Word Pro - 0.99 Atlantic Wall

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Cézembre (St Malo)
The port of St Malo in Brittany like Cherbourg was fortified by the
Germans using much of the old French defences.
The island of Cézembre lies 2.5 miles north east of
the port entrance.
The island is only 1400 feet by 1200 feet but
included three separate gun emplacements.
To the western end of the island were three
194 mm guns, the eastern end was similarly
equipped. In the centre of this tiny island was a
150mm gun. All of these large guns were sited in
the open.
Also installed on the island were numerous flak
emplacements with calibre's ranging from 75mm
down to 20mm. Magazine bunkers and personnel
bunkers including a medical bunker were also
installed.
The island was the last German position to fall in a
battle the Americans had greatly underestimated
the willingness of the Germans to resist. In the end
only the Citadel and Cézembre holding out against
the Americans.
The Citadel was bombed several times and on
August 17th finally surrounded. This left the island
fortress of Cézembre. The island was bombed
repeatedly with high explosives and napalm.
Rockets and white phosphorus was also employed.
The island was also shelled by 155mm and 240mm
artillery.
HMS Warspite shelled the fort for nearly three
hours on the 1st September. Cézembre finally
surrendered the next day when
its water tanks were hit.
Several hundred men lay dead
and the entire site was either
destroyed or badly damaged.
The island remains as it was
left, the guns lie twisted and
broken, only the fire control
post (type M 157) looks out
defiantly, still keeping a watch
out to sea.
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Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain to be occupied by the
Germans. The Germans had a great fear that the British would at some
point try and liberate the Islands.
There are five islands Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark and Herm. Jersey, Guernsey being the largest.
The Germans built five large gun batteries on the
islands, four on Jersey and one on Guernsey. Jersey is
the island nearest to the French mainland.
All the islands had smaller works and a
disproportionate number of fire control posts and
observation bunkers.
All the works on the islands were undertaken by
mainly Russian prisoners, who were treated very
badly, by the Germans.
Very few Russians survived there time here.
The other important feature of the casemates built
here to protect the gun emplacements were locally
designed by a Dr. Jager, who was German but a
resident on the island.
The main site on Guernsey was positioned at the
north east of the island, protecting the cannel between
the islands and France.
The guns installed her in the open were old Russian
guns of 305 mm and had a fire control post of the
M123 type.
There was another site which was equipped with
German Krupp guns of 150 mm, again mounted in the
open on concrete platforms.
On Jersey there were four gun emplacements.
At the north west tip of the island was the battery
called Mackensen, installed here were 3 x 210 mm
guns with a range of 17 kms, manned by the 3/HKAR
1265.
Just to the south was Brauschitz with its four 100 mm
Skoda guns with a range of 10 kms and manned by
the 6/319 AR..
On the north western tip of the island was the battery known as Les Landes (Molkte)
equipped with four guns made by the French company Puteaux in 1914 and operated by the
5/HKAR 1265. These guns had a range of 17 kms.
The final battery on the south west of the island was Roon and equipped with Schnieder 105
mm guns of first world war vintage. These guns were housed in Jager bunkers.
The soldiers stationed here were the 6/HKAR 1265.
There are many other bunkers on the islands including the famous underground hospital in
Jersey.
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Granville South
The beaches south of Granville were not thought to have a threat of
invasion, but had to be protected from clandestine landings and also
Frenchmen trying to escape to England.
Immediately south of Granville just north of St Pair sur
Mer the Germans installed a anti aircraft battery on the
high ground. These guns were captured British Vickers
75 mm Flak M35 L/60 guns. These had possibly come
from the Channel Islands, and were almost certainly
placed here because of lack of available ammunition.
The four guns were mounted on concrete plinths, and
these are still in situ today. The three machine gun posts
are still in place around the site.
To protect the beach which runs south from Granville
through St Pair, Kairon Plage, Jullouville and Carolles
Plage the Todt build three casemates. Strangely they all
face north. The first is a type 667 just north of Kairon
Plage, this type of casemate usually housed a 50 mm
cannon. At the southern end of this long beach at
Carolles Plage the flat beach gives way to cliffs and
high on the cliffs two 612 casemates sit together still
looking out over the beach. Some distance behind is a
double personnel bunker type 522/622 which has a
small garage type bunker attached. It is too small to
house a gun or searchlight, and there is no visible ramp
to wheel out whatever was kept in the garage. It could
possibly have been for a generator as this position was some distance from the village.
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Granville
There were two German Gun Batteries protecting the
important port of Granville.
Both gun positions were provided with French
Schnieder guns of first world war vintage.
