach.

Finally, at Sword Beach, the Ouistreham French-British Museum of Commando N°4 is unique in that it recounts the story of Philippe Kieffer’s French contingent of commandos that stormed the shore that day.

Nearby is the Atlantic Wall Museum , housed in a 52-ft restored German bunker. Here, soldiers were holed up for three days after the Sword Beach landing until British troops, literally, blew them out. D-Day Museum (called the Musée du Débarquement d’Arromanches in French), which overlooks the exact landing spot on the beach of Arromanches, was the very first museum dedicated to D-Day back in 1954. It has undergone extensive and expensive upgrades of late.

Elsewhere, the Overlord Museum in Colleville-sur-Mer (opposite the Normandy American Cemetery), offers life-sized reconstructions, plunging visitors into the heart of the action, while Bayeux’s Museum of the Battle of Normandy is a real gem, with dioramas and archive footage.

The Overlord Museum in Colleville-sur-Mer offers life-sized reconstructions. © Vincent_Rustuel

The Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église showcases the parachute drops and brave fighting by US paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

Also here on the Cotentin Peninsula (in the Manche département ) is the Memorial Museum of Bloody Gulch . It saw ferocious fighting between German and 101st Airborne US soldiers and many relics remained buried in the ground or hidden in homes for over 65 years. Now visitors can discover what was left by soldiers and hear the testimony of civilians who survived the battle. Also in Manche, at Saint-Côme-du-Mont, discover both the German and Allied perspectives on D-Day at the D-Day Experience , including multi-award-winning film D-Day Normandy 1944 in the museum’s 3D cinema.

Strategically important, Caen was nearly reduced to rubble by daily raids. In 1988, the Calvados capital sealed its commitment to peace with the launch of the Caen Memorial , a sprawling complex chronicling not only World War II, but also the Cold War. Thirty minutes away, the Falaise Memorial shifts the focus to civilians and their unflagging courage through incessant bombings and the choke-hold of Nazism.

Also in Calvados, the Pegasus Memorial Museum in Bénouville (home to the first liberated bridge in 1944), pays tribute to the British 6th Airborne Division, which not only captured the bridge (renamed Pegasus after the war) thanks to daring glider landings, but also held the eastern flank of the landing beaches for 80 days despite heavy losses.

As for aircraft, a brand new museum dedicated to the role of flying machines opened in June 2021. Discover the D-Day planes, the missions and the airmen who contributed to this mastery of the skies in June 1944 at D-Day Wings Museum Caen-Carpiquet in Bretteville-sur-Odon.

Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument, located atop a bunker on a cliff eight miles west of Omaha Beach, is where US Army Rangers scaled the 100ft cliffs and held off counter-attacks. For a fully immersive visual experience, see the new film 100 Days of the Battle of Normandy , projected on to nine screens at ‘circular cinema’ Arromanches 360 .

The war cemetery at Ranville, which was the first French village liberated on D-Day. © Arnaud Guerin

Whatever your nationality, there are many places to reflect upon the sacrifices made by your brave countrymen in Normandy.

The Ranville War Cemetery for Commonwealth soldiers lies 10km northeast of Caen. The village was the first to be liberated following the capture of Pegasus Bridge. Here lie 2,411 identified casualties, mostly British. Meanwhile, Bayeux War Cemetery is the biggest cemetery of Commonwealth WWII casualties in France with 4,144 graves. On a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach stands the 70-hectare Normandy American Cemetery , lined with the graves of 9,380 fallen soldiers. The memorial consists of a semi-circular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing large maps and narratives of the military operations; at the centre is the bronze statue entitled ‘Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves’.

The Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial covers 28 acres of countryside in the Manche and contains the remains of 4,410 American war dead. Along the retaining wall of the memorial terrace are inscribed the names of 498 of the missing, while the granite memorial contains a chapel and two large operations maps with military flags overlooking the burial area. The Canadian Military Cemetery near Bretteville-sur-Laize is where 2,782 Canadian soldiers are buried, 87 of whom remain unidentified. Other Canadians killed in the Battle of Normandy are buried near Juno Beach in the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery.

NORD AND PAS-DE-CALAIS

There is a good choice of museums in the northernmost tip of the Atlantic Wall and thus closest to the UK. In May and June 1940, Operation Dynamo succeeded in evacuating more than 338,000 soldiers to England from Dunkirk in just nine days. The Dunkirk War Museum houses a rich collection of weapons, uniforms, models, photos and maps of military operations.

In Calais, the Musée Mémoire 39-45 , located in a bunker that was used by the German army for telecommunications, is an old-style museum with collections of newspapers, propaganda posters, real weapons and uniforms.

OTHER PLACES TO VISIT

Two key sites of Nazi massacres visited upon French citizens are Marsoulas in Haute-Garonne – where 27 people were murdered on June 10, 1944 – and Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne, Limousin, where, on the same day, 643 people were killed and the village razed. Eerie and intensely moving, it remains a permanent memorial and museum and is a must-visit.

GETTING THERE

FROM THE UK BY FERRY Brittany Ferries: Portsmouth to Saint-Malo, Caen and Cherbourg; Poole to Cherbourg; and Plymouth to Roscoff and Saint-Malo. www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

DFDS Seaways from Dover to Calais and Dover to Dunkirk. www.dfds.com

BY AIR Sadly there are no longer direct flights from the UK to Caen-Carpiquet. But many UK and worldwide airlines serve Paris CDG and Paris Orly airports. Car journeys from Paris CDG to Caen take almost three hours, and train journeys from Gare Saint-Lazare about two.

TOURISM CONTACTS

NORMANDY www.normandie-tourisme.fr A great, searchable resource within this can be found here . Plus you can find out which sites welcome dogs and details of a network of qualified English-speaking guides.

CALVADOS www.calvados-tourisme.co.uk MANCHE www.manche-tourism.com BAIE DE COTENTIN www.ot-baieducotentin.fr DUNKIRK www.dunkirk-tourism.com

WORLD WAR I

Départements to focus on when planning a remembrance trip to the Western Front’s theatres of war from 1914-1918 include Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Meuse, Aisne, Ardennes, Marne and Seine-et-Marne. Verdun (in Meuse) and Somme are household names for visitors because of the bloodiest battles that took place there, but there is so much more to explore – each department offers definitive, humbling glimpses into the endurance of the human spirit in the face of atrocity and destruction, via museums, memorials and even phantom-like ‘destroyed villages’ such as those in the ‘Red Zone’ in Meuse.

The Historial de la Grande Guerre at Péronne is a great place to find out about the political, military and social background to the Great War. © Somme Tourisme

Located in Meaux, Seine-et-Marne, the Musée de la Grande Guerre offers one of the most comprehensive overviews of the Great War through a combination of reconstructed trenches, film clips and audio guides.

Equally epic is Historial de La Grande Guerre in Péronne, Somme. Set in the old castle, it is a great place to find out about the political, military and social background to the Great War. Its sister museum at Thiepval, near the monument was inaugurated in 2016. Exhibition highlights include The Battle of the Somme: The Offensive of Summer 1916 and Aces of Aviation .

In the village of Vignacourt (Somme), keen photographers Louis and Antoinette Thuillier immortalised their meetings with soldiers from all over the world on their farm. They took more than 4,000 glass plate photographs between 1916 and 1918, which were stored in the farm attic and forgotten about – until now. At Musée Vignacourt 14-18 , you can discover the poignant stories behind the individual portraits in this very human First World War story.

Musee Somme 1916 at Albert explores life in the trenches. © Somme Tourisme

Constructed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, Musée du Fort de la Pompelle in Puisieulx (Marne) became of vital importance to the defence of Reims in the Great War, and came under heavy bombardment from the German offensive of 1914. In the 1950s, it was converted into a museum. Displaying artillery equipment and preserved troops’ living quarters, the museum’s chief attraction is its collection of 560 helmets and caps worn by the various regiments of the German Imperial Army. In 2018, the museum was updated and expanded.

Located on the Verdun battlefield, Mémorial de Verdun is a memorial site and superb military museum. Displaying weaponry, medical equipment, photographs and recreated trenches, the museum provides multimedia tours. An important addition for Verdun (the town) in 2021 was the immersive new experience in the underground galleries of the Citadel – a unique, 35-minute scenographic tour in a wire-guided gondola with augmented reality glasses.

In Albert (Somme), the small but passionately curated Somme 1916 Museum is excellent. Here, you will be led along a 250m tunnel that depicts life in the trenches, with a collection of items and knowledgeable guides to rival any on the Western Front.

The Musée du Chemin des Dames in Oulches-la-Vallée-Foulon is the most-visited museum in Aisne. A former limestone quarry 15m below ground, the Caverne du Dragon became a tactical stronghold where underground battles were fought. From here you can follow the Chemin des Dames Memorial Trail to visit other memorial sites of interest in the area.

Musée de l’Armistice in the Compiègne Forest in Oise is built on the site where the Germans signed the Armistice which came into effect at 11am on November 11, 1918. In Arras (Pas-de-Calais), head to the remarkable Wellington Quarry , a museum that also serves as a memorial to those who died in 1917’s Battle of Arras. Visitors don hard hats and descend in a lift for a tour of the quarry, named Wellington by the New Zealand sappers who dug it.

Finally, in Ardennes the Musée Guerre et Paix en Ardennes (Museum of War and Peace in Ardennes) in Novion-Porcien is unique in that it encompasses torrid times over three wars: 1870 (between the Second French Empire – later the Third French Republic – and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia); 1914-1918; and 1939-1945.

MEMORIALS AND CEMETERIES

One of the most iconic Remembrance monuments on the Western Front is at Vimy Ridge , overlooking the Douai plain near Lens (Pas-de-Calais). Set in sprawling parkland, it pays tribute to 11,285 Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers.

Visit Douaumont Fort in Meuse to witness how soldiers lived and fought. © Guillaume Ramon

Douaumont Fort is the tallest of the 19 forts built in the 1890s following the Franco-Prussian War to protect Verdun from attacks. With accompanying barracks – including dormitories to accommodate 635 soldiers, an on-site bakery and water tank – the building was constantly modernised and fortified in the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II in 1914. Plaques commemorate those who lost their lives here and tell the story of the fort’s capture, as well as its later recapture by French troops in 1916.

Located beside the largest military cemetery in the region dedicated solely to the French, with 16,142 graves, Douaumont Ossuary is a stone monument containing the unidentified bones of at least 130,000 French and German soldiers killed during the Battle of Verdun.

Meanwhile, at the highest point overlooking the Somme battlefields is the world-famous Thiepval Memorial , a colossal arc de triomphe honouring the 72,194 British and South African soldiers who lost their lives here.

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Memorial is the largest French military cemetery in the world, containing the remains of more than 40,000 French soldiers, with a beautiful basilica and memorial buildings. This is also the location of the Ring of Remembrance, a modern-day sculptural memorial engraved with the names of nearly 600,000 soldiers who died.

Standing on the top of a hill in the grounds of Château de Dormans, Mémorial des Batailles de la Marne is the principal monument to the soldiers who were killed in the two Battles of the Marne. Erected in 1919, with a 52m steeple and a long staircase leading to its entrance, the chapel has unrivalled views over the Marne valley.

