Page 12 - Eagleye Spring 2020

Ex FOUGASSE REFLECT
By Spr Nathan Keogh, 42 Engr Regt (Geo)
On Monday 11th November, 40 personnel from 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) embarked on a Battlefield Study, Ex FOUGASSE REFLECT 19 to France. The aim of the Battlefield study was to develop the understanding of the Normandy Campaign and to encourage participants to critically analyse past military operations and to reflect on the sacrifice of those who fought during the campaign.
Leaving RAF Wyton at 1015, we arrived at Southwick House at the RMP College to see the D-Day Map room. The map room contains a large overview map and was used in the months leading up to D-Day. The house became the headquarters of the main Allied commanders, including Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower, Naval Commander-in-Chief Admiral Ramsay and Army Commander-in-Chief General Montgomery. Our second stand was the D-Day museum in Portsmouth. At this stand we gained an overview of the whole Normandy campaign to give background information and to set the context for the upcoming week.
After an overnight ferry to Caen, we arrived at the port and headed straight to Pegasus Bridge. Here, we were given the background to the significance of what happened, and we saw how miraculously close the glider pilots landed to their objective. For our next stand we visited the London Bridge bridging site not far from Pegasus Bridge, then headed to the heavily fortified Merville Battery. The
Charlie 1 Churchill AVRE Graye
New Pegasus Bridge
Bayeux War Cemetery
42 Engr Regt
battery is now a museum and a place of commemoration for those who lost their lives capturing it. We learnt that it was one of the first places to be attacked by Allied forces during D-Day due to the large
miles away, and how the British forces succeeded in capturing this position, despite suffering heavy casualties. Our next stop was
‘Le Grand Bunker’, which has been set-up inside to reimagine what it was like as a German outpost during the D-Day landings. The bunker was full of narrow
guns directed Sword beach only eight
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