Perhaps even more than its west coast, the south-east of the Cotentin is a land swept by the winds.
Here, high tides can reach coefficients of 112 and equinox storms scratch a dune weighing several tons in one evening.
We are on Sainte-Marie-du-Mont beach, known worldwide as Utah Beach.
Where, on the morning of June 6, 1944, nearly 23,500 American soldiers in the prime of life jumped from their barges to land on the beaches of the Channel.
On the very site of this bloody episode of D-Day, the Utah Beach Landing Museum has been erected since 1962.
Alas, this place of remembrance and contemplation is in danger: for the past decade, the threat has no longer come from grapeshot from the old German blockhouses but from the sea and its repeated assaults.
"With each storm, I wonder if the sea will not pass the dune and attack the museum..."
, warns Charles de Vallavieille, mayor of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.
For the chosen one, who is also a farmer…
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