At Pointe du Roc the three guns were of a larger caliber
(120mm manufactured in 1917, captured in Belgium),
housed in type M158 Casemates also at this site there
was a
Fire Control Post (type M162a) and a type 621
personnel bunker.
Unusually the site is now used by the Coast guards as a
look out tower, they have even added an extra story to
the original buildings.
The four Casemates (671) which once housed the guns
now have doors and are used as garages.
The site also boasted several anti air craft guns and
numerous machine gun posts.
Quite unusually many parts on the Schnieder cannon
are on display around the site.
The Germans stationed here were from the MAA 608
Regiment.
At Haut Forneau, which protected the port the four
guns were of 105mm of 1914 vintage.
Nearer the port two bunkers remain one which housed a
Skoda 47 mm cannon on the quay and a H612 halfway
up the hill.
In the spring of 1945 the Germans mounted an attack
from Guernsey, which caught the Allies by surprise
Once the Allies got their act together the Germans soon
retreated back to the safety of the Channel Islands.
.
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St Germain sur Ay (Plage)
At Pointe du Bank near St Germain sur Ay is the remains of a German
strong point.
To the south of the Barneville Carteret the beach defences
tend to be much fewer and far between.
The Germans and especially Hitler felt that the British
would try and regain the Channel Islands to the Islands
became a “Fortress” and were equipped with more large
artillery pieces than the western coat of the Cotentin
Peninsular.
Here at St Germain sur Ay the sea has taken most of what
the Germans built. Still remaining are a 50 mm cannon
emplacement, a Vf58 Tobrouk together with a well
preserved Vf58c still equipped with is octagonal mount for
a Gr36 mortar.
The emplacement protects the small bay named
(Le havre du Lessay) this has never been an important
harbour since Roman times, but the Germans felt it
necessary to keep an eye on this length of coast.
Along the coast either side of this strongpoint you can find
the remains of other German installations, from sentry
boxes to ammunition niches and Tobrouks.
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Barneville Carteret
Just after the Germans captured the Cotentin
Peninsular on June 18th 1940, they placed two
railway guns in Carteret.
These were possibly of the Kanone 5 type, and they
later saw service in Calais and Cherbourg.
They were situated near the crossing of the railway
and road into Carteret. Because railway guns have no
traverse they either have to be placed on turntables or
on a curve in the track.
They were only fired once, resulting in the windows
of the church being blown out.
The Germans were convinced that the British would
try and recapture the Channel Islands just to the west
of Carteret.
Carteret was used to supply the Channel Islands and
because of this, some defences were needed.
The defences built here did not conform to the normal
pattern, as the smaller guns protecting the big guns
were some distance away.
The first installations were on the beach at Barneville
which is just to the south of Carteret and was
numbered W329.
The guns were installed here to protect the port of
Carteret and were an assortment of anti aircraft,
mortars and machine gun posts.
There were plans to install big guns on the Cap du
Carteret, but by D-day work on these had hardly
begun.
The guns to be installed were Russian
(Type K390/2) in origin and were most likely to
have been captured on the eastern front.
There were plans to house the guns in Casemates of
the R669 type.
Excavations had begun behind the lighthouse at the
Carrefour de France cross-roads.
The site is now covered by new houses.
There is also evidence of a Fire Control Post, although
no records are available as to the type that they intended
to build.
The guns had arrived some time before D-day but had
not been installed.
On the 9th of June two were moved to Quineville to the
north of Utah beach. What happened to the other two is
not recorded.
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Barneville Carteret cont.2
There is still some evidence of the smaller buildings constructed by the
Todt. Org.
Near the lighthouse is a small lightly built
bunker and a little to the east is what looks
like an entrance to an underground shelter.
There is also the remains of a ruined bunker
in front of the main entrance to the coast
guard station.
The old fort, built some two hundred years
ago, also to protect the coast of mainland
France from the British, looks as if it might
have been used as an observation post by the
Germans. The window frame has evidence of
newer concrete where possibly a window
was installed to keep out the elements.
At Barneville the gun emplacements are still
visible but the sand dunes are reclaiming the
efforts of the Todt Organisation.
The doorways to all the fortifications seem
small, but the sand level has risen over the
years.
Over the road from the main entry and the
guard post (4) is a remnant of the wall
protecting the beach.
Number (5) on the map was a mortar
and (6 & 7) was for an anti aircraft canon.
A Tobruk type of installation (8) housed
another canon, whilst the shelters (9 &10)
have long since been demolished.
The ammunition was housed in
underground shelters (12).
A larger fixed gun may have been housed
in (13) but was probably never installed
The gun emplacements here would have
been the second most southerly on the
western coast of Normandy.
