StP Gâvres, Lo335 M.A.A.

Marine Kusten Artillery Batterie 3./264 Gâvres. The guns cover the eastern entrance to the port of Lorient.

Now a camping site, there are lots of bits and pieces all over the field.

StP Gâvres is made up of four Wn's, L0335 a battery of four casemates. Lo361 a Flak battery covering Lorient. Lo362 an old French fort and Lo112 a defence site for the town.

Tobruk outer defence. Behind the M162a and the four M170's.

I think this was an anti-aircraft machine gun post.

A fire control post for a light battery.

Here a target would be seen, the range and bearing measured, then all the details would be sent to the guns buy telephone or if the land line was broken by radio.

The four casemates laid out on the point.

Set between the fire control post and the first casemates this H622 twin group bunker was built for the guns crew living accommodation. Each Casemate has an R622 near to it.

The gun was fitted onto a swivel mount set into the concrete floor. A 10.5cm S.K. C/32 gun was fitted inside.

Gun room.

Door to the left is through to the cartridge room, then a plinth to rest ammunition on?, a window(aperture) to pass through cartridges. Next a manhole to a small basement room to store fired cartridges. Next window for shells to pass through. Then another plinth and a door to the shell room.

Split doors were used on ships so that in an emergency with rubble or other material stopping the bottom door, the top will open allowing escape. Note the original gas seal the white tape around the periphery.

Cartridge room. Looking from the gun room door towards the rear close combat defence position covering the rear entrance.

View through the ammunition slot, the view an ammunition handler would have had.

Close combat defence room.

A 422Po01 type close combat window.

Steps leading out the back. The cut away on the left & right of the stairs is the fitting for a radio and telescopic aerial.

Shell room with slot to allow shells to be passed through. Door to the left takes you to the rear entrance, the next door takes you out into the gun room.

Passage on the right side to a close combat defence covering the exit.

Close combat defence room covering the rear entrance. Note the shelving as this area would have been used for storage of all the odd bits of kit all soldiers keep around..

Close combat window 48p8, you can just see the gas seal now rotting around the opening.

Rear door another 882P7.

Gun room & I am not exactly sure what these were for? possibly to rest the shells on.

Gun room, when the gun fired the gun room would fill with smoke, a powerful fan would suck out the gases via the three vents [in red]. [in green] is where the main buried cable arrived from the fire control post. A panel would have been set into the wall and a telephone and maybe dials to inform guns crew of range and ammunition (HE, Smoke or AP) .

Gun room looking out to sea.

Gun room aiming marks.

M270 Turm 1.

The building plan of an M70 shows no here Tobruk's, here in Brittany many Tobruk's were added to a bunker. Tobruk was a very good close defence and also for close anti-aircraft.

Left door is the access to the Tobruk. The next door is the rear entrance. There would have been steps made in concrete up to the door. Next the close combat window who's machine gun covered the rear door.

Two crew rooms and a gas lock. In the gas lock would be a shower to wash off any mustard gas (if used). This would house the crew of one of the guns crew.

An ammunition depot for the guns with - Large rooms : - Left - shell room. Middle & right - cartridge. Small rooms : - Top to bottom : 2 x fuze rooms. 2 x ammunition (small arms ammunition [rifle, machine gun, etc.] I found no heating so the chimneys may have been ventilation to keep the ammunition dry.

This is the entrance of an M145 at Gi09 'Cosel' Gironde North and gives an idea of what this bunker is like inside.

Cartridge store.

Passageway between rooms. This is the only German bunker that I have been in that has arched doorways.