Merville Gun Battery
| Merville Gun Battery | |
|---|---|
| Part of Atlantic Wall | |
| Normandy, France | |
The Merville Battery today
|
|
| Type | Artillery battery |
| Site information | |
| Owner | France |
| Controlled by | Germany 1944, France 1944–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 was a coastal fortification in Normandy, France, in use as part of the Germans' Atlantic Wall built to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was a particularly heavily fortified position and one of the first places to be attacked by Allied forces during the Normandy Landings commonly known as D-Day.
Defences
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
The Merville Battery was composed of four 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) steel-reinforced concrete gun casemates, built by the Todt Organisation. Each was designed to protect First World War-vintage Czech-made leFH 14/19(t) 100 mm (3.93-inch) mountain howitzers,[1] range: 8,400 m.
Other buildings on the site included 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.[2]
The battery was defended by a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun and several machine guns in 15 gun positions, all enclosed in an area 700 by 500 yards (640 by 460 m) surrounded by two barbed wire obstacles 15 feet (4.6 m) thick by 5 feet (1.5 m) high,[3] which also acted as the exterior border for a 100-yard-deep (91 m) minefield. Another obstacle was an anti-tank ditch covering any approach from the nearby coast.[4]
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />References
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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. |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Pages with reference errors
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Atlantic Wall
- Operation Overlord
- Normandy
- Buildings and structures in Calvados (department)
- Military history of France during World War II
- Military history of Normandy
- Fortifications in France
- World War II sites in France
- Visitor attractions in Calvados (department)
