Normandy - Longues-sur-Mer Batterie

Our next stop up the coast was Longues-sur-Mer Gun Battery. Longues-sur-Mer is a small Norman town, known for its German coastal battery that attacked ships on D-Day. This area has 4 German casemates built to guard seaborne attacks. It also has a command post, personnel bunkers, and an underground ammunition cellar. The guns were arranged in a semicircle to maximize the firing range. These are the only original artillery guns remaining in place in the D-Day region. These guns could hit targets up to 12 miles away so these were a critical part in Hitler's defense wall. That is why the Allies had to take out these guns. 

The 4 German casemates in the distance

The site was heavily bombed by aircraft and ships leading up to D-Day, but the guns were active on June 6. The British captured Longues-sur-Mer without a fight on June 7. 

Damage to the exterior of the gun

This would have been the shooter's view from inside

Inside the gun 

It took 7 soldiers to manage each gun, which could be loaded and fired 6 times per minute. I could not imagine the echoes you would hear inside the bunker when the gun fired. 

Ammunition Cellar

View from the Observation Bunker

The observation bunker was designed to direct the firing. There were field telephones connecting the bunker to the gun batteries. 

Going underground at the Observation Bunker

There were a few rooms underground 

Imagine this sea full of boats and the sound of firing constantly.

Observation Bunker 

You can see Arromanches in the distance 

Luckily we were here on a very sunny and dry day. It was neat to see these casemates up close, having seen them in books and movies. The reinforced concrete was designed so it could not be penetrated except for a direct hit on the gun itself. This is what happened to the Germans, they got hit many times from the Allied warships. You can see fragment holes from the navel shells that hit the guns, which in the end forced the German crews to surrender. You can see that an internal explosion would be the only way to destroy these guns. They were too well protected from the thick concrete walls. It was an uneasy feeling exploring these casemates and thinking they were full of Germans. It was also hard to imagine the brave men who stormed these beaches on D-Day and what they were really up against.