Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #1 in Avranches, France

Operation Cobra was an offensive launched by the First United States Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen in Operation Goodwood, and thereby break through the German defenses that were penning in their forces, while the Germans were unbalanced. Once a corridor had been created, the First Army would then be able to advance into Brittany, rolling up the German flanks once free of the constraints of the bocage country. After a slow start, the offensive gathered momentum and German resistance collapsed as scattered remnants of broken units fought to escape to the Seine. Lacking the resources to cope with the situation, the German response was ineffectual mainly due to the effect of Operation Bluecoat and the entire Normandy front soon collapsed. Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy campaign.

Wikipedia: Operation Cobra (EN)

Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. was a United States Army general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. He was then Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until his death in 1974.

Wikipedia: Creighton Abrams (EN)

The M4 Sherman, officially medium tank, M4, was the medium tank most widely used by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It was also the basis of several other armored fighting vehicles including self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, and armored recovery vehicles. Tens of thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth, Soviet Union, and other Allied Nations. The tank was named by the British after the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Wikipedia: M4 Sherman (EN)

The Basilica of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais in Avranches is a neoclassical Catholic building that stands in the French commune of Avranches, in the Manche department, in the Normandy region.

Wikipedia: Basilique Saint-Gervais d'Avranches (FR)

The Maison de la Sirène, also called the Auberge des Trois Marchands or finally the Chesnel building, named after Virginie Chesnel, a woman who occupied this house from about 1906 to 1963, is the last half-timbered house of the fifteenth century located in Avranches in the French department of Manche in Normandy.

Wikipedia: Maison des Trois Marchands (FR)

The Scriptorial is the museum of manuscripts of Mont Saint-Michel, located in Avranches in the department of Manche, in the Normandy region.

Wikipedia: Le Scriptorial, musée des manuscrits du Mont-Saint-Michel (FR), Website

The Château d'Avranches was a castle in Avranches, Manche, France.

Wikipedia: Château d'Avranches (EN)

The fortifications of Avranches were a defensive system encircling the old town of Avranches, today in the French department of Manche, in the Normandy region.

Wikipedia: Fortifications d'Avranches (FR)

The statue of Valhubert is a marble statue, located in Avranches, department of Manche, France. She represents Jean-Marie Valhubert. It is the work of the French sculptor Pierre Cartellier.

Wikipedia: Statue de Valhubert (FR)

The Church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs is a Roman Catholic building in the commune of Avranches, in the Manche department in Normandy, France.

Wikipedia: Église Notre-Dame-des-Champs d'Avranches (FR)