There were two installations protecting
the port of Granville.
The islands of Jersey and Guernsey
between them had five installations and
these together with those on the western
coast would have protected the channel
between France and the Channel Islands.
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Barneville Carteret cont.3
On the headland at Carteret the Germans also
installed a Seetakt Fumo type 27 radar station.
It was positiond almost on the same site as the
modern lighthouse and had a range of forty miles.
Several days before D-day a British Pathfinder was
parachuted into the sand dunes north of Carteret
and remained hidden until the night of June 5th.
He then activated a radio beacon to enable the C47
transport aircraft to navigate a left turn on their
way to the drop zones around St Mere Eglise.
The C47s flew a route that involved crossing the
peninsula from the west, for two reasons.
Firstly, the amount of air traffic over the landing
zones was so great with waves of bombers taking
out gun emplacements, radar stations, roads and
railways that there was a fear that the C47s would
not be able to remain in formation.
The second reason was that if they had flown
directly to the drop zones from the east the pilots
would not have had enough time to organise the
jump, as once they saw land, the distance was
20kms at the most, and much less in the case of
many of the drop zones.
The Barneville and Baubiny gun emplacements
were among the first to see action on the morning
of D-day.
This gun emplacement was the last in the area to
hold out against the American advance on June
18th 1944.
It was manned by the 206th Panzer Regiment who
were equipped with tanks that came from a
variety of countries, including France and Russia
and of course Germany.
After the Americans arrived in the area they headed off towards
Cherbourg.
The Port in the centre of Carteret was constructed by the American
Engineers in 1945.
Sadly in 2001 one of the retaining walls collapsed
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Hatainville
Over half the German installations built on the
Atlantic Wall did not conform to the standard plans
issued by Berlin, although three more similar
structures are to be found nearby.
The little Fire Control Post at Hatainville is one of
the best examples of local ingenuity.
It was necessary for someone with binoculars on the
high sand dunes to keep watch over the channel
between Carteret and Baubigny where there was
another gun emplacement.
The guns at Baubigny were positioned almost at the
waters edge and therefore a Fire Control Post high
on the sand dunes was deemed necessary.
This is the smallest Fire Control Post possible.
No room here for a Telemeter, just one sentry to
keep an eye on the channel.
The construction is very simple, with just shuttered
concrete and even a piece of railway track which
was used to reinforce the roof structure.
The metal reinforcement could possibly have been
used to mount a searchlight.
The old structure is now used as an orientation
platform on the cliff footpath, and is just patrolled
by walkers these days.
There is also a anti aircraft emplacement close to
the beach.
A few days before D-day a British officer of the
RAF was parachuted into the dunes near here with a
radio transmitter to give a radio signal to the C47’s
caring the Airborne Troops on their way to their
drop zones near Ste Mere Eglise.
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Pointe de Rozel
The four captured French Schnieder Guns dating from 1914
installed near to the Pointe, were never enclosed in
casemates.
They had been placed here in 1943 to help protect the
straights between the western Cotentin and Jersey.
They were still installed on their original gun carriages and
placed on concrete rafts, of which no trace can be found
today.
There are two very interesting structures right on the beach
to the south of the Pointe.
Firstly a double garage built under the sand
dunes, that may well have housed two anti
aircraft guns.
This is built in local stone although it uses
standard roof sections, reinforced as are
many structures in this part of Normandy
with sections of rail.
On top of the dunes is a Fire Control Post,
again not built to any standard design.
It does seem that many of the Atlantic Wall
structures on this coast, built late in 1943,
were designed and executed by a local
designer with no reference to standard Todt
plans.
High on the Pointe is a small Fire Control
Post and at the bottom of the cliff is a
emplacement for an cannon that has slipped
down the cliff due to erosion.
Due to its present condition it is not possible
to determine what type of bunker it was
although this too looks to be a non standard
design.
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Baubigny
The gun emplacement at Baubigny is on two sites.
The first one at Mont de la Vigne high above the
village where the cannons were housed, has
completely disappeared.
The four 105mm cannons were of French
manufacture, built by Schnieder in 1917.
The Schnieder cannon was originally mounted on
gun carriages and towed by either horses or tractors.
The Germans usually mounted them on old ship
plinths, this enabled them to be aimed and fired more
accurately when housed in casemates
The cannons here were out in the open and still
mounted on their original gun carriages.
There would have been four large concrete plinths
like cart wheels, for the cannon to sit on.
At the beach several anti aircraft guns and machine
gun posts still exist, although many have disappeared
with erosion and also by falling into the sea.
