Normandy 1944
Band of Brothers sites in Normandy
In the first hours of 6 June 1944, Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, jumped into Normandy behind Utah Beach. Scattered in the dark, the men regrouped near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, and that morning Lieutenant Richard Winters led a small group against the German guns at Brécourt Manor.
Six days later the company fought for Carentan and then held the line south-west of the town when German forces counterattacked at Bloody Gulch. This is the company later made famous by Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers and the television series based on it. Below are the places from our free Normandy guide around the drop zones, Utah Beach and Carentan.
Utah Beach & the drop zonesCarentan & the causeways
Utah Beach & the drop zones
2nd Battalion 506th CP — Le Grand Chemin
Easy Company · allow 20 min
In this area Winters reached the battalion CP, was drawn into the leadership vacuum and received the mission that led to Brécourt. Interpretive reconstruction, not a marked footprint.
Airborne Museum, Sainte-Mère-Église
Museum · allow 2 h
Reconstruct what happened before any Easy man touched French soil: overloaded C-47s, darkness, flak, jump lights, static lines and landing alone. Aircraft, glider, uniforms and equipment make it physical.
Azeville Battery
Battery · German coastal artillery · allow 1 h
Four casemates linked by tunnels, painted to look like houses; fired on Utah and held out until 9 June.
Brécourt Manor battery area
Easy Company · allow 45 min
Winters led a small force against four gun positions: suppressive fire, movement by small groups, into the trench, guns taken in sequence.
Crisbecq (Marcouf) Battery
Battery · German coastal artillery · allow 1 h
Heavy 210 mm naval battery that dueled with the fleet off Utah and was not taken until 12 June. Shows the scale of gun the Brécourt battery was a small cousin of.
Easy Company / 506th Brécourt Memorial
Memorial · public viewpoint · allow 30 min
The practical public viewpoint for the Brécourt story. Orient toward the private battery area; the guns were believed to be firing toward Utah Beach.
La Fière Bridge & Causeway
82nd Airborne battlefield · allow 1 h
Not an Easy action but indispensable context: control of the Merderet crossings produced some of the fiercest airborne fighting of the invasion. The causeway shows how flooded lowlands turned a road into a bottleneck.
Landing/scatter area — Sticks 68–71 sector
Easy Company · allow 20 min
A dispersion lesson, not four exact landing sites. Men landed across a broad area and assembled in improvised groups; the company that fought on 6 June was not the one that boarded in England.
Landing/scatter area — Winters
Easy Company · allow 20 min
Winters's probable landing sector west of town, not a surveyed touchdown point. He came down separated from his company and without his weapon.
Lt. Thomas Meehan / Stick 66 C-47 Memorial
Memorial · Easy Company · allow 30 min
C-47 42-93095, carrying Lt. Meehan, 1st Sgt. Evans and 15 other Easy paratroopers, was hit by flak and crashed near Beuzeville-au-Plain. All five aircrew and 17 paratroopers were killed.
Ravenoville / Marmion Farm area
Easy Company · allow 30 min
Associated with a separated Easy group — Guth, Talbert, 'Smokey' Gordon and Tipper. Small groups formed from whoever was nearby, fought local actions and moved toward friendly objectives.
Richard D. Winters Leadership Monument
Memorial · allow 20 min
Winters stands for the junior officers who led on D-Day. Not a combat position, but its placement on the road to Utah makes it an effective pause before Brécourt.
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Town · 506th sector · allow 45 min
The heart of the 506th's D-Day sector, connecting the landings, the routes to Utah and the Brécourt action. From here the scattered story converges.
Sainte-Mère-Église
Town · 82nd / dispersion context · allow 45 min
Begin in the square before the museum. The church and compact street plan make this one of Normandy's strongest orientation points for the airborne landings.
Utah Beach Landing Museum
Museum · allow 1 h 45 min
The other half of the D-Day story: while the airborne secured exits inland, troops and vehicles came through a vulnerable beachhead. Landing craft, vehicles and a B-26 bomber.
