Before 6 June 1944 the peaceful stretch of coast west of Cabourg, from Ouistreham to the Cotentin peninsula, was known simply as the Cete du Calvados, a flat, undramatic shoreline broken by a few unspectacular chalk cliffs and sand dunes.
The stretch of coast from Ouistreham to the Cotentin peninsula was called the Cete du Calvados prior to 1944.