Battle of Merville Gun Battery
Battle of Merville Gun Battery | |||||||
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Part of Operation Tonga | |||||||
Overhead view of the battery, showing the damage caused by a bombing raid in May 1944 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom | Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Terence Otway Major John Pooley † (7 June 1944) | Raimund Steiner | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
9th Parachute Battalion (6 June 1944) 3 Commando (7 June 1944) |
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Strength | |||||||
6 June 1944: 150 (assault force) | 130 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
6 June 1944: 75 (during the assault) 7 June 1944: heavy |
22 killed 22 captured | ||||||
6 June 1944: 450 men failed to arrive at the battalion assembly area following the parachute landing |
The Battle of Merville Gun Battery was a series of British assaults beginning 6 June 1944, as part of Operation Tonga, part of the Normandy landings, during the Second World War. Allied intelligence believed the Merville Gun Battery was composed of heavy-calibre 150 mm (5.9 in) guns that could threaten the British landings at Sword Beach, only 8 miles (13 km) away.
The 9th Parachute Battalion, part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade attached to 6th Airborne Division, was given the objective of destroying the battery. However, when the battalion arrived over Normandy in the predawn of 6 June, their parachute descent was dispersed over a large area, so instead of over 600 men with heavy weapons or equipment, only 150 with neither arrived at the battalion assembly point. Regardless, they pressed home their attack against an estimated German force of 130 engineers and artillerymen. Reduced to 75 men, the British succeeded in capturing the battery, only to discover that the guns were World War I-era Czech M.14/19 100 mm field howitzers, which only had an effective range of some 8,400 m (9,200 yd), just over 5 miles. Still, using what explosives they had been able to recover, they attempted, with only partial success to, disable the guns.
When the
Background
On 6 June 1944, the
British forces
The unit assigned to destroy the battery was the
The predawn assault was planned to be completed and the battalion clear of the position by 05:00 AM, when the
Battery
The Merville Battery was composed of four 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) steel-reinforced concrete gun
The battery was defended by a
Assault 6 June 1944
Just after midnight on 6 June, the 9th Parachute Battalion's advance party landed with the brigade's
Aware of the time constraints, Otway decided he could wait no longer, and the reduced battalion headed for the battery and joined up with
In England, one of the gliders diverted to RAF Odiham as its tow rope had snapped during bad weather. The other two gliders, unable to locate the battery, did not land where assigned.[17] On their run in, both gliders were hit by anti-aircraft fire. One landed around 2 miles (3.2 km) away, the other at the edge of the minefield. The troops from this glider became involved in a fire fight with German troops heading to reinforce the battery garrison.[16]
Otway launched the assault as soon as the first glider overshot the battery, ordering the explosives to be detonated to form two paths through the outer perimeter through which the paratroopers attacked. The defenders were alerted by the detonations, and opened fire, inflicting heavy casualties; only four attackers survived to reach Casemate Four, which they assaulted by firing into its apertures and throwing grenades into air vents. The other casemates were cleared of personnel with fragmentation and white phosphorus grenades, as the crews had neglected to lock the doors leading into the battery.