Concrete debris can still be seen on the beach.
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Clairefontaine WN315
This emplacement covered the southern aspect of the beach
towards the port of Dielette. The port was used by the
Germans for communication with the Channel Islands.
The port is the only one on the Cotentin to be able to accept
boats at low tide.
The two H667 bunks have been much modified.
They both have periscopes of the standard German pattern
SR9 which is very common in Normandy.
The bunkers were constructed to house 47 mm Skoda
“Fortress Guns”, These were anti tank guns and were built
into the front wall.
They were protected by a shield in front of the casemate
which could be raised and lowered from inside the gun
room.
These two bunkers also have another unusual feature, in as
much as an escape hatch has also been built from the gun
room. This leads via a rung ladder onto the roof.
This could have served a double purpose not only as an
escape route, but also to remove the cover protecting the
periscope.
There is also a tobrouk with a Renault tank turret housing,
and also an ammunition bunker to the rear.
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Biville
The Batterie called Petit Thot takes its name from the
hamlet above which it is perched.
The Batterie was equipped with four Schnieder 105mm
cannons of 1917 vintage.
They were of the wheeled type and the hooks for the
restraining chains can still be seen in each Casemate of the
type R671.
The site is remarkable for having a Fire Control Post next
to the southerly Casemate. It would seem to be a local
solution as it does not conform to the Todt dictate.
It was possibly constructed after the Batterie was
completed.
The site also has a large barracks to the rear of the site.
Inside the barracks you can still see decorations on the
walls, and many of the central chimneys are still in situ.
Most of the smaller installations, such as the guard house
and small ammunition bunkers still exist.
The Casemates remain in
good condition although
several have been filled
with concrete debris to
prevent cattle falling into
the gun chambers..
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Biville Beach WN317
The Germans fearing that the Allies or the French
Resistance might use this long beach for landings,
created a very economic defense system. The use as the
main defense a “SK Sonderkonstruction” type SK667
casemate that housed a 50 mm KwK cannon that had
unusually two embrasures. This enabled the gun to
cover two sections of the beach, and that meant that the
Germans could cover twice the area with only one
weapon.
There are around thirty concrete structures along the 5
kms of beach and due to erosion, all but two have fallen
onto the beach, looking like children's building blocks.
The two SK667 casemates can be found in other lightly
defended sections in Normandy, but these have another
added dimension in as much as a emplacement for a
Renault tank turret has been incorporated at the front of
the casemate.
The entrance for the crew of the turret is via the gun
room through a small entrance which would
have meant crawling on all fours. Once inside
the crew could close a small fortified door.
There is evidence of damage to both the
casemates, but this may have been caused
when the gun was recovered for scrap after
the war.
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Vauville WN313
The two H676 casemates here on the beach, protect the small beach on
the Western Atlantic Coast opposite the German held English
Channel Islands.
Whilst this coast was never seen as a possible invasion beach
by the Germans, there was always a threat that the British
would try and regain control of these islands.
Two 47mm anti tank guns would have protected the beach
along with the usual anti aircraft and machine gun posts.
One of the more remarkable fortifications is the double Tobruk,
one of just a few to be found in Normandy.
The site also protected the two larger gun emplacements
situated on the cliffs above the town of Vauville.
There were also several V1 launch sites and radar installations
in the area.
The two sites were Petit Thot and St Croix les
Delles which both housed captured French guns.
One of the interesting relics of the fortification is
that at sometime after the occupation someone
has cut up “Hedgehogs” the triangular beach
fortifications into their segments to form fence
posts along the beach road.
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Saint Croix les Delles
The four Casemates here are well hidden and none of the ancillary
buildings seem to have survived.
The Casemates are the most numerous on the
Peninsula being of type H669.
The 105mm guns installed here were French in
origin and came from the maker Courtmle and they
were the only guns of their type in the region.
The Casemates have a very small aperture, this
gave the guns excellent protection from attack, but
meant that their traverse was limited to only 60o.
An other interesting feature in their construction is
that wooden expansion joints can be seen left in
situ on the interior of each Casemate.
One has been adapted as a garage whilst the others
fulfil the normal roll of redundant Casemates as
cow sheds.
The restraining hooks are still in place in the three
Casemates used as cow sheds, and as there are no
mounting plates in the
Casemates the guns
used here were of the
wheeled type.
Auderville Laye StP 356
The first thing you notice about this remarkable
Batterie is that there is no railway to be seen.
Normally railway guns were kept on the railway
so that they could me moved easily.
The nearest railway connection is at Cherbourg
or Martinvast, and bringing them to this site
would mean a road journey of 25kms.
