Varaville

Petiville (French pronunciation: [pətivil] ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Gonneville-en-Auge (French pronunciation: [ɡɔnvil ɑ̃.n‿oʒ] , literally Gonneville in Auge) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Bavent (French pronunciation: [bavɑ̃] ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Baventais or Baventaises.

The Battle of Merville Gun Battery was a series of British assaults beginning 6 June 1944, as part of Operation Tonga, part of the Normandy landings, during the Second World War. Allied intelligence believed the Merville Gun Battery was composed of heavy-calibre 150 mm (5.9 in) guns that could threaten the British landings at Sword Beach, only 8 miles (13 km) away. The 9th Parachute Battalion, part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade attached to 6th Airborne Division, was given the objective of destroying the battery. However, when the battalion arrived over Normandy in the predawn of 6 June, their parachute descent was dispersed over a large area, so instead of over 600 men with heavy weapons or equipment, only 150 with neither arrived at the battalion assembly point. Regardless, they pressed home their attack against an estimated German force of 130 engineers and artillerymen. Reduced to 75 men, the British succeeded in capturing the battery, only to discover that the guns were World War I-era Czech M.14/19 100 mm field howitzers, which only had an effective range of some 8,400 m (9,200 yd), just over 5 miles. Still, using what explosives they had been able to recover, they attempted, with only partial success, to disable the guns. The see-saw action saw the battery change hands several times. When the British paratroopers had withdrawn, two of the guns were put back into action by the Germans. Another assault by British Commandos failed to disable the guns and the battery remained under German control until 17 August, when the German Army started to withdraw from the area.

The Merville Gun Battery is a decommissioned coastal fortification in Normandy, France, which was built as part of the Germans' Atlantic Wall to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was a particularly heavily fortified position and one of the first places to be attacked by Allied forces during the Normandy Landings commonly known as D-Day. A British force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway succeeded in capturing this position, suffering heavy casualties.

The canton of Cabourg is an administrative division of the Calvados department, northwestern France. Its borders were modified at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Cabourg.

Merville-Franceville-Plage (French pronunciation: [mɛʁvil fʁɑ̃svil plaʒ] ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Cabourg (French pronunciation: [kabuʁ] ; Norman: Cabouorg) is a commune in the Calvados department, region of Normandy, France. Cabourg is on the coast of the English Channel, at the mouth of the river Dives. The back country is a plain, favourable to the culture of cereal. The town sits on the Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast) and its population increases by over 40,000 during the summer.

Brucourt (French pronunciation: [bʁykuʁ] ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Dives-Cabourg is the railway station for the towns of Dives-sur-Mer and Cabourg. The station is built in Ouest architecture and is a terminus for the Côte Fleurie branchline to Trouville-Deauville. The trains between Trouville-Deauville and Dives-Cabourg only run in summer. The line from Mézidon opened in 1879 and extended to Houlgate in 1882. The line from Trouville-Deauville to Villers-sur-Mer and Houlgate opened two years later. From 1892 to 1932, the station was served by the 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge railway of Chemins de fer du Calvados, linking it to Caen's Saint-Pierre station. On Wednesday 12 May 2010, the goods yard building caught fire. The fire was noticed early on and extinguished, saving the building.

Dives-sur-Mer (French pronunciation: [div syʁ mɛʁ] , literally Dives on Sea; Norman: Dives sus Mé) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.

Notre-Dame de Dives-Sur-Mer church is a Catholic building in the French commune of Dives-sur-Mer, in the Calvados department of the Normandy region. It was the site of a major pilgrimage that lasted until the Wars of Religion and the destruction of a devotional object, a Christ Saint-Sauveur, found by fishermen in the 11th century. The pilgrimage then resumed until the French Revolution. Although the current building still contains elements dating back to the 11th century, and has suffered severe damage over the centuries, it is in relatively good condition thanks to successive restoration campaigns, the most recent dates from the early 21st century. According to Arcisse de Caumont, it is "the most remarkable monument in Dives". It has been listed as a historic monument since 1888. A number of furniture items have also been listed. Few of the church's old stained-glass windows have survived, although at the end of the 20th century, a stained-glass panel from the 14th century was found and purchased by the commune with the help of the French government. The building has also preserved some remarkable marine graffiti on its walls, dating from the 15th to the early 20th centuries: the collection of graffiti, exceptional since there are over 400 of them, makes it possible to study both marine and river ships, as well as many aspects, including religious ones of the life of the community present in the commune for over more than five centuries.