In Aisne, to appreciate the courage and sacrifice of American fighters when they entered the war, head to Aisne-Marne US Cemetery next to Belleau Wood, site of heavy US losses in June 1918 (there are 2,289 graves here, though many more died). Again, to fully appreciate the individual US marines’ astonishing tales of bravery, a guided tour is recommended.

FROM THE UK BY FERRY

The easiest way to explore northeast France’s World War I sites is by car (or organised tours). From the UK, take the ferry ( DFDS Seaways from Dover to Calais and Dover to Dunkirk) or Eurotunnel to Calais.

MEUSE www.lameuse.fr PAS-DE-CALAIS www.visit-pas-de-calais.com AISNE www.jaimelaisne.com SOMME www.visit-somme.com MARNE www.tourisme-en-champagne.co.uk ARDENNES http://gb.ardennes.com HAUTS DE FRANCE www.french-weekendbreaks.co.uk

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15 Must See World War II Sites in Europe

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For those who are constantly glued to the World War II documentaries on the History Channel and have read countless books and articles about Allied tactics and strategic movements on the European fronts, a visit to Europe is the next step in your historical education. Personally seeing and physically standing on the many sites that were significant to that time will provide an unparalleled perspective and insight into the facts you already know about the war, as well as offer new information that is sometimes hard to come by from secondary sources. So for all the history buffs out there, here are 15 sites significant to the Second World War that, ranging from inspirational to overwhelming, are worth visiting in Europe:

15. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Germany

This work camp just outside of Berlin is found about three km from the location of the first ever Nazi concentration camp known as Oranienburg (now destroyed). The camp became the center of Nazi operations and is now a museum detailing the life of the inhabitants, both officers and detainees in a number of exhibits. Visitors can also see the special exhibition dedicated to the Oranienburg camp found in the museum’s permanent exhibit, and walk the ground of the camp for an incomparable lesson in the severity of the Nazi aggression.

14. Arnhem Bridge, Netherlands

This bridge became well known after the strategic operation known as Operation Market Garden, whereby the Arnhem Bridge was the last in a string of strategic points targeted for takeover by the Allied forces. Successful up until that point, the Allies were unable to capture the bridge in the September 1944 Battle of Arnhem, an event that later became the subject of several books and the Hollywood film “A Bridge Too Far.” Surviving the September battle, the bridge was destroyed by Allied troops in October of the same year to help curb the transport of German supplies. In 1949 the bridge was rebuilt in the same style, and in 1977, renamed “The John Frostburg” in honor of the British commander that defended it in the September battle.

13. Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, Krakow, Poland

As many who have read the Thomas Keneally’s novel “Schindler’s List” or seen the Spielberg movie of the same name know, Oskar Schindler was a Nazi Party member who saved hundreds of Jewish lives through political bribery and Jewish employment at his enamel and munitions factories. The administrative building of the enamel factory still stands today, and houses the Krakow Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, which is mainly devoted to the Party member and the lives of “his Jews.” This museum is must-see for anyone who wants to learn more about the life of a man now largely regarded as a hero.

12. Humboldthain Flak Tower, Germany

Originally constructed as a solution to air-strike vulnerability, German Flak Towers were domineering concrete complexes that sheltered anti-aircraft guns and protected ammunition from falling bombs. The towers operated in pairs, one a gun tower (Gefechsturm or G tower) and the other a command tower (Leitturn or L tower). Their heavily reinforced structure also served as bomb shelters for civilians as well as an extremely effective defensive center, with a radar dish that could detect bombers from over 50 miles away, eight 128-mm cannons with a firing capacity of 48 shells per minute and a number of other smaller cannons scattered around the tower. Many of the towers have since been destroyed or converted, but the one remaining in Berlin is open to visitors.

11. Vel D’Hiv Monument, France

Though the actual building of the Velodrome d’Hiver (indoor cycling track) was destroyed and replaced by government buildings, visitors can still stand on the spot, commemorated by a plaque, where in July of 1942, Jewish families in France were rounded up by the French police and forcibly herded into the Velodrome. It is there that over 13,000 citizens waited in deplorable conditions (without food, water or washroom facilities) for days before being dispersed among various concentration camps. A memorial to the victims was erected in the city in 1993, with the French Government issuing a public apology at a memorial service at the site in 1995.

10. Oradour-Sur-Glane, France

This small village in western France is memorialized as the site of one of the largest Nazi massacres on French soil. On June 10, 1944 SS officers stormed the village and killed the vast majority of residents, some 642 men, women and children, before largely destroying the area. Though officially rebuilt a few km north, the French government ordered the original site to be untouched and to stand testament to the horrors committed there. Visitors can walk through the ruins of the ghost town and pay their respects at the onsite memorial.

9. Umschlagplatz, Warsaw, Poland

During German occupation, the German-named Umschlagplatz (“reloading point”) was the Square in Warsaw used to round up Polish Jews and organize their deportation from the Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. People waited in hordes for hours until enough detainees were rounded up to fill the train cars, with any signs of resistance resulting in instant death. Today, the site of the former Square is home to a memorial constructed in the image of train cars, erected to pay tribute to the countless lives doomed (and lost) on these very premises.

8. Warsaw Ghetto, Poland

In the beautiful Polish city of Warsaw, there still stands a testament to the largest and deadliest Nazi-created Ghetto in Europe. By the deadline of October 15, 1940, the city’s large Jewish population was forcibly required to move into an 18 km area which enclosed 73 of the city’s 1800 streets, and was divided into the “small” and “large” ghettos linked by a wooden bridge. At highest capacity, the Ghetto housed about 380,000 people, translating to about eight residents per room. Today, the site is commemorated by “The Footbridge of Memory” which denotes the location of the original bridge between the two Ghettos, several monument and memorials. The area also still contains chunks of the original separating wall as well as decrepit residential buildings which have stood untouched for the past seven decades.

7. The Wolf’s Lair, Poland

This major complex hidden among a dense Masurian forest was Hitler’s first headquarters on the Eastern Front, and became his most frequently inhabited hideout (he spent about half the war here). Originally built for the impending invasion of the Soviet Union, the property became a sort of small town consisting of shelters, barracks, two airfields as well as a power and rail station. Despite being heavily reinforced and highly secure, this was also the site of the infamous July 1944 assassination attempt of Hitler by Claus Von Stauffenberg. The premises were vacated and destroyed by German officials in January of 1945 and remained untouched by the Polish Government until the fall of Communism. Today, the site is in ruins but has become a popular tourist attraction with a handful of hotels and restaurants now available in the remote area.

6. Bletchley Park, England

Featured in the film “The Imitation Game,” Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire was Britain’s central site for code breaking during the Second World War. As the location of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), it became the largest and most successful institution in penetrating secret Axis communications, most famously of the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. Analysis now suggests that the efforts conducted on these premises shortened the war by about 2 years, and the school is now an educational and historic attraction commemorating the accomplishments of the institution.

5. Fuhrerbunker, Berlin

Now largely destroyed, this bunker was located under the former Reich Chancellery building in the heart of the city, and is the site where Hitler spent the last few weeks of the war, married Eva Braun and committed suicide in April of 1945. Located 11.5 feet below ground level, the bunker was a system of 30 small rooms protected by 13 foot thick concrete walls with an exit point in the Reich Chancellery gardens. Today, the site looks inconspicuous enough as a quiet residential neighborhood, and is largely unmarked save the small plaque and information board that denotes the location and provides a schematic diagram of the bunker.

4. Cabinet War Rooms, England

Partially restored and opened as a museum to the public in 1985, the Cabinet War Rooms were originally a secret complex under the basement of the Treasury. The bomb blitz of December 1940 forced the complex to be reinforced as a bomb bunker, becoming the main strategic headquarters for the War Cabinet (consisting of Prime Minister Churchill and several Conservative and Labor Party ministers). Today visitors can descend below the streets of Westminster and check out the various rooms of the complex as they would have existed during the war, and of especial significance, the Map Room, which remains exactly as it was when the premises were closed and vacated in August of 1945.

3. Auschwitz- Birkenau, Poland

Originally built in 1940 as a detention center for political prisoners, Auschwitz-Birkenau became the Nazi’s most gruesome legacy—the largest death camp and the primary site for the “Final Solution.” Located on the site of a former military base just outside of Krakow, Poland, the complex was regarded as the ideal location to carry out Nazi atrocities because of its proximity to the rail lines used to transport prisoners. Liberated on January 27, 1945 by the Soviet Army, estimates suggest that upwards of 1.1 million deaths were carried out on the property. Today, Auschwitz is a harrowing museum complex not for the faint of heart. While undeniably an important site to see, visitors are urged to check out the museum website ( http://visit.auschwitz.org/ ) to familiarize themselves with the rules, entry pass guidelines and capacity restrictions before their visit.

2. Musee de la Reddition, France

This red brick schoolhouse just northwest of the Reims train station is the historic site where, in the early morning of May 7, 1945 high officers from the German army met with officers of the Allied forces and signed the declaration of unconditional surrender, ending the second world war in Europe. Now known as the Lycee Roosevelt, the property was being used as the headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the room where the signature took place, the map room, remains perfectly preserved behind a glass panel and comprises the museum now called the Musee de la Reddition.

1. Normandy, France

It is on this stretch of beaches on the Normandy coast where the infamous D-Day Landings of June 6, 1944 took place, changing the course of the war to favor the Allies. The five beaches—Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah—were where the forces of the French, British, Canadian and American armies successfully landed and commenced an operation that changed the tide of WWII in Europe. Today, visitors can pay their respects to the sacrifices made by these troops at the various memorials found on the beaches, at the military cemeteries of each army and learn more about the operation and strategy at the various museums and information centers.

Like this? Check out  10 Significant World War II Sites to Visit in Germany

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• Relive the history of the Second World War in Paris Region
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On the night of 5-6 June 1944 , the Allies landed in Normandy to liberate France and entered Paris a few weeks later.

As we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris in 2024 , read on to find out more about the emblematic places of the Second World War that bear witness to our history.

Paris liberation museum

The musée de la Libération de Paris - musée du général Leclerc - musée Jean Moulin welcomes you to the Place Denfert-Rochereau, which General Leclerc passed through 80 years ago to liberate Paris . This new location is doubly important historically, as it was also here in this pavilion – now open to the public for the very first time – that the chief of France’s combined resistance forces Colonel Rol-Tanguy set up his command post. The museum is dedicated to the history of the Second World War and packed with a collection of over 7,000 artefacts from military and daily life, each telling a tale of both famous and lesser-known WW2 history. Get ready for your visit to come alive, with thousands of documents and photographs and over one hundred unique audio-visual accounts.

Discover also the Museum of National Resistance in Champigny-sur-Marne which is dedicated to the transmission of the history and memory of the Resistance.

Musée de l'Armée

The Musée de l’Armée is to be found inside the Hôtel National des Invalides, and is one of the biggest museums of military art and history in the world, with an incredible collection of over 500,000 artefacts.

