Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

K.V.Gruppe Cotentin Ost · AOK 7 Normandy · France

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

4., Grenadier-Regiment 919.

2 x Vf2a.

3 x ammunition bunkers .

2 x Feldmässig.

1 x Bf.58c Tobruk.

1 x Bf.69 mortar ringstand.

1 x 1694 ringstand.

2 x U Tobruk ringstands Pz.Drehturm (Turret).

1 x 5cm KwK L/60 Pak.

1 x 3.7cm KwK144(f) FT turret.

1 x M.G.311(f) FT Turret.

2 x 8cm s.GrW.34

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

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Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

The view of Wn11 from the road running north with the first U ringstand for a 7.5mm s.MG311(f) Reibel machine gun.

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Renault FT tank turret with a 7.5mm s.MG311(f).

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Plan of Wn11 showing an overlay plan over today´s fields.

Plan

Two FT turrets and U Tobruks were the corner stones of the defence with back up of two 8cm mortars and a 5cm KwK Pak.

Bf69 mortar Tobruk with one ringstand for the 8cm Mortar and one Tobruk for a machine gun and artillery spotter.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Date of Construction.

21 October 2004

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

My plan showing most buildings intact. Barbed wire and mine field Mf.55 covered the rear and a mine field Mf.3 and beach defences out on the sand. Trenches made it easy to get from living bunkers to the fighting positions.

Plan

Infantry of the defences building Rommel asparagus.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

1947 air photo showing the defences still in place.

Geoportail 1947

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

The German plan of the Wn's in the area and the minefields.

Allied Bigot Map

An officer sat next to a map like the one above.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

GSGS 4347 31/20NE - 3900 Foucarville an allied air photo showing up the defences, the barbed wire can be seen here.

GSGS 4347 31/20NE - 3900 Foucarville

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

The sort of beach defences that may have been placed out in front of Wn11.

Int

Tree trunks with an added old shell attached to the top. The shell would explode on contact with a landing barge.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

U Tobruk for an FT Renault tank turret.

09 October 2013

Plan showing where the tanks turret would be bolted down.

Four ammunition niches either side of the passageway into the bunker.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Anti-tank wall attached to the bunker looking north.

09 October 2013

Plan of the layout with a trench entranceway with dwarf walls allowing a safer way in and out.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

The view the gunners would have had.

09 October 2013

Renault FT turret with a Reibel 7.3mm M.G.311(f).

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

An Nr1694 ringstand looking very good in its dominant position with a 360° view. The defenders added sand bags around the front side to give themselves a bit of cover and this could have been done when they were rudely awoken on the morning of D-Day to suddenly find an armada sitting out to sea bombarding them. Also USAAF Marauders flew in and bombed down the beach. We do know they hit Wn05 very hard.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

This is the ringstand with the 5cm KwK L/60 without a shield and a small wall of sand bags built up on the seaward side. The gun has been turned possibly to cover an attack from the rear. The first two Wn's05/08 were taken on D-Day and as the beach expanded that day Wn's09/10. Then on D+1 the Americans started to attack up the beach. Next was Wn11 Foucarville Mauger. The 3 Battalion of the 22 Inf. Div. with tanks moved up the road and the infantry skirted through the inundated area and attacked from the back. Supported by fire drome the Navy, mortars and the tanks. They allowed the Americans to get quite close and then opened fire. It turned out to be a very slow and costly battle.

Page 7 Utah Beach to Cherbourg

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Nr1694 ringstand & the Vf2a from behind.

21 October 2004

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

The Nr1644 ringstand on the left and the entrance to the Vf2a on the right and a trench would have been dug around and sand bagged up.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Vf2a shelter for the 5cm KwK crew. The slot in the side of the bunker I believe is where a heater chimney came out.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Vf2a. The black is a tar paint to stop the ingress of water when the bunker was covered in earth and turfs.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Vf2a passage.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Crew room. There are two pipes one in the back wall and the other in the right hand wall may have been for a heater.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Bf69 mortar Tobruk. The large ringstand is for an 8cm Gr.W.34 French captured mortar. There was also a second mortar in a field mortar pit.

09 October 2013

The Tobruk was used as an observation for the mortar and/or a machine gun position.

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

A second mortar in a field mortar pit.

Bundesarchiv

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

A Bf.58c Tobruk covering the southern rear side. This was very open ground ans the next defence south is quite a long way away. Earth would have covered the roof of the Tobruk with the ringstand clear and a trench connecting it to the other bunkers.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Two rooms, one larger and one smaller. A trench reached here and being in the middle could be accessed from all the Wn easily.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Vf ammunition bunker.

21 October 2004

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Looking inside with the main room and a second room at the far end.

06 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Just inside the door on the left another store area.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

An entrance with a stronger front face. A bunker for around six men.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Looking inside where six men may have slept and lived.

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

It is now very hard to enter this bunker but our first visit it was very easy, I have lost the original picture (full size) and only have the smaller pictures here

09 October 2013

Wn11 Foucarville Mauger

Trench entrance. It is now very hard to enter this bunker but our first visit it was very easy, I have lost the original picture (full size) and only have the smaller pictures here like this one as a barn has been built around it.

21 October 2004