Another change in fortification plans in early 1944 was the decision to place all field artillery of the static divisions on the coast under concrete protection, based on the lessons from the Salerno campaign. These casemates were not especially elaborate and were simple garage designs such as the H669 and H612. This program began in earnest in January 1944.
OB West was very concerned about the possibility of Allied airborne attacks, and several steps were taken to deal with this threat. Large fields near the coast were blocked with poles and other obstructions to prevent glider landings, though in practice this proved to be flimsy and ineffective. In some low-lying coastal areas such as the fields behind Utah Beach and the fields southwest of Calais, the Wehrmacht flooded the fields to complicate exit from the beach. However, many German tactical commanders were reluctant to flood valuable crop fields as local units often depended on local produce to feed their troops and this placed a limit on the extent of deliberate flooding.
TOUR OF THE SITES
The Atlantic Wall consisted of so many strongpoints, gun batteries and other fortified positions that it is impossible in this short survey to even list them all. Instead, some typical examples of defensive positions will be described.
Naval coastal artillery
The Kriegsmarine coastal artillery batteries varied in composition depending on the type and number of guns. Some of the naval artillery regiments (Marine-Artillerie-Abteilungen) were composed primarily of heavy batteries. A good example of this was MAA.244 located on either side of Calais. This unit included six heavy batteries averaging three guns per battery. A typical example was MKB Oldenburg, located immediately east of Calais in Moulin Rouge. This battery was armed with a pair of 240mm SKL/50 guns, which were Czarist 254mm guns captured in 1915 and re-chambered by Krupp. Originally installed in 1940 in open gun pits as part of the Operation Seelöwe build-up, the batteries were substantially improved starting in 1942 with a pair of massive casemates, along with two H621 personnel shelters, a H606 searchlight stand and numerous supporting bunkers. The neighboring regiment to the west, MAA.242, had some of the most famous naval batteries including Batterie Todt. Positioned along the high ground of Cap Gris-Nez and Cap Blanc-Nez, this regiment had an extensive array of observation bunkers on the promontories, as well as radar surveillance stations. These two regiments constituted the densest and most powerful assortment of naval coastal batteries on the Atlantic Wall. This heavy concentration was in part due to the strategic decision to heavily fortify the Pas-de-Calais but the batteries also served to interdict Allied shipping in the Channel.
One of the most scenic gun positions on the Opal Coast is MKB Arnika (La Crèche II) of 4./MAA.240, which consisted of four H671 casemates for 105mm SKC/32 U-boat guns. Located along the edge of a cliff to the north of Boulogne, one of the four casemates has already succumbed to erosion and fallen into the sea below. (Author’s collection)
Strongpoint WN10, Les Dunes de Varreville
WN10 was a fairly typical infantry resistance nest containing a mixture of reinforced concrete bunkers and earthen entrenchments. This was one of three inter-related strongpoints manned by 4.Kompanie, Infanterie Regiment 919, 709.Infanterie Division, and located to the northwest of Utah Beach, covering an area 600m wide and 300m deep. This strongpoint was manned by a reinforced platoon of about 40 troops. It was designed to cover the beach in either direction through the use of enfilade gun casemates on either end, a 75mm H677 casemate on the northern end and a pair of Skoda 47mm 36(t) casemates on the southern end. Defenses of the position pointing seaward included a 50mm pedestal gun in a Vf600 gun pit, a French 47mm anti-tank gun in an entrenchment, and a pair of Renault FT tank turrets with 37mm guns on reinforced tobruks. The center of the position was honeycombed with trenches and there were eight machine-gun emplacements. Fire support for the forward positions came from a pair of 81mm mortars in tobruks toward the rear of the position and there was a single 50mm pedestal gun covering the rear of the site. There were numerous small bunkers serving both as ammunition and personnel shelters. Two of the ammunition shelters were reinforced concrete but only one of the larger personnel shelters was concrete; the rest were heavy log construction, buried for some added protection. There were several small observation posts that were linked to divisional artillery by means of field telephones. This strongpoint was subjected to heavy naval bombardment on D-Day. The surviving defenders offered little resistance and the position was overrun by the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, late on June 6, 1944. Most of the concrete structures of this strongpoint still exist. (Artwork by Chris Taylor)
Most of the other major Festung ports had a similar concentration of naval artillery, though often of less imposing size. A typical battery was MKB Vasouy, the 9.Batterie of Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 266 (9./MAA.266) located along the south bank of the Seine River opposite Le Havre on the outskirts of Honfleur. The battery’s mission was to cover the mouth of the Seine River. Its basic armament consisted of four 150mm Tbts.K.L/45 guns, essentially a coastal version of the standard 150mm destroyer gun with an effective range of 18km and a rate of fire of 1.5 rounds per minute. These were enclosed in four M272 Geschützschartenstand (gun casemates) arranged in a line a few hundred meters from the river’s edge. This type of casemate was fairly typical of Kriegsmarine designs but not especially common in France, with only six along the Channel coast and 21 elsewhere including Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. This particular type of casemate was first built in April 1943 and required 760m3 of concrete. The guns were directed from a M262 Leitstand für leichte Seezielbatterie (fire-control bunker for light naval battery) located on a rise on the left of the battery position, connected to each of the four gun casemates by buried electrical cable. Although typical of Kriegsmarine fire-control bunkers, it was not a particularly common type, with only four on the French Channel coast and ten more in the Netherlands. Like most naval fire-control bunkers, it was two stories with an observation post in the lower level, and an optical rangefinder post on the upper level. Inside the bunker was a control room where the target was plotted and the aiming data sent to the gun casemates. The battery had a single munitions bunker on the other end of the battery site, and two personnel bunkers immediately behind the gun casemates. In 1944, the battery was entirely surrounded by barbed wire, and there were four tobruks armed with machine guns for site defense.
The St. Chamond 155mm K420(f) gun was adapted for coastal defense with a special armored mount to fully enclose the embrasure. This example is mounted in an H679 casemate of MKB Gatteville of 7./HKAR.1261 near Cherbourg. (NARA)
Tobruks were also used to form the basis for Panzerstellungen using surplus tank turrets like this French APX-R turret with 37mm gun being used in the strongpoint at St. Marcouf-les-Gougins on the Cotentin coast north of Utah Beach. (NARA)
Army coastal artillery