Before the Second World War, the beach at Colleville-sur-Mer was known as the beach of the Golden Sands. But ever since D-Day, it is now known to the world by its code name, ‘Omaha’. The 3,7miles-long sandy beach is bordered by an area alternating between marshes and dunes. It is overlooked by a plateau whose edge forms abrupt cliffs (30 to 40 metres high). The American soldiers who landed under a deluge of fire on 6 June 1944 had to cross a thousand of mined obstacles installed on the sand by the Germans. By the evening of the landing, 2,500 American soldiers were either wounded, dead, or reported missing. The American flag honours them still at the Normandy American Cemetery.