The Plage de la Madeleine, universally known today by its codename Utah Beach, is located in the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, 5 km from the town and 15 km from Sainte-Mere-Eglise. It is one of five legendary D-Day landing beaches along with Omaha Beach, Sword Beach, Juno Beach and Gold Beach.
This is where Allied Naval Forces consisting of the 8th Regiment of the 4th division landed under the command of General Eisenhower, at 6:30 am on June 6, 1944 . Utah Beach is located at the western end of the combined area of operations, and includes part of the coast of the Manche department from St Germain de Varreville to the left bank of the Vire estuary.
The landing on Utah Beach was less deadly than OMAHA ("Bloody Omaha") with "only" 197 killed in action and 60 missing.
The first day of the landing at Utah Beach was a complete success during which more than 20,000 American soldiers, 1,720 vehicles and 1,695 tons of supplies arrived on French soil.
On the site today you can visit the Landing Museum established in 1962 to pay tribute to our liberators, as well as several monuments erected in honour of the various units that participated in the Normandy Landings.
