StP Dannes plage
This defence was laid out to block an exit from the beach. This is one of the beaches where the German thought D-Day would come. So they defended it quite well and were also starting to beef up the defences by adding more Wn's in between.
Barbed wire pig tail defence.
Wn03 slotted in below StP Dannes plage.
Barbed wire defence.
StP Dannes plage
StP Dannes plage
The German plan of their defence along this coast.
Hasso - a large mine/torpedo storage area.
Waldlager Dannes - StP Gruppe Mont St-Frieux complex.
Bttr - batterie of guns below St. Cécile.
17cm K18.
12.2cm K390(r).
75mm F.K. 231(f).
StP Dannes plage
6.Kompanie, II.Bataillon, Grenadier, Regiment, 49th Infantrie Division. (1944).
1 x R612 casemate.
1 x R667 casemate.
6 x Vf58c Tobruks.
1 x R502
twin group bunker.
1 x Vf/Pak garage.
1 x Wellblech bunker.
7 x Feldmässig.
1 x 7.5cm F.K.
1 x 5cm KwK L/60 Pak.
R502 twin group bunker.
R667 casemate.
R612 casemate.
StP Dannes plage
Car Park.
StP Dannes plage
The road to the beach.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
The first Tobruk visited. Also attached by a brick/concrete trenches to an underground bunker of some time.
Plan.
Tobruk's could also be used as an observation.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
Details
Plan.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
I think this is a Vf8 Tobruk type.
Vf8 Tobruk.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
Looking down into the machine gunners space.
Plan.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
Trenches leading to a bunker of some type. There were at least 7 x Feldmässig. This could be one of the, Feldmässig were none standard concrete/brick or earth bunker. It looks like the like the trench leads down into a bunker of some type.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
The entrance into the bunker.
How it may have looked.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
Down in the trench.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruk
Trench back into the Tobruk.
Tobruk.
StP Dannes plage
Plage bunkers
The face of StP Dannes plage with an R667 and an R612 further down the beach.
R667 Casemate.
R612 casemate.
StP Dannes plage
R667
The rear entrance of the R667 casemate for a 5cm KwK L/60 Pak gun. Now turned into a pedestal gun but originally a tank gun converted as it became redundant for tanks. The L/60 with a muzzle break was the final model gun. Very good for shooting at landing craft and Allied tanks.
Plan.
5cm KwK L/60 Pak.
5cm rounds.
StP Dannes plage
R667
The rear entrance into the bunker with square shoot for the spent ammunition to exit the casemate.
5cm at Wn61 Omaha Beach with plenty of spent ammunition lying around.
StP Dannes plage
R667
Rear entrance.
StP Dannes plage
R667
Gun room now full of sand.
How it would have looked.
Floor mounting for the gun.
StP Dannes plage
R667
The seward view an invader would have seen.
StP Dannes plage
R667
The flanking wall and gun embrasure.
Plan.
StP Dannes plage
R667
StP Dannes plage
R612
Further down the beach is the R612.
Plan.
R612 casemate for a Field Kannon.
StP Dannes plage
R612
The seward side of bunker.
7.5cm F.K.
7.5cm F.K.
Guns crew.
StP Dannes plage
R612
The embrasure bricked up.
Gun room.
Plan.
Gun room.
StP Dannes plage
Tobruks on the beach
There were at least six Tobruk's here and I have found four but only visited two.
Plan, Tobruk on the beach..
Tobruk south.
Plan, Tobruk south.
Tobruk north.
Plan, Tobruk north.
StP Dannes plage
If D-Day had happened where it was expected, Here. It would probably been here, with wide beaches and nice open sand dunes behind. The artillery around here was awsum and that would have been one of the downfalls, as so much would have been fired at the landing craft as they approached.
After the Dieppe raid, the Allies new that attacking a port was
suicide. So this would have been an ideal beach to have a landing on.
StP Dannes plage
Pak garage
There was a Pak garage, a concrete structure to house probably a 3.7cm or 5cm Pak gun. This would have added mobile fire power around the StP and could have been used on or close to the beach in a prepared position or inland to cover the rear from attack.
Plan.
3.7cm Pak in action.
5cm Pak38.
Vf5a Pak garage that may have looked.
StP Dannes plage
Pak garage
Possibly a crew entrance to a Feldmässig attached to the Pak garage.
Pak & garage.
Pak Garage.
StP Dannes plage
Pak garage
StP Dannes plage
R502
R502 twin group bunker for up to 30 men.
Plan.
R502 bunker.
R502 bunker inside.
StP Dannes plage
R502
Defensive Tobruk.
AA use of a Tobruk.
StP Dannes plage
Memorial
Testament
If destiny grants me only a short career of combatant, I thank the eye for having been able to give my life to the liberation of France.
Let it be said to my mother that I have always been very happy and grateful that I have had the opportunity to serve God, country and those whom I love, and that whatever happens, I will always be near her London 1943.
RENÉ MOUCHOTTE
Memorial.
StP Dannes plage
The view on to Wn03.
StP Dannes plage