The Longues-sur-Mer battery (in German: ''Marineküstenbatterie (MKB) Longues-sur-Mer'') was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

German

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

constructed near the French village of

Longues-sur-Mer Longues-sur-Mer () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandie region in northwestern France. The Longues-sur-Mer battery is nearby, part of the Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications. Population See also *Communes of the Calvados d ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The battery was sited on a cliff overlooking the sea and formed a part of Germany's

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

coastal fortifications. It was located between the Allied landing beaches of

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

and shelled both beaches on D-Day (6 June 1944). The battery was captured on June 7 and played no further part in the Normandy campaign. The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain all its original guns in situ. It was listed an historical monument in October 2001, and remains in a good state of conservation.

Construction

The battery is located halfway between

Port-en-Bessin Port-en-Bessin-Huppain () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. The commune contains the two towns of Port-en-Bessin and Huppain. Population History The name ''Huppain'' stems from Norse ...

in the west and

Arromanches-les-Bains Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region of north-western ...

in the east and north of

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

. Construction of the battery - code-named Widerstandsnest (Wn) 48 - began in September 1943 and was completed by April 1944. Although constructed and manned initially by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

, the battery was later transferred to the German army in late 1943. Four

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

s of ''

regelbau The ''Regelbau'' (German for "standard design") were a series of standardised bunker designs built in large numbers by the Germans in the Siegfried Line (german: Westwall) and the Atlantic Wall as part of their defensive fortifications prior to ...

'' (meaning standard) type M272 requiring 600 square metres of concrete and four tons of

steel reinforcement Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. ...

were built each with a 150mm TK C/36 marine gun (manufactured by German-controlled

Škoda Works The Škoda Works ( cs, Škodovy závody, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predece ...

in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia), with a range of approximately and a rate of fire of six to eight shots per minute. The casemates had walls and ceilings over thick. The guns were positioned on a central pivot mount (''Mittelpivotlafette'' - MPL) TL C/36. Behind each gun were rooms containing the shells and charges.

Fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control i ...

was managed from a ''regelbau'' type M262A two-story command post located in front of the guns on the cliff edge. It was equipped some of the most technically advanced firing control systems available in Normandy. It communicated with each gun battery via an armoured electrical communication system. Also situated at the battery were ammunition bunkers and shelters for defending troops. Three 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were placed at the battery with a searchlight. Around the battery was a minefield, barbed wire fences and machine-gun and mortar pits for defence. A Soviet 122 mm K390 cannon was also placed in an open gun pit close to the entrance to the battery.

Garrison

The battery had a garrison of 184 officers and men, under initial Kriegsmarine command were later transferred to the Heer.

Normandy landings

The battery at Longues-sur-Mer was situated between the landing beaches

and

. In the build up to D-Day, the battery was attacked by aircraft on several occasions. On the evening of 5/6 June 1944 the battery was attacked by bombers, little damage was inflicted on the casemates, but bombs severed the armoured communication system. A large amount of the bombs dropped hit a nearby village. The fire control post reverted to visual signals to control some of the guns and this affected their accuracy. The bombing was followed from 05:37 on the morning of the landings by bombardment from the British cruiser ''

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

''. The battery itself opened fire at 06:05, and at 06.20 targeted the headquarters ship for Gold Beach, HMS ''Bulolo'', which retreated out of range. At 08.00 the British cruisers ''Ajax'' and ''

Argonaut The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', ...

'' engaged the battery. By 08.45 no shots were fired by the battery's guns for a time as the Germans undertook repairs. The heaviest damage was caused by the explosion of the ammunition for an

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

, mounted by the Germans on the roof of casemate No.4, which killed several German soldiers. After effecting repairs the battery's guns once again opened fire towards Omaha Beach. The French cruisers '' Georges Leygues'' and '' Montcalm'', assisted by the World War I vintage

dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

USS ''Arkansas'' returned fire on the battery. The return fire knocked out one casemate and damaged two others. The still active fourth gun opened fire intermittently during the afternoon and evening of D-Day but caused little impact on the Allied landings. The battery had fired over 100 shots through the day. The crew of the battery (184 men, half of them over 40 years old) surrendered without a fight to advancing British troops of C Company of the 2nd

Devonshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. In 1958 ...

at midday on June 7.

Advanced Landing Ground B-11

Close to the Longues-sur-Mer battery a temporary

Advanced Landing Ground Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) were temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II during the liberation of Europe. They were built in the UK prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from 6 June 19 ...

(code-named B-11) airstrip was built by the Allies. The airstrip was active between June 21 to September 4, 1944 and used by the 125th Wing of the No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group flying

Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

, and by the French air ace

Pierre Clostermann Pierre Henri Clostermann (28 February 1921 – 22 March 2006) was a World War II French people, French fighter pilot. During the conflict he achieved 33 air-to-air combat victories, earning the accolade "France's First Fighter" from General ...

Gallery of bunker photographs

File:Bunker in Longues-sur-Mer (2).jpg, Command post bunker on the cliff edge File:Atlantic Wall, Longues-sur-Mer (2).jpg, Casemate No. 2 File:Atlantic Wall, Longues-sur-Mer (3).jpg, Casemate No. 3 File:Atlantic Wall, Longues-sur-Mer.jpg, Casemate No. 4 File:Batteries longueville.JPG, Lines of casemates at Longues-sur-Mer

External links

Photos from Longues-sur-Mer BatteryGuide to visiting Longues-sur-Mer Battery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longues-Sur-Mer Battery Atlantic Wall Military history of France during World War II Military history of Normandy Fortifications in France World War II sites in France Tourist attractions in Calvados (department) Monuments historiques of Calvados (department)