Merville battery
The Merville Gun Battery was a coastal fortification in Normandy, France in use as part of the Nazi’s Atlantic wall built to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was one of the first places to be attacked by Allied forces on D-Day.

The Merville Battery and defences were formidable. Each of the four  guns was sited within a reinforced concrete casemate, six and a half feet thick with a further six feet of soil above. At the time, these imposing structures were believed to house substantial 150 mm guns. The local defences were formidable and included belts of barbed wire fifteen feet thick, minefields one hundred yards wide and anti tank ditches. The site was manned by a garrison of 160 men responsible for 15 to 20 weapons pits, each containing 4 to 5 machine guns and possibly three 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

Casemate no.1 now houses an brilliant museum, with a light and sound display reliving the attack on the battery.

Longues-sur-Mer Battery
The battery at Longues is situated between the landing beaches Omaha and Gold. If you’ve ever seen the film The Longest day, you’ll recognise the control bunker, as its where Maj. Werner Pluskat  first sighted the invasion fleet.  The site has of four 150-mm navy guns, each protected by a large concrete casemate, a command post, shelters for personnel and ammunition, and several defensive machine-gun emplacements. The battery was subject to heavy bombing from allied air forces and was eventually captured by the 231st Infantry Brigade.

The guns, situated in casemates some 300 yards inland, weighed 20 tons and had a firing rate of 6 shells a minute each and a range of 13 miles. For camouflage, each casemate was covered in asphalt and had grass growing in pits dotted around the upper surfaces of the structure. The structures were then netted and made to blend with their surroundings.

The control bunker was situated at the head of the cliff and has a good view of the sea. This bunker is two stories with the upper floor being used for observation purposes and the lower level housing maps, range finding equipment and the radio room. The battery is still in an excellent state of preservation and is probably the only battery in the region to have kept most of its guns and is therefore a great site to visit.

Hillman Battery
This battery is situated in Colleville Montgomery and stood in the way of Allied forces landing on Juno Beach and their objective being to reach Caen on the day of the landings. Hillman (known as “Point 61” to the Germans) comprised an underground fortress including minefields, bunkers, and guns. This underground, fully ventilated complex included 7 machine guns, two light infantry guns, an anti tank gun, three steel cupolas, trench systems, 12 bunkers, mine fields four rows deep and barbed wire.

Those bunkers now in the hands of “Les Amis Du Suffolk Regiment” who are now restoring them to their former glory. They have recommisioned the ventilation plant, lit some rooms, cleaned up some walls and floors and preserved for posterity what must surely be the most heavily fortified bunkers near the Normandy coastline. They are to be congratulated for their great work.

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