Fort Mahon plage

STP · Berck - Le Crotoy K.V.A. D2 · AOK 15 Nord Pas de Calais · France

StP Fort Mahon

Batterie 9./H.K.A.R.1245.

4 x R671 [3] casemates (2 remain).

6 x Open emplacements with 15.5cm SHF(f) with a range of 11 Kilometres. (All removed and replaced by the casemates).

20 x Wellblech ammunition & crew bunkers.

1 x R612 casemate North.

1 x R677 casemate South/East.

1 x R640 casemate for PAK gun (removed).

1 x R636 FCP under construction.

4 x R630 machine gun casemate (2 remain).

4 x 10.5cm Schneider K.331(f).

1 x 3.7cm Pak35/36. 1 x 2cm Flak 30.

3 x 10.5cm K.331(f) may have looked something like this.

StP Fort Mahon

Starting point is at the car park on Avenue de la Plage.

StP Fort Mahon

A plan of where I think all the bunkers may have been.

R636 Fire Control Post under construction.

StP Fort Mahon

From the car park, walking into the sand dunes you can reach one of the two R630 casemates. The R/H is still in position but the L/H version we are not at all sure if its not been removed or covered in sand. The red arrows are the arks of fire of the defending machine guns.

1946 Geoportail

We start at the main car park in the centre of the town..

StP Fort Mahon

In all the undergrowth there is an R630 L/H model. (L/H flanking wall on the left).

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

A very heavy steel plate was bolted to the bunker and then cemented in.

25 January 2020

Gun commander looking through his viewing slot.

StP Fort Mahon

The bolt fitting set into the main bunker concrete and would have had a large nut and washer to hold it in place. About six would have been used..

25 January 2020

A large bolt, this one to hold a steel plate as a roof section but could also be used to hold MG plates.

StP Fort Mahon

Nice to see the writing on walls.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

Inside the gun room where a gun commander, a machine gunner and one ammunition bearer would have to work. There was pobably two more men, one using the hand powered fresh air pump. 1. to remove the MG foul smoke from gun room and 2. if there was a gas attack, filter out the gas.

25 January 2020

A machine gun room behind a steel plate.

StP Fort Mahon

Possible not a recorded Tobruk in the garden and also the concrete German road. I have only noticed this Tobruk from Google maps and did not visit it. The road now vanishes under sand dunes, but would have been invaluable to carry heavy materials and equipment to the bunkers in the dunes.

Google

StP Fort Mahon

A Tobruk can be seen in the now garden of the house.

Google

StP Fort Mahon

Set behind what is now a road running parallel to the sea. These may have been ammunition & crew bunkers for the original batterie of 155 mm SHF414(f) guns with a range of 11 kilometres.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

These could be accommodation for the guns crews and the infantry defence.

22 February 2014

Inside a rather wet Wellblech in Brittany.

StP Fort Mahon

Another Wellblech set into the sand dunes behind the sea front flats.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Walking across the large car park on the beach, the two R671 casemates show up on the sand dunes. Then a walk through the sand dunes and we find an anti-tank wall. Then an R612 facing north. In red are what look like an R630 and a Vf2a bunker that have been (in red) now removed.

1970 Geoportail

4 x 10.5cm K.331(f) may have looked something like this.

StP Fort Mahon

The casemates from the car park.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Here two R671 casemates with 10.5cm guns fitted on a pivot.

26 January 2020

Cement bags pushed into the wet cement and removed when dry, creates a depression in the cement. This breaking up the surface and and acts as camouflage.

StP Fort Mahon

Here two R671 casemates with 10.5cm guns fitted on a pivot.

22 February 2014

The two casemates in the south and the destroyed one in the north.

StP Fort Mahon

Casemate for a pivot mounted 10.5cm K331(f) gun. The gun a French towed artillery piece was mounted on pivot bolted to the floor of the casemate.

22 February 2014

The fourth gun would look like this its 10.5cm K331(f) on a its Lafette. (f) means its a French gun.

StP Fort Mahon

A very heavy mantle in front of the gun position. In an Allied landing situation, these guns would have played havoc with the ships, landing craft and tanks.

22 February 2014

10.5cm casemates, the north one has been removed and the fourth was not built.

StP Fort Mahon

The view the other side.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

The rear entrance.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

The rear entrance where there should have been two heavy doors to close off the rear. These often were not fitted before D-day came along.

22 February 2014

494P2 doors that may have been used here?