As you wander around this magnificent building, which was ordered by Louis XIV as a home for his veteran soldiers, you’ll also be able to wind your way through the area dedicated to the two world wars.

From the pen with which the Nazis surrendered on the 8 May 1945, Adolf Hitler’s desk blotter and the uniform of an American foot soldier from the first wave of assault in 1944 to weapons and everyday objects, the museum is full of items which bear precious testament to the greatest conflict of the 20th century.

The museum’s Charles de Gaulle Historial is an audio-visual area of almost 2,500m 2 which retraces the footsteps of statesman, leader of the Free French and founding president of the Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle. You’ll be able to immerse yourself in the history of the 20th century, where this man had a powerful and lasting effect.

Mont-Valérien

The history of Mont-Valérien is intertwined with the Second World War in the unhappiest of ways. Originally a medieval worship site, in 1941 German authorities chose the Mont-Valérien fort and clearing as the main execution site for hostages and members of the Resistance in the Paris area and occupied France. Traces of graffiti left by those condemned to death still remain in the chapel and, together with the bullet-ravaged execution posts, make a visit through the site a poignant experience.

In the crypt, the remains of 16 men and women – soldiers and members of the Resistance who died for their country – have been symbolically laid to rest in sixteen cenotaphs draped in the French flag. The fort, which has also functioned as a military base, is also home to museums on the French Signal Corps and military carrier pigeons.

The Shoah Memorial – Paris

The Shoah Memorial in the Marais traces the history of French Jews with a particular focus on the Second World War and a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust. This place of remembrance opened 60 years ago following the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, on the site of the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyr. Your visit will be an emotional one, with a variety of artefacts (documents, photographs, personal items and videos) walking you in the footsteps of the 76,000 men, women and children who were deported under the Nazi regime.

The Shoah Memorial – Drancy

Originally a social housing complex built to the north of Paris in the Thirties, the Cité de la Muette became an internment camp in 1941, and in 1942 was made a transit detention camp for holding Jews before their deportation from France to extermination camps. Just like the Shoah Memorial in Paris, the Shoah Memorial in Drancy is now a place of information and learning, using video accounts, archived documents and photographs from the period to tell the story of around 63,000 French Jews who passed through this camp.

The Panthéon

The Pantheon is an iconic Parisian monument, and one of the capital’s most poignant memorials. An architectural masterpiece of the 18th century, the crypt here is the final resting place for some of the greatest names in French history, including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Victor Hugo.

In 2015, this shrine to the Great Men of France also became home to the remains of four heroes of the French Resistance , acknowledging the decisive role they played in the history of the Second World War. They were joined in February 2024 by the couple Mélinée and Missak Manouchian .

Involved in the Resistance, tireless anti-racist activist, Josephine Baker , American by birth but French at heart became the sixth woman to be enshrined in the Pantheon in 2021.

American Cemetery – Suresnes

On the slopes of Mont-Valérien to the west of Paris, the American Cemetery – a small, three-hectare area of US soil – is a touching place of remembrance and the only one in Europe to pay tribute to both world wars. Initially intended as a resting place for fallen soldiers from the Great War, it is also home to the remains of 24 unknown soldiers who died during WW2. With its imposing chapel and rows of white marble crosses, this is a perfect – and very fitting – place for remembrance.

Air and Space Museum

The Air and Space Museum is the oldest existing aerospace museum in the world, and celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Head for the hall on 1939-1945 and discover an display of legendary war planes including the Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, Douglas C-47A Skytrain, Dewoitine D.520, North American P-51D Mustang and the iconic WW2 American military aircraft: the famous Dakota. Sit inside the plane and step into the shoes of an Allied paratrooper preparing to jump – it’s an experience like no other.

... All the way to Normandy

Head out of Paris with your expert guide and driver to find out more about one of the greatest chapters in the history of the Second World War. In small groups , you’ll get to retrace the steps of the Allied forces in Normandy, from the D-Day landing beaches to the American Cemetery where all those men who so valiantly fought to liberate France have been laid to rest. A poignant day from start to finish.

http://www.normandie-tourisme.en

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Flanders fields and beyond: France's essential WWI sites

Jun 24, 2014 • 6 min read

Canadian Memorial, Vimy

During the First World War, the Western Front became a byword for mud, misery and suffering. From 1914 to 1918, hundreds of thousands of men on both sides were killed in a series of near-suicidal offensives in the area north of Amiens , but the situation on the ground remained deadlocked. Today, visitors gather to reflect at a series of moving memorials marking the sites of major battles, including the bloody Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Verdun (1916) and the American advance of 1918 that finally brought an end to the war.

Canadian Memorial, Vimy. Image by Jean-Bernard Carillet / Lonely Planet

British and Irish cemeteries and memorials

One of the most famous WWI memorials in northern France is Thiepval , 160km north of Paris. Designed by the colonial architect Edwin Lutyens, this arch-shaped construction was built on the site of a German stronghold that was stormed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. This notorious date is still known as the ‘bloodiest day of the British army’; by nightfall, more than 40,000 British soldiers had been killed, injured or taken prisoner. At a height of 45m, this is the largest British war memorial in the world, and more than 73,000 names of missing British soldiers are engraved in the stone pillars of the colossal arch. The site also has a large Commonwealth cemetery and an informative visitors' centre.

The five thousand Ulstermen who perished in the Battle of the Somme are commemorated nearby at the Ulster Memorial, a replica of Helen’s Tower at Clanboye in County Down, where the Ulster Division trained. The memorial stands near Thiepval Wood.

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. Image by Jean-Bernard Carillet / Lonely Planet

Australian cemeteries and memorials

During WWI, 46,000 Australians perished on the Western Front, many in the battles fought near Pozières and Villers-Bretonneux in Picardy. A visit to the Musée Franco-Australien (Franco-Australian Museum) in Villers-Bretonneux is an excellent starting point to understanding the role of the Australian troops in the conflict.

About 2km north of town, the 32m-high Australian National War Memorial , designed by the British architect Lutyens, is one of the most imposing memorials in the Somme. The names of 10,982 Australian soldiers are engraved on the base of the monument, and a viewing platform looks out over a sea of Commonwealth graves. The Anzac Day Dawn Service is held here every 25 April at 5.30am.

Inaugurated in 2008, the Australian Corps Memorial Park is 7km northeast of Villers-Bretonneux. It stands on the hilltop site of the Battle of Le Hamel, which was fought and won by Australian troops on 4 July 1918. In its 93 minutes more than 1000 Australians and Americans were killed or wounded. The memorial comprises three curving walls clad in green granite. The central slab is adorned with a large bronze ‘Rising Sun’, the badge worn by members of the Australian Imperial Force.

Another moving site is the Fromelles (Phaesant Wood) Military Cemetery , 17km west of Lille, which was established in 2010 following the discovery of the mass graves of 250 Australian soldiers. Just 2km northwest, the Australian Memorial Park marks the spot where, on 19 and 20 July 1916, a total of 1917 Australian soldiers were killed during a poorly planned offensive intended to divert German forces from the Battle of the Somme.

Canadian cemeteries and memorials

Vimy Ridge , 8km north of Arras, was the scene of some of the bloodiest trench warfare of WWI, with almost two full years of attacks. Of the 66,655 Canadians who died in WWI, 3598 lost their lives in April 1917 taking this heavily fortified German position. It’s an evocative site; part of the crater-pocked battlefield was preserved exactly as it was found at the end of the fighting. The zigzag trench system is clearly visible, as are countless shell craters. On the edge of the ridge, overlooking the plain of Artois, a gleaming white monument reaches for the heavens; the names of 11,285 Canadians whose bodies were never found are inscribed around its base. The well-organised visitor centre runs free guided tours.

Another site that preserves part of the Western Front is Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial , 9km north of Albert. Here, on 1 July 1916, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was nearly wiped out during a massive assault. The site was left as it was when the guns fell silent, and a network of trenches, now covered with grass, is still clearly visible.

Restored trenches in Vimy Memorial Park, France. Image by Jean-Bernard Carillet / Lonely Planet

American cemeteries and memorials

The United States remained neutral for the first 2½ years of WWI, but in April 1917, after German U-boats began targeting American merchant vessels heading to the UK, the United States declared war on Germany. By October 1917 American infantry units were fighting in northern France, and by the end of the war 1.2 million members of the American Expeditionary Force were stationed on French soil.

The Somme American Cemetery , 150km northeast of Paris near the village of Bony, stands on the site of an American assault on the Hindenberg Line in late September 1918. About 175km southeast, American dead from the bloody Meuse-Argonne Offensive during the last six weeks of the war are buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery , the largest American cemetery in Europe. At the Montfaucon American Monument , 11km south of the Meuse-Argonne cemetery, a huge Roman column towers over the remains of a French village destroyed in the fighting.

The St-Mihiel American Cemetery , 45km southeast of Verdun, marks the site of the Battle of St-Mihiel, where 7000 US servicemen were killed or injured in September 1918. This engagement is also commemorated at the Butte de Montsec , 15km southwest of the cemetery, where a classical circular colonnade, in white limestone, stands atop a tall hill.

French cemeteries and memorials

More than 1.3 million French soldiers perished between 1914 and 1918, and the most important and evocative memorials to France's tremendous losses are scattered in the hills around the Lorraine town of Verdun, 260km northeast of Paris. For over 300 days, from February to December 1916, German attempts to take Verdun - and 'bleed France white' - resulted in the firing of an estimated 26 million artillery shells, and the deaths of some 360,000 French soldiers and 340,000 Germans.

France's most solemn WWI memorial, the Ossuaire de Douaumont , serves as the final resting place of about 130,000 unidentified French and German soldiers whose remains were found jumbled together at the end of the conflict. Starting in 1927, the bodies were reinterred here in 52 mass graves, each representing a different sector of the battlefield. The site is dominated by a 46m-high belltower and adjacent is a French military cemetery with over 16,000 gravestones.

In June 1916 two companies of French infantry waiting to 'go over the top' were wiped out by a massive German artillery bombardment. Three years later someone noticed several hundred bayonets sticking out of the ground - the French soldiers had literally been buried alive. Now a memorial, the site, known as the Tranchée des Baïonnettes (Bayonette Trench), was left as it was found.

The Mémorial de Verdun sits amid the ruins of the village of Fleury, completely demolished during the ferocious fighting of 1916. It will be undergoing a total renovation until late 2015.

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The Great War in France

Sites and memorials from the first world war 1914-1918.

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The Great War remembered

WW1 Military  cemeteries in France

World War 1 battlefields museums and monuments

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Memorials of World War II

About this tour.

An unforgettable journey of discovery and remembrance awaits you as you travel between London, Normandy and Paris on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Explore London’s connections to World War II during a city tour focused on The Blitz. Cross the English Channel, retracing the parallel journey nearly 160,000 courageous Allied troops took on June 6th, 1944, as they set out to liberate Europe from the Nazis. Immerse yourself in the history of Normandy’s D-Day Landing Beaches and visit the Normandy American Cemetery. Visit Saint-Mère-Église, the first French town liberated from the Nazis and learn about the brave paratroopers who parachuted into Normandy on the night of June 5–6, 1944. Conclude your journey in Paris, the City of Light with a festive dinner cruise along the Seine River.