Both guns were railway guns of 203mm, of the
Kanone E type.
The guns would have still been mounted on
their railway wagons and the gun traverse
would have been achieved by sitting the guns
on turntables.
The turntables each 35 meters in diameter,
would have been the same that you find at a
railway yard for turning locomotives.
Each of the gun emplacements is surrounded by
ammunition (type Vf7B) and personnel bunkers
(type 622).
There is even a medical bunker (type 661) which
has the distinction of being the only bunker
which has doors on different levels.
Auderville Laye cont.
This and many of the other bunkers are flooded for most of the year, and
it begs the question as to how the Germans stopped flooding as no pumps are evident.
The normal gas prevention measures are
evident, with gas tight doors, showers and
pressure ports to keep the inside air pressure
slightly higher than the outside air pressure.
This stops gas entering the bunker.
Escape hatches can also be seen, one even
still has its original door in place.
The crew quarters are across the road and not
built to the same standard.
They are made from single concrete blocks
and would have had a simple wooden or
asbestos sheet roof.
There would have been about 300 men and
officers stationed here.
There is a lot of evidence on the site of the
battle that ensued when the Americans
attacked the site.
There is also what looks like a Sherman shell
in the crew quarters.
Much of the fencing around the site is made
from German beach obstacles, some bearing a
stylised swastika.
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Auderville (La Roche) StP 351
Perched high on the cliffs overlooking Goury, this was the most
northerly of the Gun Batteries on the western coast.
This Batterie was only a few kilometres from the
railway gun emplacement at Auderville Laye.
The guns deployed here were French in manufacture,
built by St. Chamond in 1917 with a range of 17 kms.
The Casemates were of the R679 type dating from
1943 of which only forty one were built on the
Atlantic wall.
Metal shutters were fitted in front of the guns and the
bolts that would have held them are still in place.
Three of the guns were housed in Casemates and the
other three on open emplacements.
There is a Fire Control Post sitting on the cliff edge
and the entrance is hidden under earth, it is a type
R636.
On the roof of the personnel bunker the periscope
fitting is still there, as are the original doors.
There are several Tobruks on site, together with anti
aircraft emplacements.
There was also a small radar installation (Seekat)
perched on the rocks overlooking the bay.
To the right of the site is a machine gun post built into
a natural rock and finished with cement.
One of the open gun emplacements was badly damaged
by a visiting RAF bomber.
The Casemates have found use as cow sheds, and only
one of the gun pits remain visible.
It is filled with water but is several meters deep.
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Auderville Village
Auderville is the most north westerly part of Normandy,
and overlooks the approaches to the Channel Islands.
The Germans had captured the Channel Islands shortly
after they invaded France in June 1940.
They were always fearful that the British would try and
reclaim then. Because of this perceived threat they
fortified not only the Channel Islands, but also this
north west tip on Normandy.
Just to the west of the village they installed a anti
aircraft battery.
It is difficult to ascertain just how many guns were
installed her, but one platform and two garages, one
with a workshop can still be found, together with
several small bunkers and a personnel bunker.
One of the small bunkers gives the date of building
(March 1943) on a concrete plaque that also includes a
swastika and a helmet.
All the buildings on the site with the exception of the
personnel bunker are of a much lighter construction
than you would normally expect, they resemble the V1
construction methods
The site would have received information on incoming
aircraft from both the searchlight bunker at the waters
edge and the Seekat radar installation housed in front of
the gun battery at Auderville Roche.
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Laye Tunnel System
In the small hameau of Laye close to the two German
batteries established here on the coast is a mysterious
tunnel system.
It resembles a suburban underpass that you find in towns
throughout the world.
The difference is that this tunnel passes through solid rock
and leads you to stunning views over the bay of Baie
D’Eclagrain and on a clear day you can see Sark and
Alderney part of the British Channel Islands.
The reasons which compelled the Germans to build this
tunnel have never been very clear.
Possibly there was an anti aircraft batterie established on
the cliffs to protect the two gun batteries.
There is evidence for that theory as on the cliff top you can
still find semi circular enclosures quarried out of the rocks
and in one of there is a concrete plate buried into the
ground which could have been the mounting for such a
gun.
The tunnel has two storage areas and these could have been
used for the ammunition and possibly the larger of the two
areas could have been used a crew quarters.
The steps leading up to the cliff face are wider that you
would think necessary, but these could have been designed
so that two men could carry a case of ammunition between
then to the guns.
I have been told that during the battle for the area, both the
Germans and French villagers lived in these tunnels, for
over a month.
Does this mean that the tunnel was either not yet
operational, or had been superseded by some other
installation?.