StP Fort Mahon

Gun room view.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Looking out of the rear door with John.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Hidden above in the dune.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

The path to the rear door.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Small ammunition niche.

22 February 2014

There are two niches, one would be for the shells and the other the brass case.

StP Fort Mahon

Gun room.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Exhaust pipe to remove fumes from the gun room.

22 February 2014

This is the plan of an R669 showing how the extraction pipe were set into the concrete.

StP Fort Mahon

Looking out to sea.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

2020 visit the sand has filled it a bit more..

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

View from above.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Search light shelter garage.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

There was an R630 machine gun casemate facing north up the beach with a Vf2a (maybe) crew quarters.

22 February 2014

R630 bunker with a large steel plate for a heavy machine gun.

StP Fort Mahon

Possible OB for a field gun.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Bomb crater, 04 June 1944 the American Air Force bombed this coastline and then on the morning of 6th June 1944 they bombed the Normandy beaches..

1947

Two R630 bunkers covering the back of the village and may be built over. I think when we did see one from the road.

StP Fort Mahon

There is quite a lot of concrete remains laying around.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

Anti-tank wall in the middle of sand dunes. Trying to understand why an anti-tank wall is placed between two sand dunes, but we are seeing it 77 years later.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

MKB Bunkertour members attempting to cross the wall.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

It was a hard walk accross the sand dunes to get here.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

Rear entrance of the R612.

25 January 2020

An R612 was designed to take a field gun of 7.5cm size, it has a flanking wall on the seaward side to protect the guns embrasure.

StP Fort Mahon

Note the flanking wall.

25 January 2020

R612 casemate gun room with two ammunition niches each side.

StP Fort Mahon

Looking into the gun room now full of sand.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

Right hand ammunition niche.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

When the gun fires, a fan is switched on and sucks out the foul air from the gun room via this armoured vent.

25 January 2020

The venting pipes to remove foul air from the casemate.

StP Fort Mahon

The sand dunes are moving all the time and the front of the casemate has been completely covered over.

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

25 January 2020

StP Fort Mahon

At the end of this road and set on the promenades an R640 casemate for the 3.7cm Pak35/36. This other end an R630 machine gun casemate..

1946 Geoportail

I think this is the R640 that was on the beach.

StP Fort Mahon

At the end of this road and set on the promenades an R640 casemate for the 3.7cm Pak35/36.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Here they have been removed off the beach and dumped. Also many wooden stakes.

Geoportail 1946

StP Fort Mahon

Looking down the beach note the aerial fittings on the other-side of the fence.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

At the end of this row houses is the R630 a machine gun casemate with an armoured plate.

22 February 2014

Plan of an R640 from an Allied drawn plan.

The type of metal plate that would have been used to cover the embrasure.

StP Fort Mahon

At the end of this row houses is the R630 a machine gun casemate with an armoured plate.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

The Tobruk allows 360degree view around the bunker and can even be used as an anti-aircraft role.

22 February 2014

This is a 1946 air photo of the R630 with no houses about.

StP Fort Mahon

There are some memorials on the side of this bunker.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

A PLAQUE remembering five French soldiers who crossed the English Channel in canoes to join the British war effort has been unveiled at Beachy Head. The five young men from the French region of Picardie overcame the odds to traverse the 60-mile stretch of sea on September 16, 1941. The brave soldiers, StP Fort Mahon Plage ..... g bas Reynold Lefebvre, Christian and Guy Richard, and Jean-Paul and Pierre Lavoix, were determined to flee occupied France to fight on with British troops. Now their heroic efforts have been officially recognised through a special plaque, commissioned by the town of Fort-Mahon Plage, close to where the men set off, and located at Beachy Head. The Mayors of Eastbourne, Cllr Mike Thompson, and of Fort-Mahon Plage, M Alain Baillet and Mme Yvette Bonnet, joined other dignitaries including Philippe Lavoix, the son of Pierre Lavoix, for the official unveiling. Two of the five men are still alive. Jean-Paul Lavoix, 88, who lives in Kerlouan (Brittany) broke his leg three months ago and was not able to attend the event while Guy Richard, 87, now lives in the South West of France. Eastbourne Herald news paper.

22 February 2014

StP Fort Mahon

Covering the inland southern flank is this R677, we did not visited it. R677 casemate for an 8.8cm Pak 43/41 holding one of the best German anti-tank guns with phenomenal power and would have taken out any Allied tank, if it had tried to cross in front of it.

Google

StP Fort Mahon

26 January 2020