Footsteps of WWII · Normandy
Utah Beach Museum, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Museum · 6 Jun 1944
The story
Utah was the westernmost beach, added to the plan so that Cherbourg could be taken quickly. On 6 June 1944 the US 4th Infantry Division landed here; currents carried the first waves well south of their planned sector, onto a stretch that turned out to be less heavily defended. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., with the first wave, decided to bring the follow-up forces in where they had landed. The division got ashore with far lighter losses than at Omaha and linked up with the airborne troops inland. The museum stands on the beach, on the site of a German strongpoint.
What to look for
Displays, models and many vehicles inside and outside, and a hangar housing a B-26 Marauder bomber. Large windows look out on the beach. Outside are monuments, a Sherman tank and the dunes the 4th Division crossed.
Plan your visit
Open daily (Oct–Apr 10:00–18:00, May–Sep 09:30–19:00), except 16 November to 14 December. Adult €10. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Sainte-Mère-Église and the Airborne Museum · 10 km
- La Cambe German war cemetery · 13 km
- Pointe du Hoc · 14 km
- Omaha Beach: Les Braves, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer · 22 km
- Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer · 24 km
- Overlord Museum, Colleville-sur-Mer · 24 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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