Your Tour Includes

• 4 Handpicked Accommodations

Included Highlights

• London & Paris WWII-Focused City Tours
• The D-Day Story Museum
• English Channel Crossing

Your Tour at a Glance

8 Breakfasts

Travel Style

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Optional Excursions

Starting at $180.00

Activity Level

• Level This Tour

For specific details about this tour's activity level and other info to know before you book your trip, click here.

Extension Style

Travel styles, highlights and inclusions.

Must-See Inclusions:

Experience the Peace Memorial Museum that vividly documents the causes and consequences of WWII.

Spend 3 nights in the Normandy region and take a journey back in history to the D-Day landing beaches.

Cultural Experiences:

Retrace the D-Day preparation efforts at The D-Day Story Museum, dedicated to Operation Overlord.

Navigate the path of the D-Day Landings as you cross the English Channel by ferry.

Set foot on the hallowed grounds of the Normandy landing beaches.

Culinary Inclusions:

Enjoy London’s culinary renaissance at a dinner featuring gastro-pub cuisine.

Sample traditional French cider during a visit to an apple orchard in Normandy.

Admire the “City of Light” as you float down the Seine River on a relaxing dinner cruise.

• Caen Peace Memorial Museum
• Arromanche-les-Baines
• Longues-sur-Mer
• Apple Cider Farm Visit
• Normandy American Cemetery
• Omaha Beach
• Pointe du Hoc
• Airborne Museum
• Giverny Gardens
• Seine River Dinner Cruise

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Hotel-Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton

Hotel-Renaissance La Defense

Join us for a spectacular evening in one of Paris’s most beloved institutions, the famous Paradis Latin. Situated in a building associated with Napoleon and rebuilt by Gustav Eiffel himself, the Paradis has been running here since 1889. Enjoy a sumptuous dinner with wine, then bring on the champagne and let the show commence!

Accommodations

Arrive earlier.

Pre Night: Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton From $150 per night

Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton

Portsmouth marriott hotel, mercure caen city center-port de plaisance, renaissance la defense, stay longer.

Post Night: Renaissance La Defense From $150 per night

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LA FORTERESSE DE MIMOYECQUES

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LE BLOCKHAUS D'EPERLECQUES

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MUSÉE DE MEMOIRE 39/45

Located in the Parc Saint-Pierre (St. Pierre Park), the War Museum was used as the headquarters in Calais for the German Navy during the War. It was also the transmission centre for North Western France. - As ...

MUSEE DU MUR DE L'ATLANTIQUE

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Utah Beach C.S Frères - CRT Normandy

World War II History Tour

If you are interested in WWII history and/or have a family member who fought in the Battle of Normandy, this tour is just for you.

We can plan a general itinerary based on what we think you would be most interested in, or you can tell us. For example, North Americans may like to visit the American and Canadian beaches of Omaha , Utah and Juno , and the American and Canadian war cemeteries.

If you have a family connection, we will plan an itinerary that follows the route your family member took with their battalion during the Battle of Normandy.

WWII Family History Tour

What is truly unique about this tour is that if you have an ancestor who fought in the war , we can carry out some research on your behalf and plan a tour of the exact places they would have been during their time in Normandy .

These soldiers played a crucial role in the liberation of France, so it is an immense honor for us to help travelers walk in their ancestors’ footsteps. We charge no extra fee for personalizing the tour in this way.

Just tell us everything you can about your ancestor, and we will take care of the research and the planning.  

What a wonderful trip with personal guides Emilie planned for us! I would recommend her without reservation on your trip through Normandy, Mt St. Michel and the Loire Valley. The …

What a wonderful trip with personal guides Emilie planned for us! I would recommend her without reservation on your trip through Normandy, Mt St. Michel and the Loire Valley. The guidebook, which was chock full of important information (be sure to read it all!) was invaluable to us and became our bible.

Your accommodations

Step by step

Private tour of the wwii battle sites and places of interest.

Our preferred private guides in Normandy know the region very well and are experts in WWII history.  One day is normally enough to visit the landing beaches.

Then you’ll need a day to visit the places of interest that are further inland, and a day for Bayeux and Caen (key cities in the region).

We also include a day in Paris so that you can enjoy a walking tour of key places in the city during the Liberation of Paris and a visit to the war museum. This tour gives travelers an excellent overview of the great military operation of Operation Overlord.

Day 1: Bayeux - Caen area

• From Paris or a Paris airport, we will organize the car rental pick up at the most convenient location.
• You will begin your tour in the lovely town of Bayeux , which was not damaged by the WWII bombing. You will visit the Battle of Normandy Museum to gain some insight into the events of the war and learn about the places you will be visiting on your private tour.
• Your Bayeux itinerary will include a self-guided walking tour through the town so you will learn more about what happened during the liberation of Bayeux. We’ll also recommend some very nice shops and restaurants. Even if not part of the WWII history, you will also enjoy visiting Bayeux Cathedral and famous Tapestry. 
• In the afternoon, you will visit Caen, a city that suffered serious damage during the bombing of WWII. You will see the Caen Memorial and experience the 360° movie theater, where you will feel how it was to be in Caen during the bombing.

Accommodation near Bayeux

• Your  fi rst B&B for 3 nig hts is  a peaceful countryside house, conveniently loc ated between Bayeux's old town and the Landing Beaches .  From here, you are within reach of all   the D-Day sites   and museums: between Sainte Mère Eglise and Ouistreham, Isigny, Pointe du Hoc, the   artificial port of   Arromanches or the Caen Memorial.  

Day 2: Landing Beaches & War Cemeteries

• The second day will be entirely on the Landing beaches of Normandy . 
• Your expert private guide will meet you at your accommodation, and together you will drive to the Normandy landings beaches. If we have researched your WWII family history, this is where the most personalized part of your tour begins. If not, you will visit beaches where your nation’s troops landed, or those that are of greatest interest to you.
• On the family history tour, you will travel to the beach where your relative landed with his battalion on June 6 th 1944 (or later) – Gold Beach, Sword Beach, Utah Beach or Omaha Beach. Your guide will explain everything you see, leaving you with a clear understanding of exactly what happened on the day of the Allied operation.
• You will also visit Arromanches-sur-Mer, where there is another 360° circular movie theater located on the remains of one of the two artificial Mulberry harbors set up by the Allies during the war. This short movie shows footage from around the world telling the story of the 100-day Battle of Normandy, and is a very moving experience.
• After the beaches, you’ll visit the military cemeteries , either to visit a relative’s grave if he died in battle, or to see where those who gave their lives now rest.

There will also be time to visit other places of interest along the coast. For example, Dieppe in Upper Normandy will be of particular interest to Canadian travellers due to the failed landing there, during which many Canadian troops lost their lives. Many soldiers were buried in the military cemeteries in Dieppe and Rouen. As some of these places are a few hours’ drive from the main landings beaches, we may suggest adding an extra day to your itinerary. This way you can enjoy visiting each place as a comfortable pace. 

Day 3: Battle of Normandy - inland

• The third day takes you inland to follow the progession of the Allied forces. You will following the route that your ancestor or a selected battalion took following their entry via the beaches of Normandy.
• If you are exploring your own family history, we will prepare an itinerary that includes visits to places your relative would have passed through, such as the Pegasus Bridge or the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, which was taken during the first days of the Allied invasion. Your ancestor might have told you some stories about places they remembered from their time in Normandy, such as farms or manors where they stayed with their battalions . In this case, we will also try to include these in your itinerary.
• Many of the buildings in these rural villages have changed very little since the war. You will move on to inland areas that were in key strategic positions as the Allied troops continued to push the German forces back. These may include Saint-Lô , where American bombardments destroyed 95% of the town during the Battle of Normandy, or Falaise , where two thirds of the town was destroyed, 10,000 German soldiers were killed and 50,000 taken as prisoners of war as the town was taken by Canadian and Polish troops in August 1944.

Last Day in Paris 

• Y ou will finish your WWII history tour in Paris, which was liberated from the German occupiers on 25 August 1944. We include a privately guided walking tour for a half-day in Paris.
• This will include a walk along the Champs-Élysées avenue from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, following in the footsteps of the French 2nd Armored Division during their victory parade on 26 August 1944.
• You will then visit the Musée de l'Armée - Invalides, which has an interesting section about World War II. This concludes your WWII history tour of France.
• Spend you last night  in a  charming 4* boutique-hotel in the Latin Quarter , by the Luxembourg gardens & Sorbonne university, perfectly located to discover the French capital city.

This tour can also be incorporated into any of our itineraries that include Normandy and Northern France.

Activities included

Private Guide on the WWII sites

Spend a full day with a private guide who will customize the itinerary to your wishes and interests. A must do to better understand what happened on D-Day. 

Paris Liberation Private Tour

For a half-day, follow a private guide in the heart of Paris to learn about how the city was liberated in August 1944. From the Arc de Triomphe to the Army Museum, follow on the footsteps of the 2nd Armored Division.

Booking process

• Share your wishes with us
• We will interact with you to finalize the itinerary
• Get a detailed Travel Plan & Quote
• Book your trip
• Enjoy the real France!

Let us craft your perfect Travel Plan

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Customize this tour

We are glad to customize this itinerary to include additionnal night stays, extra activities or any specific request you have.

YOUR Guide Book

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Our travelers’ reviews.

Emilie did a fantastic job of planning our 13 day trip from Avignon to Bordeaux, with time spent in Provence, Cathar Country, Basque Country, and Bordeaux. Emilie is an excellent & responsive communicator. Emilie tailored our trip from reserving the rental car and the bed & breakfasts (wonderful places with wonderful hosts), setting up private …

Emilie did a fantastic job of planning our 13 day trip from Avignon to Bordeaux, with time spent in Provence, Cathar Country, Basque Country, and Bordeaux. Emilie is an excellent & responsive communicator. Emilie tailored our trip from reserving the rental car and the bed & breakfasts (wonderful places with wonderful hosts), setting up private tours (all excellent), and giving us many options\recommendations of things to do each day of our trip (from towns to visit, sights to see, & restaurants to try). The personalized and *very* detailed guide book was an irreplaceable resource during our trip (we called it our bible!), and it is now an amazing memento of the trip, as well. I could go on and on, but I will summarize by saying that our trip was amazing, and I give Emilie & France Just For You my highest recommendation!

We have traveled in Europe a dozen times. Our trip to France, the Loire Valley and Normandy was one of the very best. Their custom self-guided tours are based on places and activities that interest you. Emelie listened to what we wanted and created an itinerary that was just what we wanted as well as some suggestions for other things we might try …

We have traveled in Europe a dozen times. Our trip to France, the Loire Valley and Normandy was one of the very best. Their custom self-guided tours are based on places and activities that interest you. Emelie listened to what we wanted and created an itinerary that was just what we wanted as well as some suggestions for other things we might try. Emelie created a spiral bound book with information about traveling in France as well as detailed information about the B & Bs, maps, directions and all the places we planned to visit. The B & Bs were lovely old stone buildings with modern comforts. A private cooking class, a private tour of an ancient church in the mountains, and a guided tour of Normandy were features we really enjoyed. The chateaus and gardens [my personal favorites] were magnificent. Normandy was so moving. I am glad that we had a guide who spent the entire day with just us. We learned and saw so many things we would have missed on our own. We would urge you to consider France Just for You. We loved our trip and would use them again. GPS was a life saver.

