Merville Gun Battery
| Merville Gun Battery | |
|---|---|
| Part of Atlantic Wall | |
| Normandy, France | |
.jpg) Largest casemate of the Merville Battery today | |
| Type | Artillery battery |
| Site information | |
| Owner |  Nazi Germany1942–44  France1944–present |
| Open to the public | Yes |
| Condition | Several casemates and trench system |
| Site history | |
| Built | World War II |
| Built by | Organisation Todt |
| In use | 1942-1944 |
| Materials | Concrete, steel, barbed wire |
| Battles/wars | Normandy landings, Operation Tonga |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Wehrmacht |
The Merville Gun Battery is a decommissioned coastal fortification in
Normandy Landings commonly known as D-Day. A British force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway
succeeded in capturing this position, suffering heavy casualties.
Defences
The Merville Battery is composed of four 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) steel-reinforced concrete gun
First World War-vintage Czech-made leFH 14/19(t) 100 mm (3.93-inch) mountain howitzers with a range of 8,400 m.[1]
Other buildings on the site include a command bunker, a building to accommodate the men, and ammunition magazines. During a visit on 6 March 1944, to inspect the defences,
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ordered the builders to work faster, and by May 1944, the last two casemates were completed.[citation needed
]
The battery was defended by a
minefield. Another obstacle was an anti-tank ditch covering any approach from the nearby coast.[3]
Notes
References
- Ford, Ken (2011). D-Day 1944 (3): Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-721-6.
- Gregory, Barry; Batchelor, John (1979). Airborne Warfare, 1918–1945. Exeter, UK: Exeter Books. ISBN 978-0-89673-025-0.
- 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.
Further reading
- The Day the Devils Dropped In. Neil Barber, Pen & Sword Books 2002. ISBN 978-1-84415-045-8
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Merville Battery.