Where's this?

[pugg666]

?

[HoHun]

Hi Puggg,

Normandy?

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[GRUNHERZ]

Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France.

[pugg666]

Bah too fast Grun!
Point du Hoc is correct.

[HoHun]

Hi Puggg,

Thanks for the picture, quite interesting!

Do you happen to have some pictures covering on the area behind the "American" beaches, too?

I cycled a bit in the Normandy last year - "Pegasus Bridge", the "Mulberry" harbour at Arromanches, and then Bayeux, crossing some of the "Bocage" on the way.

My impression was that the "Bocage" terrain wasn't that special in a European context, and actually far more open than the WW2 histories had lead me to believe.

Now I wonder if perhaps the hedgerows simply were denser in WW2 (fewer tractors in Europe ... would make sense), or if the "true Bocage" was behind the American beaches, an area I unfortunately missed.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[straffo]

Originally posted by HoHun
My impression was that the "Bocage" terrain wasn't that special in a European context, and actually far more open than the WW2 histories had lead me to believe.

Now I wonder if perhaps the hedgerows simply were denser in WW2 (fewer tractors in Europe ... would make sense), or if the "true Bocage" was behind the American beaches, an area I unfortunately missed.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

Well you can't see any bocage left  in Normandie except in some places because the bocage as been completly destroyed since WWII (something like 80% if I remember correctly).

The 2003 normandie is not the 1944 normandie sadly
I'm speaking of the landscape only

[HoHun]

Hi Straffo,

>Well you can't see any bocage left  in Normandie except in some places because the bocage as been completly destroyed since WWII (something like 80% if I remember correctly).

Thanks :-) That's a great answer to a question I just couldn't get out of my head!

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[straffo]

I need to correct my location to show I'm Normand

[HoHun]

Hi Straffo,

>I need to correct my location to show I'm Normand

You live in a beautiful country with a great history!

I'm from Schleswig-Holstein, where the landscape is shaped by hedgerows, too. Our local variant is called "Knick".

Inspired by your comment, I looked up that term on http://www.wikipedia.de. The "Knicks" were reduced from more than 80000 km of hedgerows (twice the earth's circumference :-) just after WW2 to 46000 km today, so more than 40% of them are gone, too. Not as bad as the 80% reduction in the Normandy, but still ...

I'd say the remaining hedgerow density is about the same I saw in the Normandy last year. I felt right at home :-)

Do you know how old the hedgerow systems in the Normandy were? In Schleswig-Holstein, they were only introduced in the 18th century - "only recently", I'm tempted to say! ;-)

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[straffo]

I'm not sure how old is the "Bocage" I think it's from Middle-Age.

I've seen this term used in a very old book (1500) about Guillaume le Conquérant (William of Normandy) but bocage was also a zone of the Manche departement so ...

Schleswig-Holstein is in the north of Germany If I'm not mistaken ?
We have also a part of the Normandy who look swiss and is called "Suisse-Normande" officially