My wife and I and two friends decided we would like to visit France and by chance I found Emilie's website and initiated an online conversation with her over a year ago. We really did not know what we wanted to do, nor where we wanted to go and so our planning became a moving feast, most ably supported by Emilie. How she ever put up with our …

My wife and I and two friends decided we would like to visit France and by chance I found Emilie's website and initiated an online conversation with her over a year ago. We really did not know what we wanted to do, nor where we wanted to go and so our planning became a moving feast, most ably supported by Emilie. How she ever put up with our changing demands remains beyond me. The speed with which she responded to our requests was nothing short of amazing, she must never sleep !! We together finally put together a truly wonderful programme that met our every expectation. We saw provincial France over 17 days, starting in the Cote D'Azur and culminating in Paris, visiting Provence, Burgundy and the Loire. The accommodation arranged by Emilie was delightful, her suggestions on activities, routes, restaurants, sights to see and visit were outstanding. Travelling from Australia to France is not for the fainthearted at any time, let alone making an unescorted self drive tour such as we have done over the past month. I doubt we could have done it without Emilie's very professional support. We would recommend her services to anyone. Thank you Emilie

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Train strikes in April and May 2024: Full list of dates and lines affected

Overtime bans, an action short of a strike, also mean some services may not be running or may be reduced as drivers refuse to work their rest days.

Monday 8 April 2024 06:40, UK

Drivers at 16 rail companies have started a fresh wave of strikes, plus overtime bans, causing disruption to the rail network.

The strikes are part of a long-running dispute over pay and will take place across April and May.

Tube strikes planned for April and May have been called off.

In an "entirely separate dispute", ASLEF members will also strike and refuse to do overtime at LNER on specific dates in April "because of the company's failure to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery", the union said.

LNER's alleged failure to adhere to bargaining machinery refers to it using managers to drive trains on strike days.

People are advised to check before they travel.

Here's what's happening when:

Rail strike dates

Friday 5 April

Strikes will affect Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, and CrossCountry.

Saturday 6 April

Strikes will affect Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Trains.

Monday 8 April

Strikes will affect Greater Anglia, c2c, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line.

Overtime ban dates

Thursday 4 April

Tuesday 9 April

People are advised to check before they travel, as some areas may have no service.

LNER action dates

Members will strike on Saturday 20 April and refuse to work non-contractual overtime from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 April .

Why are the strikes happening?

ASLEF says the LNER strikes are because of "the company's persistent failure to comply with existing agreements".

Nigel Roebuck, an ASLEF organiser in the northeast, said the operator had been trying to get "every driver manager and driver instructor to work on strike days".

A spokesperson said: "LNER has used managers - paid £500 a shift - to drive trains on strike days and, after the expiry of the last non-contractual overtime agreement, on most days of the week now.

"There is no agreement in place for management to drive services on mainline infrastructure.

"It results in branch line services - such as Lincoln, Skipton, and Harrogate - being cancelled because of a lack of route knowledge and means virtually no driver training is being done."

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Mick Whelan, ASLEF general secretary, said of the rail strikes : "Last month, when we announced renewed mandates for industrial action, because under the Tories' draconian anti-union laws we have to ballot our members every six months, we called on the train companies, and the government, to come to the table for meaningful talks to negotiate a new pay deal for train drivers who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.

"Our members voted overwhelmingly - yet again - for strike action."

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A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: "Nobody wins when industrial action impacts people's lives and livelihoods, and we will work hard to minimise any disruption to our passengers.

"We want to resolve this dispute, but the ASLEF leadership need to recognise that hard-pressed taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54m a week just to keep services running post-COVID.

"We continue to seek an agreement with the ASLEF leadership and remain open to talks to find a solution to this dispute."

When the strikes on the London Underground were announced, Finn Brennan, ASLEF's full-time organiser on the network, said in a statement: "ASLEF Tube train drivers will strike in April and May in a long-running dispute over London Underground's failure to give assurances that changes to our members' terms and conditions will not be imposed without agreement and that all existing agreements will be honoured.

"Despite a previous commitment to withdraw plans for massive changes to drivers' working conditions, London Underground management has established a full-time team of managers preparing to impose their plans.

Sadiq Khan said they had been called off after "talking and engaging with transport staff and trade unions rather than working against them".

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France presses China on trade and Ukraine ahead of upcoming Xi Jinping visit

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shakes hands with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, left, after a joint press conference at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Monday, April 1, 2024. (Ken Ishii/Pool Photo via AP)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, and French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne attend a joint press conference at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Monday, April 1, 2024. (Ken Ishii/Pool Photo via AP)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, and French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne attend a joint press conference at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, ChinaMonday, April 1, 2024. (Ken Ishii/Pool Photo via AP)

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BEIJING (AP) — The French foreign minister pressed China on trade issues and the war in Ukraine on Monday ahead of a planned visit to France by Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this spring.

Stéphane Séjourné, in talks with his counterpart Wang Yi in the Chinese capital, largely echoed positions that have been laid out by European leaders , including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on a visit to Beijing last week.

“The rebalancing of our economic partnership is a priority, as it is for our European partners,” Séjourné said at a joint news conference with Wang. “The European Union is a very open market, the most open in the world. But the current deficits with a certain number of countries, including China, are not sustainable for us.”

European officials have expressed concern that a flood of low-priced Chinese-made electric vehicles could disrupt production and displace jobs in Europe. The EU is investigating whether Chinese government subsidies for EVs give an unfair advantage to Chinese auto exporters. European companies operating in China are complaining that recent changes to national security laws have made it riskier to invest and do business in the country.

On the Chinese side, officials have raised concern about a “de-risking” strategy being pursued by the EU to ensure that it is not overly dependent on any one country for vital supplies and minerals. Wang expressed understanding for the European position but said he hopes it doesn’t negatively affect business sentiment.

“I believe the facts have proved and will continue to prove that China constitutes opportunities to Europe, rather than risks,” he said. “The two sides are partners not opponents.”

He also said that China is willing to import more “high-quality French products and services” and is working to resolve the concerns raised by European companies, including restrictions on the transfer of data overseas.

Séjourné insisted that Europe is not becoming protectionist and remains open to investment, a possible reference to attempts to woo Chinese automakers and other companies to create jobs by building factories in Europe rather than exporting their products from China.

Neither foreign minister mentioned a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into imports of French brandy that, together with the EU electric vehicle probe, could be a precursor to a trade war.

On the Ukraine war, he said France expects China, as a major country, to pass on clear messages to Russia. China, though, has a different stance on the war than Europe or the United States, both of which back Ukraine. China may have Russia’s ear, but it’s unclear what message it is delivering.

Séjourné said France is determined to maintain a close dialogue with China to contribute toward finding a path to a lasting peace in Ukraine.

Middle East Crisis Aid Groups Pull Back After Workers Are Killed, Deepening Gaza’s Food Crisis

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• Supporters of hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack smear yellow paint during a demonstration at Israel's Parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem. Oren Ben Hakoon/Reuters
• The bodies of World Central Kitchen workers being transported in Rafah, southern Gaza. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
• An explosion in Habbariyeh, southern Lebanon. Rabih Daher/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A billboard in Tehran displaying pictures of Iranian commanders killed during the strike in Damascus, Syria. Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA, via Shutterstock
• A Palestinian woman in a makeshift tent made from a parachute used to airdrop aid into Gaza City. -/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Masked Palestinians guarding a humanitarian aid truck in Rafah. Said Khatib/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Demonstrators outside the home of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

The attack on aid workers is already slowing the flow of aid into Gaza.

Inside world central kitchen’s work in gaza, world central kitchen has suspended its relief efforts in gaza after seven aid workers were killed in israeli airstrikes on monday. videos reveal the challenges of food distribution in a territory under siege..

Zomi Frankcom and Damian Soból arrived in Gaza on a mission to feed Palestinians, documenting their efforts in social media videos like these. Then on April 1, they were killed by Israeli airstrikes, along with five other colleagues, bringing the work of the World Central Kitchen in Gaza to a halt. The charity’s videos offer a rare window into the challenges of food distribution in Gaza, a territory on the brink of famine that’s been cut off from the outside world. Celebrity chef José Andrés started World Central Kitchen in 2010 in response to the earthquake in Haiti. The organization brings meals to areas impacted by natural disasters or conflict, including communities displaced inside Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. Since October, the group said it delivered more than 43 million meals to Palestinians through community kitchens, truck convoys and airdrops. In mid-March, they were the first to deliver aid by sea with a ship carrying nearly 200 tons of food from Cyprus. The Israeli military released footage of the coordination behind that effort, which brought food to northern Gaza, where the U.N. says people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. “I’m very hopeful that we can be bringing millions and millions of meals daily. We may fail, but the biggest failure will be not trying.” A second maritime delivery arrived just hours before the attack. In a video statement, the Israeli military called the attack a grave mistake. Since Oct. 7, nearly 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the U.N. And for now, the World Central Kitchen has suspended its operations there.

A deadly Israeli strike on an aid convoy run by World Central Kitchen in Gaza is already setting back attempts to address a hunger crisis in the territory, with aid groups saying they are being more cautious about making deliveries and at least two suspending operations.

In the wake of the attack that killed seven of its workers, World Central Kitchen stopped its work in Gaza and sent three ships with hundreds of tons of food back to port in Cyprus. The food was meant to be unloaded at a makeshift jetty in northern Gaza that was built by the group, which says it has provided 43 million meals to Gazans since the start of the war.

Gaza faces what United Nations officials say is a man-made humanitarian crisis, as the war and Israeli restrictions on aid have caused severe hunger that experts say is approaching famine. The most dire shortages are in northern Gaza, and aid groups say that, in the short term at least, the killing of the aid workers will make things worse there.

“Humanitarian aid organizations are unable to carry out their work safely,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.

Another aid group, American Near East Refugee Aid, or Anera, which said it had operated in the Palestinian territories for more than 55 years, also announced that it was suspending its work in Gaza. The United Nations has stopped movement at night for at least 48 hours from Tuesday to evaluate security, the organization’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters according to Reuters.

The U.N.’s World Food Program is still operating by day, he said. “As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip,” Reuters reported him as saying on Wednesday.

The World Food Program and UNRWA, the main U.N. agency that supports Palestinians, have long said that they face unacceptable hurdles in delivering aid, including Israeli restrictions on deliveries and lawlessness in northern Gaza.

“Our staff have guided our work, and they, themselves, feel like there’s a target on their backs,” Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s country director in Gaza and the West Bank, told the Al Jazeera network.

Michael Capponi, the founder of Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit aid group, said he was reconsidering his plans to travel to Gaza next week. Some staff members “basically want to pack up and go home now,” he said.

Gaza has faced an Israeli blockade for more than a decade, backed by Egypt, but since the war started in October, residents said the amount of food available has fallen dramatically.

