School Visits The battery at Maisy was visited by a number of schools in 2008... some from Manchester, Cardiff, France, Holland and Germany.... the answer was the same from all of them... absolutely fantastic. The kids loved the fact that they were in original German trenches... walking inside clean and well presented original German defensive buildings and all the schools who visited said they would come again. The could run around and they were safe - most of all their teachers also knew they were safe... a great time was had by all and they all commented on how much easier it was to describe the whole German defence of the region after visiting the site. NEW FOR 2009 We have some battle damaged guns and equipment at the side of the car park which can be viewed by visitors - they show graphically the damage caused to equipment in combat. We also have 3 - original WWII German howitzers which have been put back onto the pits giving the whole site a sense of scale. It makes Maisy the only Normandy site to have original German field howitzers returned into position and visible today. The cannons at Longues sur Mare being the next similar site with its naval cannons in place. Not only does this add to the whole Maisy experience but, it will be a graphic reminder of the scale of the weapons in use on D-day. These guns could propell a shell 10 miles with ease and there is no better way of getting the point across to a group of school children than having them dwarfed by a huge 5 ton howitzer. Additionally to the howitzers arriving on the site - we will be hopefully building a museum with visitors centre and shop this coming year. The museum will display many of the original WWII items discovered during the digging out of the site - as well as many of the German and US Ranger items recovered locally. Everything from German Howitzer wheels taken by a local farmer after the battle to make a trailer - to an original WWII Ranger worn invasion vest... so rare because they were only worn on D-day and then disguarded. Not only will the children be able to pick up Rangers related souvenirs - from caps to pencils, but also informative historical books and information relating to the region. We are also hoping to have a DVD ready with interviews with the surviving Ranger veterans who in their own words will describe their experiences fighting to get off Omaha Beach, along to Pointe du Hoc and then into Maisy Battery. So... rather than us tell you all about it... here is a letter received after a school visited... Letters Received - Click on Links below BUSHY HILL JUNIOR SCHOOL

 

Route des Perruques - Maisy, Grandcamp-Maisy, 14450 Calvados. Normandy - Telephone (0033) 67 80 45 6 25