D-Day: Commonwealth Sectors

45. Sherman Tank

Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie

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At the Allies Quay there sits a recovered Sherman tank, this was one of the waterborne DD Tanks that was swamped by the rough seas on D-Day and tragically sank. The tank was discovered just off the shoreline when a fishing traveller snagged its nets and it was finally recovered in 1971 and restored. Leo Gariepy of the 1st Canadian Hussars who commanded a similar tank on D-Day, made it ashore, took on the German defences and destroyed the Coursuelles Town Hall and returned to the area after the war. Upon finding the tank he made it his personal aim to raise the Sherman and in 1979 it was unveiled on the corner of the street that bears his name, Rue Leo Gariepy. Across the road there is a 50mm gun that shows signs of damage during the battle for Courseulles-sur-Mar, and from the Bar-de-la-Mer on the seafront you can get an idea of what the German troops, based in the strong point that was situated here, could see of the battlefield as the landing craft approached the beaches.