Merville Gun Battery

Merville Gun Battery
Merville Gun Battery
Part of Atlantic Wall
Normandy, France
Merville2 web.jpg
The Merville Battery today
Type Artillery battery
Built World War II
Built by Germany
Construction
materials
Concrete, steel, barbed wire
In use 1944
Current
condition
Still exists
Current
owner
France
Open to
the public
Yes
Controlled by Germany 1944, France 1944–present
Garrison Wehrmacht
Battles/wars Normandy landings, Operation Tonga

The Merville Gun Battery was a coastal fortification in Normandy, France, in use as part of the Nazis' 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.

Contents

Defences

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 14/19 Tschechisch 100 mm guns.[1] 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

  1. ^ Zaloga and Johnson 2005, p. 29
  2. ^ "The Merville Battery". Merville Battery Museum. http://www.batterie-merville.com/the-merville-battery?lang=en. Retrieved 22 August 2011. 
  3. ^ Ford, p.41
  4. ^ Gregory 1979, p. 108

References

  • Ford, Ken (2011). D-Day 1944 (3): Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781849087216. 
  • Gregory, Barry; Batchelor, John (1979). Airborne Warfare, 1918–1945. Exeter, UK: Exeter Books. ISBN 9780896730250. 
  • Zaloga, Steven J; Johnson, Hugh (2005). D-Day Fortifications in Normandy. Volume 37 of Fortress Series. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781841768762. 

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 49°16′10″N 0°11′52″W / 49.26944°N 0.19778°W / 49.26944; -0.19778


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