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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2018 :: RMTnews 22 Not many present-day holidaymakers would know that a little corner of North Devon played a key role in the build up to D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on June 6 1944 which began the final march against Nazism in Europe. The beaches around Braunton, Woolacombe and Croyde Bay were used as training grounds for the invasion because of their similarity to those on the French coast, in particular those code- named Utah and Omaha, where US assault troops would land. The sand quality, beach gradient and tidal range were similar. As a result the US Assault Training Centre was established and more than 100,000 US servicemen would practice and drill on the beaches as well as amid the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows. The training centre was the only one of its kind in wartime Britain where soldiers learned, trained and practiced newly developed amphibious assault tactics to lead the assault across the beaches of Normandy on D- Day also known as Operation Neptune. Its formation came about through sheer necessity, following a war planning oversight which had assumed troops destined to lead the invasion of Europe would arrive in Britain already trained for their task. Realisation that this was not the case created a tense situation that had to be urgently rectified as the date for the invasion was only a few months away. This important piece of local history has been largely hidden for many years save for a little museum and local roads named after important Normandy sites such as Caen, the city that bore the brunt of the battles that raged following the invasion during Operation Overlord. But next month is the 75th anniversary of the creation of the US Assault Training Centre in the area which took in what is today Unison’s Croyde Bay holiday resort. To mark the event on Saturday June 2 2018 there will be a huge World War Two Vehicle rally at Saunton Sands. Unison Croyde Bay manager Simon Willis became interested in the subject when recent renovations uncovered artefacts left by US troops all those years ago. He donated the objects such as letters and ration tins to the local museum in Braunton which is a mine of information of a time when steam trains brought in tens of thousands of US troops to be trained in landing tactics. “Growing up around Braunton many local kids thought that Caen Road was just a misspelt version of Cane. “However today there is growing interest in the history of the area particularly the preparations for D-Day which changed the course of history. “Bunkers and other structures that were used for training at that time still dot the landscape. “The local beauty spot Baggy Point was even used as a training ground for the assault of the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc,” he said. Pointe du Hoc was the highest point between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, the two Normandy beaches that saw the most fighting. The Germans had fortified the area with bunkers and gun pits. On D-Day the US Army Ranger Assault Group, trained at Croyde Bay, REMEMBERING D-DAY IN NORTH DEVON North Devon played a pivotal role in the D-Day landings during the fight against fascism Braunton Burrows 1943