Wn01 Merville Batterie

BATTERIE · K.V.Gruppe River-Bella (Sword & Juno Beaches) · AOK 7 Normandy · France

Wn01 Merville Batterie was sighted so its 10cm field guns could cover the mouth of the river Orne and the important canal to Caen where shipping could use the port facilities.

27 November 2013

A 1947 air photo of the canal and river.

Situated to the south of the D514 and sign posted well.

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Wn01 Merville Batterie,

1./A.R.1716.
1 x R669 Casemate.
2 x R612 Casemate.
1 x R611 Casemate.
2 x Vf7b Ammunition bunker.
1 x R502 Twin group shelter.
1 x R501 Gruppe shelter.
4 x 10cm le.F.H14/19(t).

27 November 2013

R502 twin group shelter with a periscope room.

Air Photo Just Before D-day. Before the ground assault on the 6th June 1944, the RAF with 99 Lancaster's bombed the battery for ten minuets, previous to that the area had seen quite a lot of bombing which damage and killed several civilians. The yellow circle looks to be a small defence area just outside the battery probably to cover a blind spot in the defence.

27 November 2013

10cm le.F.H. 14/19(t) horse drawn field howitzer.

Plan of the Battery.
Turm 1 R611.
Turm 2 R612.
Turm 3 R612,
Turm 4 R669.

Plan

Photographic Intelligence. From the document: -

Map sheet G.S.G.S

Map.Ref. Merville

4 Medium (casemates) 4347/40/16NE 155775 .

Photographic Intelligence picture.

Parking & Entrance. When you arrive there is a shop and a small entrance fee.

01 November 2010

Reconnaissance photo taken before the casemates were completed..

01 November 2010

USAAF C47 Dakota. An ex-9th Air force plane, was used in four major air landings in Europe and ended up in Sarajevo in 2007.

01 November 2010

The three main British planes used on D-day for airborne forces.
C47 Dakota an RAF Battle of Britain flight. — The three main British planes used on D-day for airborne forces. C47 Dakota an RAF Battle of Britain flight.

RAF Sterling was the mainstay of parachute aircraft on D-day for the British and as a glider tug.

RAF Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle was used as a glider tug but was getting very out dated and worn by D-day.

R611 Casemate for Field Gun. There were 58 R611's built in the AOK 7 area which covers lower Normandy and Brittany..

01 November 2010

R611 view from the rear door to the embrasure.

Crew room. Inside this casemate some dioramas have been set up. Here in one of the ammunition spaces and showing how the crew would have lived in other bunkers around the site. You enter a door which is covered by a close combat defence embrasure, through a passage which also has a close combat defence embrasure, turn right then left into the crew room.

01 November 2010

R611 crew room with the second close combat defence embrasure in the wall covering the passage way..

close combat defence embrasure and looks like a 483p2 type.

Gun room with another diorama of the guns crew and how they would have worked. Throughout the daytime a sound and light show tells the story of the battle for the battery. It was very good and gripping. The sound is so authentic to make you think they are firing the gun and also bombers going over and being attacked by paratroops.

01 November 2010

R611 showing the flanking walls and the grass covering.

01 November 2010

An air photo of this casemate, some very close bombing.

Interestingly the R611 was designed to have a steel plate that could close off the gun room from external firing. Here it looks as though the plate has not been fitted?

The guns were 10cm le.F.H14/19(t) Skoda's from Czechoslovakia. They were also horse drawn artillery and the horses would have been kept on farms close by. Allied intelligence at the time thought they were a 15cm battery and rated it as more dangerous than it actually was and that is why it was picked out for a paratroop attack in the early hours of D-day.

01 November 2010

This is the R611 casemate with a small direct hit on the roof and another right on its left side..

The other three casemates.

01 November 2010

I believe the open emplacements were covered over in earth to hide them from the air. The open emplacements pre date the casemates. After heavy bombing an order came down from Hitler to place all artillery into casemates and this started in late 1943.

01 November 2010

An air photo as you see its hard to see the open emplacement.

A picture of a field gun in an open emplacement.

Laid out so a gun can sit on a hard concrete base with a centre that the gun can pivot around. Ready ammunition store cupboards around the outside.

01 November 2010

Original ammunition & boxes have been placed here to show how it would have looked.

01 November 2010

26-07-1941

01 November 2010

Ammunition storage was in large semi sunk bunkers with usually two rooms,

01 November 2010

How it may have been laid out with probably two rooms, one for case and the other for shells, also a smaller one for fuze's.

Trenches were dug around the battery and where they cut through the road, a bridge was put over the top.

01 November 2010

Wn01 Merville Batterie

A 2cm Flak was set up on the top of the kitchen.

01 November 2010

Underneath a kitchen on the top a 2cm Flak gun.

Wn01 Merville Batterie

R501 Group shelter.

01 November 2010

The plan of an H501 group shelter with added Tobruk defence. A single room with a gas lock and entrance. Designed in 1939.

A plan of an H502 the other crew shelter here.

Wn01 Merville Batterie

Aerial protective sleeve 735P3.

01 November 2010

How it was fitted into the bunker and the telescopic aerial could be hired and lowered by a cranked handle.

Wn01 Merville Batterie

A potted History : The 9th Battalion tasked with the destruction of the Merville battery, and command by Lieutenant-Colonel Otway. The Lancaster's came in and bombed missing every bunker but killed a few cows. The parachute drop was all over the place and few Para's rendezvoused at the battery. They managed to take the battery with a bitter fight and then left the area. The Germans then came back and for several days continued to pound the beach. Why did the airborne leave so quickly? well at a predetermined time the large ships were to start bombarding the battery.

01 November 2010

Wn01 Merville Batterie

06:00, Otway gave the order to retire to the next part of his mission, with a little less than a hundred men and a few German prisoners.
Leutnant Steiner who was at Franceville come strait back to the battery and found that the site is littered with corpses English and German. He only found 6 of his 130 able-bodied men. Merville Battery was not completely silenced by the Para's. On the afternoon of 6 June No.1 and No.2 guns were able to fire on sword beach.

On the 7 June in the afternoon 3 Commando attack the battery and heavy fighting ensued but they had to retreat.

01 November 2010

Wn01 Merville Batterie

01 November 2010