Steiner was not present during the bombing, but at a command bunker in
With the battery in their hands, but no sappers or explosives, the British gathered together what plastic explosives they had been issued for use with their Gammon bombs to try to destroy the guns.[16] By this time, Steiner had returned to Franceville-Plage, and directed his regiment's 2nd and 3rd Batteries to fire onto the Merville Battery.[21]
Assault 7 June 1944
On 7 June, Nos. 4 and 5 Troops of 3 Commando under command of Major John Pooley MC, carried out an attack on Merville battery, whose guns had been repaired and were again firing toward and several miles short of the landing beaches.[22] Since the first assault the battery had been reoccupied and it was now heavily defended by mortars and landmines. Approaching from Le Plein to the south, No. 4 Troop moved across the open ground before taking up position behind the hedgerows 300 yards from the battery and from there laid down covering fire for No. 5 Troop which approached from the east with fixed bayonets.[23]
Aftermath
Following the assault of 9th Parachute Battalion just before 05:00 AM on 6 June 1944, the battalion's survivors, just 75 men of the 150 who had set out, left the battery and headed for their secondary objective, the village of La Plein.[24] The battalion, being too weak, only managed to liberate around half of the village, and had to await the arrival of the 1st Commando Brigade later in the day to complete its capture.[25]
After the Germans reoccupied the battery position, Steiner was unable to see Sword from his command bunker, so even though he was able to get two of his guns back in action, he was unable to direct accurate fire several miles short of the landings. However, observers with the 736th Infantry Regiment, holding out at La Brèche, were able to direct his guns in that direction until that position was neutralised.[26]
The British never succeeded in completely destroying the battery, and it remained under German control until 17 August, when the German Army started to withdraw from France.[27]
Notes
- Footnotes
- ^ Other sources give the number as 635 paratroopers and sappers.[3]
- ^ A medical section was composed of: an officer (doctor) and a staff sergeant (nursing orderly); under their command were three nursing orderlies, a clerk, a dutyman and thirteen stretcher bearers.[7] All members of No. 3 Section attached to the 9th Parachute Battalion became casualties in the battle.[8]
- Citations
- ^ Horn, p.44
- ^ Kershaw, p.135
- ^ a b c Ferguson, p.18
- ^ a b Ford, p.41
- ^ Nigl, p.72
- ^ Cole, p.81
- ^ Cole, pp.222–223
- ^ Cole, p.88
- ^ Horn, p.41
- ^ Ford, Zaloga and Badsey, p.224
- ^ Zaloga and Johnson, p.29
- ^ a b Gregory, p.108
- ^ Zaloga and Johnson, p.35
- ^ a b c Harclerode, p.318
- ^ Buckingham, pp.142–143
- ^ a b c d Harclerode, p.319
- ^ Nigl, p.71
- ^ Buckingham, p.145
- ^ Kershaw, p.149
- ^ Kershaw, p.148
- ^ Kershaw, p.150
- ^ Durnford-Slater 2002, p. 193.
- ^ Durnford-Slater 2002, p. 194.
- ^ Cole, p.83
- ^ Harclerode, p.320
- ^ Kershaw, p.307
- ^ Harclerode, pp.319–320
References
- Buckingham, William F. (2005). D-Day The First 72 Hours. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2842-X.
- Cole, Howard N (1963). On wings of healing: the story of the Airborne Medical Services 1940–1960. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: William Blackwood. OCLC 29847628.
- Ferguson, Gregor (1984). The Paras 1940–84. Volume 1 of Elite series. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-573-1.
- Ford, Ken (2011). D-Day 1944 (3): Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-721-6.
- Ford, Ken; Zaloga, Steven J; Badsey, Stephen (2009). Overlord: The D-Day Landings. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-424-4.
- Gregory, Barry; Batchelor, John (1979). Airborne Warfare, 1918–1945. Exeter, UK: Exeter Books. ISBN 978-0-89673-025-0.
- Harclerode, Peter (2005). Wings Of War –Airborne Warfare 1918–1945. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-36730-3.
- Horn, Bernd (2010). Men of Steel: Canadian Paratroopers in Normandy, 1944. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-55488-708-8.
- Kershaw, Robert (2008). D-Day Piercing the Atlantic Wall. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3323-8.
- Nigl, Alfred J (2007). Silent Wings Savage Death. Santa Ana, CA: Graphic Publishers. ISBN 978-1-882824-31-1.
- Zaloga, Steven J; Johnson, Hugh (2005). D-Day Fortifications in Normandy. Volume 37 of Fortress Series. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-876-2.
- Saunders, Hilary St. George (1959) [1949]. The Green Beret: The Commandos at War. London: Four Square Books. OCLC 1260659.
- Durnford-Slater, John (2002) [1953]. Commando: Memoirs of a Fighting Commando in World War Two. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-479-6.