French Workers Struggle To Save Famous D-Day Cliffs

Nature threatens to destroy the jagged cliffs at Pointe du Hoc that were successfully assaulted by elite U.S. Army Rangers 66 years ago today. The American Battle Monuments Commission has contracted Lyon-based GTS to strengthen the cliffs and slow the erosion process. The work will cost $6 million (U.S.) and is expected to be completed in October.

The cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, the Normandy promontory where the Rangers stared down death, have eroded by 10 metres since June 6, 1944. Today, the job is to strengthen the cliffs, not conquer them and keep the bunker used by the Nazis as an observation point from falling into the pounding sea.

“If we leave it this way, the cliffs will crumble all by themselves,” said Philippe Berthod, director of the Pointe du Hoc operation for GTS, a Lyon-based company that specializes in delicate operations, often on sites with difficult access.

But fixing the cliffs, made of limestone mixed with clay, is just buying time — 50 years is an optimistic estimate, Berthod said. Harsh winters and a raging storm can play havoc, he said. “Our work is to slow the erosion phenomenon.”

Just like the U.S. Army Rangers, some of the 20 GTS workers are scaling the cliffs on ropes. But they’re also using a crane, ton upon ton of cement to fill up gaping holes and metal bars measuring up to eight metres to nail the sides of the cliff in place. Up top, they are putting what amounts to a safety belt around the once formidable Nazi bunker.

Some 500,000 people visit the Pointe du Hoc each year, although the bunker has been closed to the public since 2004.

By: Shelldrake