Hermanville-sur-Mer

Hermanville-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Sights

 * 13th century church
 * Commonwealth war cemetery
 * Old village center
 * Villa la Bluette, an 1899 villa by architect Hector Guimard
 * Villa La Houle
 * Manoir de Prébois

Normandy landings
The beach of Hermanville, part of the area codenamed Sword, was one of the targets of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944. The Cod German stronghold was located on the coast. A Norwegian destroyer, the HNoMS Svenner, sank in front of Hermanville.

The sector at Hermanville was known as Queen Beach where elements of the British 3rd Division landed. The South Lancashire Regiment landed on Queen White and East Yorkshire Regiment on Queen Red, by 10:00 the village had been cleared. Offshore from Hermanville a Gooseberry was established, this consisted of a breakwater formed with ships sunk into position, including the French battleship Courbet.

Twin towns
Hermanville is twinned with:
 * Tangmere, England
 * 🇨🇦 Nominingue, Canada, since 2002

Personalities
Hermanville-sur-Mer was the birthplace of:
 * Jean François Sarrazin (1611?–1654), author
 * Alain Touraine (born 1925), sociologist