Ouistreham
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Commune of Ouistreham |
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| Location | |
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Basse-Normandie |
| Department | Calvados |
| Arrondissement | Caen |
| Canton | Ouistreham |
| Mayor | André Ledran |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 12 m (avg.) |
| Population¹ (1999) |
8,759 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 14488/ 14150 |
| 1 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
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Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region of France.
Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town is about the mouth of the Canal de Caen à la Mer.
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[edit] History
The name Ouistreham derives from the Saxon Waster Ham, or "Westerhome" (in the sense of "western village"), and it has been a trading port since the Middle Ages. The harbour is now a part of "Port de Caen-Ouistreham". Ouistreham is pronounced Wee-ss- tram
Since the beginning of the 20th century, it is a bathing beach on the "Riva Bella".
On June 6, 1944, the only Free French forces involved in the D-Day landings (177 men of the Commando Kieffer) disembarked at Ouistreham (Sword Beach).
The assault on Ouistreham was featured in the movie The Longest Day.
[edit] Tourist sites
- Museum of the Atlantic Wall
- Musée du Débarquement n° 4 Commando (museum)
- Der Grosse Bunker (French: Le Grand Bunker) is an old German bunker from WW2 that was captured by the British in the D-Day invasion
[edit] Transportation
The port of Ouistreham has a scheduled cross-Channel ferry service to Portsmouth, operated by Brittany Ferries.
[edit] Twin towns
Ouistreham is twinned with the West Sussex village of Angmering
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