Kabelschaltstelle Banville

All the photos of the Kabelschaltstelle are kindly sent to me by Jean-Peirre Gabriel. There are many Kabelschaltstelle on the Atlantikwall, we find them all along the coast. They were the connections for the German military telephone system.

 

Behind the tree on the right is a Kabelschaltstelle which connected cables linking the Wn's along the beach to a HQ to the rear and Artillerie batteries in the area.

This is the German artillery map for the Courseulles area. An artillery forward observer by using a field telephone could call down artillery fire on pre-determined targets, from Artillerie in the rear areas. The pre-determined targets were the red circles & squares named Oldenburg, Nordheim & Mainz. The batteries of guns were 3/989 batterie & 2/989 batterie, of 4 x 12.2cm sFH396(f) each with their Schwere-Artillerie-Abteilung 989 CP: at Revieres. Remembering that although I have plotted to the best I can. The artillery was moved around at a moments notice and were in field positions and well camouflaged. This is what caught out the Americans on Omaha beach. The batteries were not seen by air reconnaissance, to their cost. So I may not be as accurate as I wish to be.

The concrete shape is designed to allow air to pass through an opening venturi and create a flow of fresh air into the box. On this one there does not seem to have been a Venturi properly added.

Plan of a Kabelschaltstelle this part is sunk into the ground.

 

This is the kabelschaltstelle manhole cover for StP354 Casernments d'Auderville Laye at the Auderville Laye eBatterie. Railway or Eisenbahn batterie, you can see on the left side a bracket to lock the cover open.

Man hole cover now missing.

Man hole cover now missing.

Steel steps down into the chamber. Inside the chamber cables would have come in and be joined up to boxes inside.

A plan of how a cable chamber connections may have looked like.

Allied plan of a Kabelschaltstelle.

Weekly Intelligence Report of specially graded information about the Neptune area, issued with the corresponding T.I.S. MARTIAN REPORTS (see Roll No. 52) from No.75 onwards, but on a very restricted distribution and to Intelligence Staffs only. This is where the above information came from.