Utah Beach
Beach · allow 45 min
Finish on the sand. The westernmost landing beach, whose success depended on forces inland. Easy's Normandy campaign also ended here — it embarked from this beach on 10–11 July.
Carentan & the causeways
Angoville-au-Plain church
allow 30 min
Easy's reserve sector 7–10 June. The church became an airborne aid station where two 101st medics, Wright and Moore, treated wounded of both sides; the bloodstained pews survive.
Bloody Gulch / Hill 30 sector
Easy Company · allow 45 min
On 13 June German forces counterattacked south-west of Carentan. The 506th held until armour arrived. For Easy a test of holding ground, not seizing it. The exact hedgerow line is disputed.
Carentan
Town · allow 1 h
The prize between the Utah and Omaha lodgements. Easy entered on the Route d'Auvers / Rue Holgate axis on 12 June and fought toward the railway, where Winters was wounded; the company was then billeted here in reserve 13–19 June.
Dead Man's Corner / D-Day Experience
Museum · allow 1 h 30 min
The historic crossroads and museum interpret the fighting round Saint-Côme-du-Mont and the approach to Carentan. Material from Meehan's crashed C-47 has been displayed here. Easy passed this corner on the evening of 11 June.
Douve / Dead Man's Corner sector
Terrain · allow 20 min
Waterways, marshes, bridges and raised roads dictated movement. Possession of a junction or causeway mattered far beyond its size on a map.
Musée Mémorial de Bloody Gulch
Museum, Méautis · allow 1 h 15 min
The fighting after Carentan — the 13 June counterattack Easy helped repel, told from the ground where it happened.
Normandy Victory Museum
Museum, Catz · allow 1 h 30 min
Hedgerow fighting and the daily life of soldiers and civilians — the world Easy lived in from 13 to 28 June.
Purple Heart Lane / Carentan causeway
101st context · allow 30 min
The causeway toward Carentan became notorious: troops advancing along it were exposed with no room to manoeuvre. Chiefly a 502nd PIR story, but it is the battlefield Easy moved into.
St-Côme-du-Mont
506th / 101st context · allow 30 min
The 101st pushed through here toward Carentan; the 506th took the village on 8 June while Easy was in reserve. Hedgerows and narrow roads fragmented movement.
Vierville (Cotentin)
allow 20 min
On 7 June Easy led the 2nd Battalion column here on point and met German paratroopers; the village was cleared with support from other 506th elements and armour.
Questions
How many places are there to visit?
This page lists 26 places from the free Easy Company in Normandy guide, each with its story, what you can see today, how to visit and GPS directions.
How much time do I need?
Allowing the suggested time at each place adds up to about 21 hours on site, plus driving between them. Plan on about 5 days to see everything, or pick the places that matter most to you. The guide's tour planner puts any selection in driving order.
Do I need to book?
None of these places needs booking, as far as official sources say. For 6 places we checked opening times and prices on official websites in September 2026; open each place to see them. Opening times change, so check before you travel.
Can I visit every site?
Some places, especially open fields, are on private land: view them from the road or a public path. Cemeteries and memorials are places of remembrance first.
Is the guide free, and does it work without signal?
Yes. The Easy Company in Normandy guide is free and works on your phone with no signal once it has been opened, with maps, stories and a tour planner. There is nothing to install from an app store.
More trip ideas
- D-Day sites in NormandyThe five beaches, batteries, museums
- Band of Brothers sites in HollandSon, Eindhoven, Hell's Highway, the Island
- Bastogne & Battle of the Bulge sites to visitBois Jacques foxholes, Foy, Bastogne
- Band of Brothers sites in Germany & AustriaLandsberg, Berchtesgaden, the Eagle's Nest
- Spanish Civil War sites in MadridCiudad Universitaria, Jarama, Brunete
- Battle of the Ebro & Catalonia sitesGandesa, Corbera, Barcelona shelters
All 44 sites in Normandy 1944 →
Easy Company in Normandy
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