5 real historical locations · France
Steven Spielberg's landmark film opens with the most visceral recreation of combat ever filmed — the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach — before following Captain Miller's squad across Normandy on a mission to find the last surviving son of a family that has lost three boys to the war.
CinemaMapped has mapped 5 real historical locations where the story takes place, spanning France.
D-Day opening sequence — American forces storm the beach on June 6, 1944. The most visceral 27 minutes in war film history.
On June 6, 1944, the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landed at Omaha under murderous fire from entrenched German positions. Casualties exceeded 2,000 men — the highest of any D-Day beach.
View location →Final battle in the town of Ramelle — Captain Miller's squad defends a bridge against German armour.
The Merderet River crossings were critical objectives for the 82nd Airborne in the days after D-Day. Numerous small bridge battles were fought across this area as paratroopers linked up with beach forces.
View location →The film opens and closes here -- an elderly James Ryan visits the grave of Captain Miller at the Normandy American Cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach.
The Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer holds 9,387 American military dead from the D-Day landings and subsequent operations. It overlooks the very beach where many of them fell on June 6, 1944.
View location →Miller is told Private Ryan was last spotted with a 101st Airborne patrol near this area -- setting the squad on their mission into the Normandy bocage.
Neuville-au-Plain was one of several Normandy villages where the 82nd Airborne fought in the days following D-Day, clearing German resistance and linking up with forces pushing inland from the beaches.
View location →The 82nd Airborne drop zone -- the division Ryan served with. The town was the first French town liberated on D-Day, hours before the beach landings.
American paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division dropped into the area around Sainte-Mere-Eglise in the early hours of June 6, 1944. The town was secured by 0500 -- the first French commune liberated in the Normand...
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