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Commune of Ouistreham |
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| Location | |
| Coordinates | 49°20, N 00°14,7 N |
| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Basse-Normandie |
| Department | Calvados |
| Arrondissement | Caen |
| Canton | Ouistreham |
| Mayor | André Ledran |
| Statistics | |
| Population¹ (1999) |
8,759 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 14488/ 14150 |
| 1 Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). | |
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Ouistreham is a commune of the Calvados department, in the Basse-Normandie region, in 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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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 West-er-ham. 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).
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
Transportation
The port of Ouistreham has a scheduled cross-Channel ferry service to Portsmouth, operated by Brittany Ferries.
Misc.
Ouistreham is twinned with the West Sussex village of Angmering The assault on Ouistreham was featured in the movie The Longest Day.