“No aid or anything comes down to us,” Rawan al-Khoudary, who lives in northern Gaza, said in an interview. She said in an interview that her baby, Anwar, had died a few weeks ago, in part because of a lack of nutrition. Another resident of northern Gaza, Ezzeldine al-Dali, 22, said that his family had only received one bag of flour in aid, which had lasted a few days.

In recent weeks, the United States, other countries and aid groups have increased pressure on Israel to allow more aid to enter Gaza, a territory of more than two million people. Israel, which announced a siege of Gaza at the start of the war, says it places no limits on the amount of aid that can go into the territory, but wants to prevent food or other supplies from falling into the hands of Hamas.

Countries including the United States, France, Jordan and Egypt have increased their use of airdrops to get aid into Gaza, and the World Central Kitchen ships were part of a multinational plan to create a maritime route that would deliver aid from Cyprus. As part of the effort to increase maritime shipments, the United States military is building a temporary pier on Gaza’s coast, but that will take weeks.

The United Nations says that the only effective way to ramp up aid sufficiently is by truck.

Figures from the United Nations show that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza through the two main crossing points, Kerem Shalom and Rafah, which are both in the southern part of the enclave, increased in March by nearly 75 percent compared with February.

Overall, however, an average of around 117 aid trucks have entered Gaza each day since Oct. 7, down roughly 75 percent from prewar figures, the U.N. data show. The World Food Program estimates that 300 trucks of food are needed daily to begin to meet people’s basic food needs.

Despite the short-term difficulty, the strike could galvanize a push for a cease-fire, said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former U.N. emergency relief coordinator.

He said it could also push governments to intensify efforts to protect aid workers, press for more entry points for aid and speak out more strongly against Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million people have gathered in an attempt to escape the fighting.

The aid workers were part of a growing number killed in Israel’s bombardment, with 203 killed since the war began, most of them Palestinian, according to the Aid Worker Security Database .

“The international aid workers have gotten more attention than the previous 200 Palestinian aid workers killed, which is of course tragic,” Mr. Egeland said. “But this could provide the watershed moment we have been hoping for.”

Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting.

— Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Biden says he is ‘outraged’ by the attack on an aid convoy, after Israel’s military says it was a mistake.

President Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the killing of seven humanitarian aid workers in a strike by Israeli forces, strongly condemning the attack just hours after Israel’s top military commander acknowledged its military had made a “grave mistake.”

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi made a rare admission of fault by Israel in the six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip as he accepted responsibility for the deaths of the aid workers.

“It was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night, during the war, in a very complex condition,” he said, adding, “It shouldn’t have happened.”

General Halevi’s mea culpa was a change in tone from that of Israel’s military, which throughout the war has largely rejected criticism of its conduct by arguing that it was doing what was necessary to defeat Hamas. It came as many of Israel’s closest allies voiced indignation and demanded explanations for the attack.

The seven workers, traveling in a convoy, were with World Central Kitchen, a charity that was helping to feed hungry Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a sharply worded statement, Mr. Biden said that Israel had not done enough to protect civilians and noted that the deaths were not a “stand-alone incident.” He said the conflict “has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed.”

The president’s blunt criticism of an ally highlighted his growing impatience with Israel’s conduct of the war and increasing tensions with its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the death toll in Gaza has climbed, according to Gazan health authorities, past 32,000.Mr. Biden is scheduled to speak with Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday, according to a senior administration official. That official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Mr. Biden’s anger and frustration had hit a peak in recent weeks.

David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, called the workers’ deaths “completely unacceptable,” saying in a statement that “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure the safety of aid workers.”

The World Central Kitchen workers — a Palestinian, an Australian, a Pole, three Britons and a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen — were traveling in clearly marked cars after leaving a warehouse in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, when their convoy came under fire late Monday, the organization said in a statement. The Israeli military had been informed of the workers’ movements, the charity said.

The bodies of the six foreigners were driven to Egypt on Wednesday and from there were to be flown to their home countries.

The killings drew condemnation from countries around the world, including those of the people killed, and prompted aid agencies to reassess their operations in Gaza. World Central Kitchen, which was founded by the renowned chef José Andrés, said on Tuesday that it was suspending its operations in Gaza.

Throughout the war, Palestinians and relief organizations have accused Israel of bombing indiscriminately, heedless of civilian casualties — claims Israel has consistently denied. The killing of aid workers from countries that have backed Israel could add fuel to rising international anger over the way it has conducted the war.

General Halevi said that an independent body would investigate the killings and that the military would learn from the conclusions and share the findings with World Central Kitchen.

“Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza,” General Halevi said. “We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of the W.C.K. We share in the grief of the families, as well as the entire World Central Kitchen organization, from the bottom of our hearts.”

The remarks from General Halevi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on social media that Israel “deeply regrets the tragic incident,” came within 24 hours of the strike.

In December, it took several days for the Israeli military to acknowledge that it had carried out two airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip that health officials in the enclave said had killed dozens of civilians.

Katie Rogers contributed reporting.

— Ben Shpigel ,  Cassandra Vinograd and Erica L. Green

Advertisement

The national security adviser postpones a trip to Saudi Arabia after cracking his rib.

Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for President Biden, has postponed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to discuss the turmoil in the Middle East after an accident that left him with a cracked rib, a National Security Council spokesman said on Wednesday.

Mr. Sullivan had been expected to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, to discuss the push for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which has been stalled since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October.

The trip was to have included Mr. Sullivan and a small delegation of American officials. But John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Mr. Sullivan suffered an accident that left him with a broken rib, so the delegation would not travel to the region as planned.

“Jake was planning to head to the region this week,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. “That trip has been postponed.”

Mr. Kirby did not say what kind of accident caused the injury but added that “it was not caused by anybody.”

“It was not the result of a nefarious act,” he said.

The delay in the visit comes one day after a strike by Israeli forces in Gaza killed seven aid workers for World Central Kitchen who were distributing food in the war-torn area. Israel has said the strike was an accident. Mr. Kirby did not address whether the strike also contributed to Mr. Sullivan’s decision to postpone the visit to Saudi Arabia.

— Michael D. Shear

In a televised show of unity and defiance, Iran and its proxy militias denounce Israel and the U.S.

The leaders of Iran and the militia groups it backs around the Middle East made an unusual televised show of unity and defiance on Wednesday, railing against Israel and the United States, as war rages in the Gaza Strip.

On a joint broadcast, the leaders of a group that calls itself the Axis of Resistance, speaking from different locations, delivered fiery speeches ahead of the upcoming Quds Day, a show of solidarity with Palestinians held each year on the last Friday of Ramadan.

The war between Israel and Hamas gave this year’s iteration a sharper edge than usual. The broadcast also came just days after Israel struck an Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, killing three generals of Iran’s Quds Force and four other Iranian officers in one of the deadliest attacks in the yearslong shadow war between Israel and Iran.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran said that Israel would be punished and made to regret its attack in Damascus. He focused most of his speech on what he called Israel’s demise in world public opinion and said any normalization of ties with the Jewish state — referring to Saudi Arabia — would be akin to “betting on a dead horse.”

Last April, a similar event took place to commemorate Quds Day, with a broader list of speakers representing political and military leaders from across the Arab world and Iran. This year’s event, however, was tightly focused on militant groups supported by Iran that have been fighting Israel on multiple fronts since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel, which they refer to as Al Aqsa Flood.

The speakers, in addition to Mr. Raisi, included Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas; Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah; Ziad al-Nakhaleh, the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which, like Hamas, is active in Gaza; Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, which controls a large part of Yemen; and Hadi al-Ameri, the leader of Hashd al-Shaabi, an Iraqi Shiite militia.

“The Al Aqsa Flood united the Muslim people and this collective unity has manifested with the help of Iran on battlefields in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq,” Mr. Haniyeh said. He said that the United States had aided crimes committed by Israel by supporting it financially, providing it with sophisticated weaponry and vetoing cease-fire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.

Since Oct. 7, Hezbollah has launched daily attacks against Israel after a long lull in fighting, raising fears of a wider regional war, and the Houthis for the first time have launched drones and missiles against Israel and vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting international shipping.

Iran has tried to calibrate its response, applying pressure on Israel while avoiding all-out war. Earlier this year, it made an effort to rein in Iraqi militias , including Hashd al-Shaabi, that had been firing on U.S. bases.

Mr. Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, urged his followers not to “overlook the achievements of the resistance” in six months of battle with Israel.

Mr. al-Ameri focused most of his speech on the resolve of militant groups to force the American military to withdraw from Iraq saying, “we are steadfast and there is no turning back.”

Separate from that broadcast event, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, held a large meeting on Wednesday with government, military and religious leaders of the country, and pledged that Israel would receive “a slap” for killing Iranian officers in Syria. The crowd, fists in the air, chanted back, “Death to Israel.”

— Farnaz Fassihi and Hwaida Saad

The killing of aid workers will not affect U.S. plans to build a pier in Gaza, the State Department said.

The killing by Israel of seven relief workers in the Gaza Strip will not interfere with the American project of building a pier to deliver aid to the embattled enclave, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.

The deaths of the seven workers, from the charity World Central Kitchen on Monday night, prompted the group to halt operations in Gaza, and has spurred other aid groups to curtail or reassess their own efforts, at a time when people there are facing starvation.

“It will not affect our efforts to stand up the pier to deliver aid through sea,” a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, told reporters. “That effort is ongoing.”

With airdrops by several countries supplying only a small fraction of the need, and an insufficient number of deliveries entering Gaza by truck, the Biden administration has ordered the U.S. military to build a pier so that ships could dock off Gaza’s Mediterranean shore and unload supplies in bulk. The coastal waters are too shallow for large vessels, so a long pier is needed.

Israel has taken responsibility for the attack on three World Central Kitchen vehicles, calling it a mistake and vowing to conduct a thorough investigation. But Mr. Miller noted that the deaths of the aid workers were not isolated. More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza during nearly six months of war, most of them local Palestinian employees of relief groups.

World Central Kitchen has said it had complied with the travel procedures laid out by the Israeli authorities, communicating with them where its convoy would be going on Monday and when.

Mr. Miller said the Biden administration has repeatedly told Israel that it must do better in working with aid groups.

“They don’t have to wait for the outcome of this investigation to do it,” he said. “They need to put in place better de-confliction and better coordination measures to protect humanitarian workers and to protect all the civilians on the ground.”

José Andrés, the Spanish chef who founded World Central Kitchen, spoke to news organizations on Wednesday, voicing anger and grief. The Israeli strike, he told Reuters , targeted his colleagues “systematically, car by car.”

He told Channel 12 in Israel , “I believe, obviously, Israel has all the right to defend their people, but defending your people is not killing everybody else around.”

Fears grow that an Israeli strike in Syria could spur retaliatory attacks.

Current and former U.S. officials expressed fears on Tuesday that Israel’s airstrike on an Iranian embassy compound in Syria could escalate hostilities in the region and prompt retaliatory strikes against Israel and its American ally.

