WN233 Tot de haut - Leitstand for StP234 Bat. Hamburg

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Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

A small village in Fermanville, two Villas side by side, then a war came and they were requisitioned. WHY?

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

The Villas and the Hauptleitstand/SK attached.

IGNF 1972

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

A 1958 air photo.

IGNF 1958

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Red - Defence perimeters. Yellow - part of the linked outer Cherbourg defence line. Numbers - the Wn & StP sites. MF - Minefields StP234 Batterie Hamburg and its four 24cm ex ships guns, when constructed could fire 360°, but by 1943 and Hitler's directive to casemate all guns. there was a massive drive to build walls and a roof over them. Wn233 which we are covering here was originally a private house of a wealthy Cherbourgeois businessman. With excellent views over the north coast. So in 1940 when the Germans arrived they found the two houses in Tot de haut, ideal for their uses. One they convert gradually into a fire control post by placing a protective wall around the flat roof. And placing a range finder on it and probably used the house as an office and they strengthening the cellar for overhead protection. Then later gradually build a Hauptleitstand/SK to control the four guns of StP234 Hamburg. Built to SK (Sonderkonstruktionen) standard, was gradually built with a few small bunker/shelters in the gardens and fields around. StP201 a,b,c & d. Cap Lévi 'Seeadler', a radar station and defence area and when 'Hamburg' engaged the Allied navy on the 23 June 1944. They used Cap Lévi's Fu.MO 214 Würzburg-see Riese (Ozet 557) radar serving as a relay to the Mammut Fu.MO 51 at the Asselins station in Cape La Hague. (I am slightly unsure about this. As most of the radars on the coast had been badly disabled by Allied air attacks?) needs more research. Some Info from Fortifications et Armaments & Axis Hist. Forum.

German plan June 1944

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa Erika We really start with some pictures from 'Archives départementales de la Manche' that I found, that shows the house next door and the arrival of German troops to the area in 1940.

Archives départementales de la Manche ------ Google

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

These contemporary photos were taken by Fonds Karl Herbst. Probably Cherbourg central station, soldiers arrive to garrison the Manche area in early 1940.

Villa Erika
Today

Archives départementales de la Manche

In the kit are canteens, blankets, K98 rifles, haversacks and many brown paper, tied with string, parcels.

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa Erika Gardening has started already.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Troops out on a route march in light order. Keeping fit was very important.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

One of the small Vf bunkers/shelters that were built in and around the garden.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Wooden barrack huts placed under trees to help camouflage them. Not sure where this is.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Inside one of the barrack huts with rough tables and chairs. Standard issue wooden cupboards behind, they hold a soldiers complete kit.

A good photo of a cupboard and all its kit laid out.

Archives départementales de la Manche ---- Bundesarchiv

This is the inside of a cupboard showing how the kit was laid out.

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa (I believe this maybe la Villa La Brise) A soldier on lookout from the flat roof of the Villa that will be turned into an observation post. No work has been carried out yet. Maybe this had given the authorities the idea for using this Villa, due to its prominent views.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa (I believe this maybe la Villa La Brise) The front or south view of the Villa, with an interesting layout of a central stairway and bays either side. Then a matching brick (probably lined in concrete) wall was built on the flat roof to allow observation and a range finder to be placed.

axishistory.com

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa (I believe this maybe la Villa La Brise) Another view of the Villa showing the roof observation and part of the range finder sticking out. Here to the right of the building is a small bunker. An interesting sloping wall, unusual in most German bunker designs??

axishistory.com

The usual bunker design has vertical walls and a rounded edge.

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Villa (I believe this maybe la Villa La Brise) The north side. Here it looks as though the Hauptleitstand/SK has been completed and the Todt workers are starting to tidy the area up after construction.

Archives départementales de la Manche

Hauptleitstand/SK - Control Room.
Meßstellung - Measuring Post.
FCP - Fire control post.
. — Hauptleitstand/SK - Control Room. Meßstellung - Measuring Post. FCP - Fire control post. .

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

This a post war visit by the French military to record the German defences. The use of an officer stood in front, is normal and not a modern selfie. Its to give scale to the photo. Also the range finder was moved off the roof of the Villa and placed in an open space on the Hauptleitstand/SK and now has been damaged and pushed over the wall. Also the French Officer is looking at the 5cm KwK gun that would have been used in its defence. A Tobruk was added somewhere.

SHM

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

A modern photo showing the Hauptleitstand/SK in recent times.

fortifications-et-armements,clickforum.fr

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

US Army Signals Corps

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

SHM - Emplacement - Fermanville. Utilisation - P.C. de Tir. Hauptleitstand/SK/SK An SHM plan of the Hauptleitstand/SK showing : -

1 - Observation.

2 - Computing room.

3 - Connection to Villa.

4 - Open area for obs. & range finder space.

SHM

Over the time the Germans were here, there were at least four observation bunkers of some kind. The Hauptleitstand/SK was finished, this plan of one set into a small gun Ringstand was somewhere in the area and there was to be an M178 Fire control post for medium and heavy batteries.

M178 the foundations were dug and then the war ended.

Wn233 Tot de haut Hauptleitstand/SK for StP234 Batterie Hamburg

Batterie Hamburg plan of the Hauptleitstand here and Wn156 Peilstand Ost and Wn241 Peilstand West. Peilstand - Bearing of measuring post. Hauptleitstand - Main Control Room.

NARA