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History and military buffs will be enthralled on this tour that turns back the hands of time to an era of bravery and fierce determination. Your tour begins with a short motorcoach ride through scenic Norman countryside to the Azeville Battery, one of the key German bunker fortifications in the area during the Second World War. With all four original blockhouses still intact and an elaborate underground complex, this compound held 170 men and was one of the Allies' prime targets in 1944. On the tour, you will learn how the battery was built, what life was like for the troops who were stationed here and what it feels like to traverse the incredibly narrow tunnels and underground rooms of the complex.

From here, you will continue down the coast for a stunning photo stop at Utah Beach – the code name that was given to this landing spot on the Cotentin Peninsula where at 6:30 a.m. on June 6th, the first American soldiers came ashore. Over the next six months, 836,000 G.I.s, 220,000 vehicles and 725,000 tons of supplies came onto the sand right at this spot. Snap some pictures of this historic site and imagine what it must have looked and felt like as soldiers stormed these beaches.

Next, enter the Airborne Museum, situated in the square of Sainte-Mère-L'Eglise, which relates the heroic adventure of paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. From the invasion preparations in England through the battles for liberation, meet the Airborne troops and accompany them on their journey to Victory.

Finally, you will travel a short distance for a photo stop at the small village of Sainte-Mère-Église, which played a historic role in the Normandy landings. Located along the route to Utah Beach, this town was a necessary place for the Allies to occupy and control in order to prevent the Germans from attacking the incoming troops. Early in the morning of June 6, 1944, American paratroopers descended into the town. One, John Steele, got his parachute hooked on the spire of the town's medieval church and hung there for several hours, feigning death, before the Germans took him prisoner. (Steele's adventures, including his later escape from the Germans, were depicted in the film The Longest Day.) A mannequin now hangs from the church's steeple as a reminder of this dramatic day and of the casualties that were incurred before the Americans finally succeeded in occupying the tiny but strategically important town.

At the end of this inspiring half-day tour of these historic WWII sites, you'll re-board your motorcoach for the relaxing drive back to port.