The officials said the attack , which killed three generals in Iran’s Quds Force and four other officers on Monday, had dealt a serious blow to the force, the external military and intelligence service of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Ralph Goff, a former senior C.I.A. official who served in the Middle East, called Israel’s strike “incredibly reckless.”

“It will only result in escalation by Iran and its proxies, which is very dangerous” to American troops in the region who could be targeted in retaliatory strikes by Tehran’s proxies, Mr. Goff said.

Indeed, after the Israeli strike in Damascus, Syria’s capital, American troops based in southeastern Syria knocked down an attack drone, a Defense Department official said. It was unclear if the drone was aimed at the U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. If it were, it would be the first attack by Iran-backed militias against American troops in Iraq or Syria in nearly two months. No injuries or damage were reported.

The official said there had been no further attacks overnight, but that Pentagon officials were monitoring the situation closely.

Mr. Goff said the deadly strike in Syria fit Israel’s “longer-term strategy of degrading” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force unit, and “punishing them for ongoing plots to kill or kidnap Israeli Jews around the world.”

In the yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel , Syria has been key terrain for Israel as it works to degrade Iran’s ability to move advanced weaponry by land and air closer to Israel’s borders.

“The strike yesterday is a significant escalation and risks tipping an already volatile, unstable region into full-scale war,” said Dana Stroul, formerly the Pentagon’s top Middle East policy official who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “This is the Israeli version of the U.S. strike on Qassim Suleimani,” she said, referring to the former longtime leader of the Quds Force, who was killed by an American drone strike near the Baghdad airport in 2020.

Ms. Stroul said assessing the post-Suleimani era is instructive because the command and control of the Quds Force was degraded.

“We have seen Iran-backed militia groups take decisions into their own hands under the leadership of Qaani, as well the rise of rival power centers in Iran,” Ms. Stroul said, referring to Gen. Ismail Qaani, the current Quds Force commander. “This has led to a more diffuse, but not less lethal, Quds Force-led network abroad. But Iran’s core strategy never changed. Tehran will continue to invest in its terrorist network abroad in order to keep the fight away from its own borders.”

More broadly, Ms. Stroul said, the message is that Islamic Revolutionary Guards “operatives and leaders are not safe anywhere.”

She continued: “It should have strategic effect on how the Quds Force operates abroad and should erode any semblance of invincibility or deniability that this terrorist organization only brings instability and violence to the places it seeks to operate.”

Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., a retired four-star general and former leader of the Pentagon’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said the deaths of the senior Quds Force officers was “a blow.”

“Their long-term, carefully developed relationships will be lost,” he said.

Ms. Stroul said the strike would further inflame Tehran. “The question is, will Iran respond in a manner that de-escalates the situation, or will it climb further up the escalation ladder?” she said.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, sought on Tuesday to tamp down fears of escalation, saying that the United States had no involvement in the airstrike and did not know about it ahead of time.

Ms. Singh said at a news conference that the message had also been conveyed directly to Iran. “Tensions being high in the region, we wanted to make it very clear in private channels that the U.S. had no involvement in the strike in Damascus.”

General McKenzie said he expected Iran would retaliate in some way, but he downplayed fears of a major escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran.

“Iran’s options to hit Israel are very, very limited,” General McKenzie said. “And the Israelis aren’t going to back down.”

— Eric Schmitt

Israel’s military says U.N. observers in Lebanon were wounded by a buried explosive device.

A buried explosive device was the source of a blast that injured U.N. military observers in Lebanon over the weekend as they were patrolling the border with Israel, Israel’s military said Wednesday.

Three observers and a Lebanese translator were wounded in the blast , on Saturday morning near the town of Rmeish. Two senior Lebanese security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, had attributed the blast to Israel, without providing evidence. The Israeli military denied striking in the area.

In a statement on social media, a spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said that the blast was caused “by an explosive previously installed there by Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia and political movement, did not immediately comment on the claim. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and other militant groups have been trading fire with Israeli forces across the border for months.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, had not completed its investigation into the incident, Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the mission, said, but a preliminary report showed that “the explosion was not caused by direct or indirect fire.” He did not provide further details.

UNIFIL said that the wounded peacekeepers were an Australian, a Norwegian and a Chilean.

The peacekeeping mission was established to observe Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in the late 1970s. Since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, it has monitored and reported on violations of the subsequent cross-border truce.

Euan Ward contributed reporting.

In a U.N. meeting, U.S., Britain and France do not join the condemnation of an Israeli strike in Syria.

In an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, the majority of diplomats condemned Israel, saying that it had violated international laws and breached the U.N. charter that protects diplomatic premises when it bombed an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.

The United States, France and Britain did not condemn Israel, but they joined other nations in reiterating that diplomatic structures should be considered off limits during wartime and that the airstrikes, on Monday in Damascus, the Syrian capital, had risked plunging the Middle East into further instability.

“Any miscalculation could lead to broader conflict in an already volatile region, with devastating consequences for civilians who are already seeing unprecedented suffering,” Khaled Khiari, the U.N. assistant secretary general, told the Council.

Russia, a close ally of Iran, had called for the meeting to discuss Israel’s attack, after Iran’s mission to the U.N. submitted a letter to the world body arguing that the airstrikes had violated international law. The attacks killed seven members of Iran’s Quds forces, including three generals.

Iran and Syria both attended the meeting and addressed the Council. Israel, which did not attend the meeting, has said that the target was not a diplomatic one because it had been used frequently by Iran’s military commanders and personnel in Syria.

Robert A. Wood, the U.S. representative at the meeting, told the Council that Washington had communicated to Iran that it was not involved in the attack and had no prior knowledge of it. Mr. Wood did not directly criticize Israel, saying instead that the United States was concerned about Iran and its proxy militia’s use of Syrian territory to attack Israeli targets and American bases.

“Any confirmed attack on property that was in fact a diplomatic facility would be of concern to the United States,” Mr. Wood said. “Diplomatic missions and their property, as well as official diplomatic residents, must be protected even in and especially in terms of armed conflict.”

Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, said his country was extremely concerned by what he called Israel’s disregard of international rules, and described the attacks as “reckless actions.” Mr. Nebenzya also lashed out at the United States, Britain and France for their “verbal gymnastics” in applying double standards by refusing to directly criticize Israel.

“If it was your embassy that was attacked or your consulate in the region, would you respond in the same way?” Mr. Nebenzya said. “This is your rules-based order in all its glory.”

Geng Shuang, China’s deputy ambassador to the U.N, said Israel’s attack was “of an extremely vicious nature” and violated the sovereignty of both Syria and Iran. China is a key economic partner for Iran and helps the government stay afloat financially by buying its embargoed oil at a discount price.

Iran’s deputy ambassador to the U.N., Zahra Ershadi, said Iran had so far exercised “considerable restraint” but that there was a limit to its patience. Ms. Ershadi called for the Council to hold Israel accountable and take actions against it.

Syria’s ambassador to the U.N., Koussay Aldahhak, said the Iranian diplomatic compound was in a densely populated civilian area in Damascus and near buildings that house diplomatic missions, banks, other international agencies, such as the World Food Program, a private hospital and faculty of Damascus University.

“This vital area is crossed by thousands of civilians on daily basis,” Mr. Aldahhak said. “Some of those civilians have suffered severe injuries.”

— Farnaz Fassihi

What we know about the Israeli strike that killed 7 aid workers.

Seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen were killed in the Gaza Strip when their convoy came under fire on Monday night, according to the aid organization and Gazan health officials.

The disaster relief organization, founded by the Spanish chef José Andrés, said the convoy was hit in an Israeli strike. In a statement following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel referred to a “tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people.” He said Israel was in touch with foreign governments over the episode.

Here’s what we know.

The convoy of three vehicles had just left a food warehouse.

The World Central Kitchen staff members were leaving a warehouse in Deir al Balah, a city in the central Gaza Strip, when their convoy — two armored cars and a third vehicle — came under fire late Monday, the organization said in a statement.

The Israeli military had been informed of the aid workers’ movements, the charity said. Aid workers had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by sea at the warehouse, according to the group.

Videos and photos verified by The New York Times suggest the convoy was hit multiple times. The imagery shows three destroyed white vehicles, with the northernmost and southernmost vehicles nearly a mile and a half apart.

The World Central Kitchen logo could be seen on items inside the charred interiors of the northernmost and southernmost cars. The car in the middle was left with a gaping hole in its roof, which was clearly marked with the group’s logo. All three vehicles, though far apart from each other, were on or near the Al-Rashid coastal road.

It remained unclear on Tuesday morning what sort of munition struck the cars and whether those explosives were launched from the ground, a warplane or a drone.

Six foreign citizens and a Palestinian were killed.

World Central Kitchen said one of those killed was a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, while the others were from Australia, Britain, Gaza and Poland. In a post with the victims’ names and ages on the group’s website , its chief executive, Erin Gore, said “We are reeling from our loss.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia identified one of the victims as Zomi Frankcom, an Australian citizen and a senior manager at World Central Kitchen. “The tributes flowing for Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom tell the story of a life dedicated to the service of others, including her fellow Australians during natural disasters,” Penny Wong, the country’s foreign minister, said on social media .

Damian Sobol, an aid worker from the southeastern Polish city of Przemysl, died in the attack, according to the city’s mayor, Wojciech Bakun. “There are no words to describe what people who knew this fantastic guy feel at this moment,” he said in a post on social media.

David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, said on social media that three of the aid workers who were killed were British citizens. The BBC reported their names: John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby. Local British media outlets described Mr. Chapman and Mr. Henderson as former Royal Marines who later turned to volunteer work.

Jacob Flickinger, who also died in the attack, was a 33-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Canada, according to the World Central Kitchen, and worked on the group’s relief team.

Palestinian medics retrieved the bodies of the seven victims and took them to a hospital in Deir al Balah, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The bodies of the foreigners were to be taken out of Gaza into Egypt, the group said.

Saif Abu Taha, a 25-year-old Gazan working as a driver and translator for World Central Kitchen, also died in the attack. Mr. Abu Taha was an enterprising young man who worked in his father’s business and spoke good English, his brother Shadi said.

Mr. Abu Taha and other World Central Kitchen workers were thrilled to have the opportunity to unload the desperately needed food aid. “They were so excited, like they were going to a wedding,” his brother said. It was the last time he saw him.

Mr. Cameron said on social media that “it is essential that humanitarian workers are protected and able to carry out their work.” He called on Israel “to immediately investigate and provide a full, transparent explanation of what happened.”

At least 196 aid workers were killed in Gaza and the West Bank between October 2023 and late March, according to Jamie McGoldrick, a senior U.N. relief official. “This is not an isolated incident,” he said, later adding: “There is no safe place left in Gaza.”

The prime minister appeared to take responsibility for the ‘unintentional’ attack.

In a video statement on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel referred to a “tragic case of our forces unintentionally harming innocent people in the Gaza Strip.” Mr. Netanyahu did not name World Central Kitchen in his remarks.

But an Israeli official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the strike was still under investigation, clarified that the prime minister was referring to the strike.

“It happens in war, we are fully examining this, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal investigation, said the military had concluded it was responsible for the strike on the convoy. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, is expected to review findings of an initial inquiry into the incident on Tuesday evening, the official said.

