Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is a clifftop headland of grey limestone projecting into the English Channel between Utah and Omaha beaches, Calvados, and is the most physically preserved battlefield of the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. At 06:30 on D-Day, 225 US Army Rangers from the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled the 30-metre cliffs under German fire using rope ladders and grappling hooks, tasked with neutralising a battery of 155mm German guns believed to command the approaches to both adjacent beaches. The Rangers found the gun emplacements empty — the artillery had been moved inland — but located and destroyed the guns in an orchard some 500 metres from the cliff. After seizing the point, the Rangers held it against repeated German counter-attacks for two days until relieved, sustaining over 50 percent casualties. The site was transferred to the United States by France in 1979 and is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Unlike many D-Day sites, Pointe du Hoc has been preserved as close to its 1944 state as possible, with no clearance or landscaping of the battlefield. The German Atlantic Wall fortifications — command post, observation post, gun casemates, ammunition stores, and personnel shelters — are intact and open for exploration at ground level and underground. The meadow above the cliff is pitted with over 100 shell and bomb craters from the pre-invasion bombardment, grass-covered but unlevelled. A granite Rangers memorial obelisk stands on top of the command post bunker at the cliff edge. Visitors can descend into the bunker network through original entry points. A visitor centre upgraded in 2022 provides interpretation on the Ranger mission and the construction of the Atlantic Wall. The site is open year-round with no entry charge.