Wn17 de Colleville ("Hohe 61" ) [Hillman], PART1 K.V.U.Gr Riva-Bella, K.V.Gr Caen, KVR H1, Normandy.

Stab Gren. Rgt. 736. Stab I./A.R.1716. 1 x R605 Gun bunker ii. 2 x R608 Battalion & Regimental Headquarters. 3 x Vf/Bf58c Tobruk's. 1 x Water cistern. 1 x Peilstand [observation]. 1 x Cuisine. 1 Brunnenbunker (well water pump). 1 x Vf67 Circular position for tank turret. 9 x Unterstands. 1 x 7.5cm F.K.231(f) 2 x 4.7 cm Pak 181 (f).

Plan ---- Here I am covering the white circle.

R605 Gun bunker. A double garage bunker for anti-tank guns. There were two 4.7 cm Pak 181 (f). One in a fixed position looking north and the other in a mobile role. The bunker may have been for them or it was intended to have two larger 8.8cm Pak installed.

R605 Gun bunker. The track down into the garage. A safe store for two anti-tank guns with crews quarters in the middle. This bunker was not finished as D-Day came along before it could be done. Probably somewhere between Caen and Paris were the two sets of doors waiting to be delivered here.

R605 Gun bunker.

R605 Gun bunker.

R605 Gun bunker. F.Pz.G.6025 Rechtsausf 434P01 armoured door. This view of the door is the inside with all the fittings on it. Note the tank wheels leaning against the wall.

R605 Gun bunker. Battle damage, I have seen this sort of damage before, usually from a Sherman's 75mm armoured piercing.

R605 Gun bunker Tobruk defence. The bunker was made in Bauform using a shaped concrete block as shuttering and then between the outer and inner wall, concrete would have been poured in. A quicker and cheaper method of construction.

R605 Gun bunker. Inside the Tobruk.

Plan.

Trench bridge. To allow heavy transport to cross a trench a trench bridges were constructed.

Cook house I would say kitchen. Plan.

Cousines.

Cousines. Trench and trench covered entrance.

Cousines. Kitchen.

Cousines. Inside.

Poste de Garde Nord. Plan.

Poste de Garde Nord. The steps down to the guard house.

Poste de Garde Nord Trench entrance.

Poste de Garde Nord. The main room.

Poste de Garde Nord. The second room possibly a detention room for defaulters.

Poste de Garde Nord. Window with a shaft down just to allow light in.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. You can just see the Cupola to the right of the trees. "Hohe 61", Cote 61 or hill 61. 61meters above sea level.

R608 Battalion & Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. The view N/W toward the beach.

Deployment of the 736. Grenadier Regiment at the time of D-Day. This is where the all the separate companies would have been. This Regiment was decimated on D-Day, those that were captured and got back to England as POW's survived. Most were killed in the fighting and any that managed to retreat probably were killed in the latter fighting for Normandy.

Deployment of the 736. Grenadier Regiment at the time of D-Day. Two companies up front in the Wn's and StP's on the coast, one covering Wn14 and the fourth in reserve.

R608 Battalion & Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Infantry observation cupola type 749p3 for the PC (Command Post) of the Gren.Rgt.736.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Looking into the bunker entrance.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Tobruk entrance and right of the main entrance.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Inside the Tobruk with range markers painted on the inside. A tube for the Sprachrohr to contact inside of the bunker. These Tobruk's held off the British advance for quite a long time.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Note the yellow camouflage still on the wall.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Armoured aerial tube cover. The cover twists to the left and lifts off. Then the aerial could be wound up to its full height.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. The rear entrance covered by the close combat defence embrasure covering passage.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Attached to the back of the bunker is a water reservoir. A standard bunker water tank.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Most of these were probably taken out and used by every farmer in the area but here and one other I know of in Noirmoutier are still in place.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. A small pump engine would have brought water from the well behind and pump it into the tank.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. The second entrance looking down the steps at the close combat embrasure covering the entrance. The gate is a 491P2 Gittertür (Screen Door).

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Recess may be an anti gas shower??

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. The second entrance and 434P01. 6025 type. When the bunker was excavated due to it being used as a dumping ground after the war, it was found that there were no fittings what so ever. The French Navy found out what they were doing and offered them all sorts of items from their becoming redundant old U-Boat pens of Brest & Lorient.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. The stairs out of the first entrance with the Gittertür at the top of the stairs. The yellow camouflage paint still on the wall.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. R608/SK - the SK is “SK” (Sonder Konstruction) a standard design and named bunker but one that has been adapted, this one has a water tank, water pump and a passage with a cupola. All extra and above what normally would have been their. These large bunkers had only just been built and were brand new. They must have taken many months to build and they lasted half a day in battle.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. I believe this to be the escape route out.

R608 Battalion Regimental Headquarters for the Gren.Rgt.736. Infantry observation cupola type 749p3 for the PC (Command Post) of the Gren.Rgt.736. Not a defence cupola but only used to view out of. Three viewing slits around the sides were fitted with a special type of fortress binoculars. The cupola was brought either from French military stock or taken out of a Maginot fort in eastern France.

Zisterne. An open emergency water supply.

R608/SK of the 1./A.R.1716. We are now at the second R608/SK this one was for the 1./A.R.1716 HQ to manage all the artillery batteries of the 1716 Regiment.

I./Artillery Regiment 1716. To the best of my ability I have plotted where I think all the gun sites that came under Artillery Regiment 1716.

I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The positions of the four artillery batteries of the I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Stab/ I./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716 Colomby-sur-Thaon (Wn17 de Colleville PART1) 1./ I./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716 ‘Merville Battery’ 2./ I./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716 Strong point WN16 (‘Daimler’ at Colleville) 3./ I./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716 Briéville 4./ I./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716 Strong point WN12 (‘Château D’eau Battery’ at Ouistreham)

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Plan.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Entrance into the Tobruk.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Inside the Tobruk.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The view out of the Tobruk where the Machine gunners held of the Allied advance.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The Tobruk.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Rear entrance.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The first entrance into the bunker.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Gas lock.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Radio aerial fitting. The aerial would slot in here and a handle to wined up the aerial to its full height.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Close combat defence embrasure possibly a 57P8.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The second rear entrance and it looks here that there was quite a battle that went on. Many hits from small arms.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The second entrance with plenty of bullet marks.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. The water pump house and tank rooms.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Pump house.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. Water tank room now removed.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. A Selfie. Mike and I photographing the aerial armoured cover in the early morning sun.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716. These Cupolas were removed after the war and scrapped and were replaced to look like the originals. From here the artillery battle would have been fought at the start of D-Day when the first ships were seen off the coast.

R608/SK CP for I./Artillery Regiment 1716.

Unterstand. Steps down into the Unterstand. A very basic style bunker.

Unterstand. Looking into the entrance.

Unterstand. The escape

Unterstand. Second crew room with a window to the left. These bunkers may have been started to be built in 1941 to 1943 and the larger bunkers came on in 1943/1944.

Unterstand. Second crew room with a window to the now on the right..

Unterstand. The first crew room.

Unterstand. Entrance/way out with a large drain in place and the steps up.

Well bunker. This is the well bunker to draw water for the Wn defence.

Well bunker. The entrance down.

Well bunker. Plan.

Well bunker. The entrance.

Well bunker. The well.

Well bunker. And the way out.