A spokesman for Israel’s military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the investigation had been referred to the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, a military body tasked with investigating accusations and looking into the circumstances behind battlefield episodes. “We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further,” he said. “This will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again.”

The Israeli military said the mechanism was an “independent, professional and expert body.” Human rights groups have generally been critical of the Israeli military’s ability to transparently investigate itself, charging that inquiries are often long and rarely lead to indictments.

The World Central Kitchen aid ship is headed back to Cyprus.

At the time of the strike, workers had unloaded 100 tons of aid from the Jennifer, a World Central Kitchen vessel that had left the Cypriot port of Larnaca last weekend and arrived in Gaza on Monday. Another 240 tons were to be unloaded on Tuesday, according to Theodoros Gotsis, a spokesman for the Cypriot foreign ministry.

Mr. Gotsis said that the Jennifer instead left Gaza to sail back to Larnaca on Tuesday. He added that several more tons of aid were waiting at warehouses in Larnaca, but that it was not clear when and whether a mission to deliver them would take place.

Patrick Kingsley , Rawan Sheikh Ahmad , Gabby Sobelman , Matina Stevis-Gridneff , Lauren Leatherby , Nader Ibrahim and Kim Severson contributed reporting to this article.

— Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman

The 7 aid workers who were killed were known for their passion for helping others.

To those who knew them, the World Central Kitchen workers who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Monday were described as devoted humanitarians who would do anything they could to help those in need.

Six of them came from around the world to help deliver and distribute food throughout the enclave, joining the dozens of Gazans already dedicated to relief work. One was a local Palestinian who was excited about having a job that involved helping others. They had just left a food warehouse in Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza, when Israeli airstrikes hit their convoy, despite the World Central Kitchen coordinating with the Israeli military. All seven of them were killed.

They are the latest casualties in the growing toll of aid workers killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, and they are among more than a dozen workers who have been killed while doing their jobs.

Gaza has been the deadliest place for aid workers since the Oct. 7 attacks. According to the Aid Worker Security Database , a compilation of data on attacks funded by the United States Agency for International Development, 203 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war started. All were Palestinian, except for six of the World Central Kitchen workers most recently killed, who were citizens of Australia, the United States, Canada, Poland and Britain. As of Monday, 176 workers from UNRWA, the U.N. agency dedicated to Palestinians, have been killed, according to the group.

Aid worker deaths since 1997

In Gaza and West Bank

In other countries and territories

All 161 deaths of Palestinian aid

workers in 2023 were after Oct. 7

After Oct. 7, 161 aid workers were killed in Gaza in the last weeks of 2023. That total is larger than all aid worker deaths worldwide in every year since 1997, when the aid worker database started collecting figures.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel “deeply regrets” the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, a rare acknowledgment of an attack that killed aid workers, and the Israeli military said it was investigating the incident. Humanitarian personnel are protected by international law.

Saif Abu Taha, the sole Palestinian traveling with the convoy, had volunteered with World Central Kitchen when it set up operations in Gaza, said his older brother Shadi; the group said it later hired him. At 25, Saif was an enterprising young man who “wanted to do something for others,” his brother said, adding that he worked in their father’s business and spoke good English.

Shadi recalled seeing his brother depart on Monday for work with other members of the World Central Kitchen team. The workers “were so excited, like they were going to a wedding,” he said, intending to go to the jetty in northern Gaza and unload the desperately needed food aid.

He never saw his brother again, he said.

Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43, who was known as Zomi, was the Australian worker who was killed on Monday. She began volunteering for the World Central Kitchen in 2018 and was hired the next year, according to her former partner, Josh Phelps.

Their last text exchange was on Sunday, just before she and the aid convoy set out from central Gaza. He sent her some photos from their time together delivering food on a reservation in South Dakota. She sent back a heart emoji.

A day later, he found out that she had been killed.

“Anywhere she needed to go, she was willing to go,” he said. “She was following her dreams to make a life around the world.”

Damian Sobol of Poland was described as “the Michael Jordan of humanitarian work” by a former colleague, Noah Sims, a chef in North Georgia who has been at the site of several World Central Kitchen disaster relief efforts.

They first met while feeding refugees in the southeastern Polish city of Przemysl, Mr. Sobol’s hometown and where he had been studying hospitality.

“Anything I ever needed, Damian could get it done,” Mr. Sims said.

According to the World Central Kitchen, three British citizens were also killed in the attack: John Chapman, 57; James Henderson, 33; and James Kirby, 47. All three of the men were part of the organization’s security team. Local British media outlets described Mr. Chapman and Mr. Henderson as former Royal Marines who later turned to volunteer work.

In a statement, Mr. Chapman’s family called him an “incredible father, husband, son and brother.”

“He was loved by many and will forever be a hero,” it said.

The seventh worker, Jacob Flickinger, was a 33-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Canada, according to the World Central Kitchen, and worked on the group’s relief team.

Kim Severson and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article misstated the age of Saif Abu Taha, one of the World Central Kitchen workers who was killed on Monday. He was 25, not 26.

How we handle corrections

— Gaya Gupta

A protest turns into a ‘riot’ outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home, the police say.

The Israeli police clashed with antigovernment protesters outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem overnight, on the third day of demonstrations calling for early elections and his ouster.

The chaotic scenes drew an appeal for calm and unity from Mr. Netanyahu’s chief rival, Benny Gantz, on Wednesday morning.

“We must not accept violence from any side, we must not accept ignoring police instructions and breaking barriers as we saw last night in Jerusalem,” he wrote on X . “A protest is legitimate, the pain is also understandable, but the law and the rules of the game must be respected.”

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Jerusalem since Sunday, when a planned four-day antigovernment protest began outside Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset. Many protesters have camped out in tents outside the Knesset, where the demonstrations have swelled each evening.

The protest and an authorized march started peacefully on Tuesday night but then turned into what the Israeli police force called an unbridled “riot.” It said in a statement that hundreds of people had tried to break through barriers near Mr. Netanyahu’s house but were blocked by police officers.

Dozens of people caused disorder in the street afterward, the police said, forcing officers to deploy riot control measures. Five people were arrested and one officer was injured in the melee, the police force added.

Photographs of the scene showed that the police used water cannons to disperse protesters, many of whom carried Israeli flags.

There was no immediate comment about the latest protest from Mr. Netanyahu, who earlier on Tuesday was released from the hospital where he had been recovering from surgery to treat a hernia.

Many of the protesters accuse Mr. Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over the broader interests of the Israeli people and hold him responsible for his government’s failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas. He also has been accused of not doing enough to bring home the hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

Posters bearing the names and faces of the hostages have been ever-present at the protests, along with signs and banners reading “Bring Them Home.”

Many Israelis have refrained from protesting the government during the war. While this week’s protests have been some of the most significant demonstrations against Mr. Netanyahu’s government since the war began, the crowds have appeared smaller than those at the demonstrations last year at the peak of a wave of antigovernment protests, which the prime minister’s coalition survived.

Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.

— Cassandra Vinograd reporting from Jerusalem

Starting over in France: How some Ukrainian families are trying to embrace their new lives

For many Ukrainians and Russians who’ve fled their homes since the war started, returning is not an option. So, they’re beginning again in new places and confronting new challenges. As part of our ongoing series on starting over, we visit Cazilhac, a tiny village in southwest France, where a humanitarian bus brought dozens of Ukrainian families to safety around a year ago. Today, just three of them remain.

• By Gerry Hadden

The Toftul children with their mother, Alona Toftul in Cazilhac, France.

For Alona Toftul and her family, most of what remains of their old life on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, is saved on her phone.

She scrolled through some old videos of her children — Agata, 14, in piano class, Arkhip, 11, in their kitchen with his guitar, his fingers barely reaching the highest strings.

“When we fled, we didn’t bring Arkhip’s guitar,” she said. “It was hardly priority luggage. We left with what we could carry in small backpacks.”

The Toftuls’ house was just four miles from the village of Bucha, where Russian soldiers are accused of torturing and massacring civilians at the war’s outset.

The Toftuls are Ukrainian, but ethnic Russians, so Russian is their first language. They don’t talk about what they saw at the outset of the war, but Andrei Toftul — Alona Toftul’s husband — said they were lucky that they left when they did. And he’s emphatic on one point: They’re never going back.

“They stole everything, and even booby-trapped some homes with mines.” Andrei Toftul, Ukrainian refugee in France

“Our house is still standing, but there’s nothing in it. All of the houses were abandoned when the Russians came in,” he said. “They stole everything, and even booby-trapped some homes with mines.”

Millions of Ukrainians fled their country after Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. While many have returned, some can’t or won’t. They’re starting over in new places and confronting new challenges.

The Toftuls ended up in Cazilhac, France, which has a population below 2,000 people.

When the war broke out, Toni Carvajal, the mayor of the village, asked locals to open up their homes to refugees.

“I said to the town council, ‘we ought to do our share,’” Carvajal said. “I started collecting clothes, medicine and food from surrounding villages. And I already had a license to drive a bus.”

So, Carvajal recruited a nurse, his friend Jean-Francois Carrasco and others, then drove a bus for two days to Poland in March of last year. They pulled in just as the Toftuls, and hundreds of other refugees, were walking across the border from Ukraine, desperate and dazed.

“We brought back 32 families with us,” Carvajal said with a hint of pride.

Among them was a single mother, Olena Khairulina, and her teenage son. 

“War is scary, but I was especially concerned for my son,” Khairulina said. “And as a young mother, well, we all know what’s been happening to young women at the hands of the Russians.”

Khairulina was alluding to rape as a weapon of war in Russian-occupied areas. The United Nations has documented dozens of cases of sexual attacks by Russian soldiers through January. Human rights nongovernmental organizations have actually put the number much higher.

Khairulina comes from a small village right next to one city where atrocities are a daily event: Bakhmut, a city that Russia’s been trying to take for months, even at the cost of tens of thousands of its soldiers. 

She’s also now in a relationship with Carrasco, the mayor’s friend, who she met during his trip to Poland.

“She’s getting better and better each day,” he said about her language skills.

Khairulina seems happy with the here-and-now. But she still has plenty to worry about. Her son just returned to Ukraine, against her wishes. She said that he wanted to finish high school in his own language — Russian — before returning to France for good.

“It’s not OK,” she said, starting to cry. “I am scared for my boy.”

The Toftul family is divided as well. And they’re not alone. Of the 32 families that arrived in Cazilhac last year, 29 of them have already returned home, despite the risks.

Andrei Toftul found a job as a handyman for the town — painting, fixing plumbing and other odd jobs — while his wife learned how to do manicures.

And the Toftul children are starting to adapt to their new life.

They are safe now, said Alona Toftul. And they no longer duck at the sound of airplanes.

She added that her next goal is to make life feel as normal as possible, saying she plans to sign them up for classes at the local music school, even if they don’t have their own instruments with them from home.

But Andrei Toftul’s parents refuse to leave their home country, despite the ongoing fighting.

“My father wants to die in his country,” Andrei Toftul said. “I understand him. He’s worked hard his whole life for what he has. He can’t just leave it all behind.”

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