Hermanville-sur-Mer

Hermanville-sur-Mer (French pronunciation: [ɛʁmɑ̃vil syʁ mɛʁ] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

Hermanville-sur-Mer
Commune
WW II British cemetery
Coat of arms
Location of Hermanville-sur-Mer
Hermanville-sur-Mer Show map of France Hermanville-sur-Mer Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 49°17′02″N 0°18′50″W
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Caen
Canton	Ouistreham
Intercommunality	CU Caen la Mer
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Pierre Schmit[1]
Area 1	8.05 km2 (3.11 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	3,263
• Density	405/km2 (1,050/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	14325 /14880
Elevation	3–59 m (9.8–193.6 ft) (avg. 25 m or 82 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 700 —     1800 642 −1.23% 1806 784 +3.39% 1821 799 +0.13% 1831 847 +0.59% 1836 864 +0.40% 1841 844 −0.47% 1846 879 +0.82% 1851 878 −0.02% 1856 822 −1.31% 1861 821 −0.02% 1866 776 −1.12% 1872 801 +0.53% 1876 790 −0.35% 1881 778 −0.31% 1886 715 −1.67% 1891 746 +0.85% 1896 705 −1.12%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 702 −0.09% 1906 722 +0.56% 1911 747 +0.68% 1921 673 −1.04% 1926 612 −1.88% 1931 630 +0.58% 1936 630 +0.00% 1946 882 +3.42% 1954 1,037 +2.04% 1962 1,065 +0.33% 1968 1,160 +1.43% 1975 1,312 +1.77% 1982 1,753 +4.23% 1990 2,113 +2.36% 1999 2,661 +2.60% 2007 2,697 +0.17% 2012 2,801 +0.76% 2017 3,110 +2.11%
Source: EHESS[3] and INSEE (1968-2017)[4]

Sights

• 13th century church
• Commonwealth war cemetery
• Old village centre
• 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

See also

• Communes of the Calvados department