Pointe du Hoc
Where U.S. Army Rangers scaled a 30-m cliff to seize German gun batteries. The ground is still pocked with shell craters and shattered bunkers.
Pointe du Hoc is a headland jutting into the sea between Omaha and Utah beaches. The Germans built artillery positions on its clifftop. On June 6, 1944, the U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion climbed the roughly 30 m cliff using rope ladders and grappling hooks. They found the guns had been moved, then located and destroyed them inland, at heavy cost. Today the clifftop is still a field of bomb craters. The bunkers and ruins of observation posts can be entered, and a Ranger memorial stands at the cliff edge. The site is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Entry is free, and there is a visitor centre.
Opening hours
About 9:00 am–5:00 pm (until 6:00 pm in summer)
Nearby sights
- La Cambe German War Cemetery
- Omaha Beach & Normandy American Cemetery
- Overlord Museum
- Utah Beach Landing Museum
- Port-en-Bessin
- D-Day Experience & Dead Man's Corner Museum
- Longues-sur-Mer Battery
- Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy & Bayeux War Cemetery