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Between the fortresses, the Germans constructed coastal artillery
batteries, under the control of either the army or the navy. Spaced
several kilometres apart, they were designed to fire out to sea and ward
off any invasion fleet. They were equipped with guns (usually with a
calibre of between 100 and 155 mm) which were generally grouped in fours
or ‑ more rarely – in sixes. |
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Artillery
battery guarding the Cotentin coast |
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In all, there were more than
twenty main batteries along the coasts of
the Seine Bay between Le Havre and Cherbourg. Each of these was
protected by a defensive perimeter ringed with minefields and a network
of barbed wire, with machine-gun, mortar and anti-aircraft gun
positions, connected by trenches. |
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The guns were initially placed
in concrete pits, rendering them vulnerable to Allied aerial attacks |
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Originally placed in open concrete pits, the guns proved
vulnerable to Allied aerial bombardments, which had considerably
increased in frequency since 1943. In order to protect them, Rommel
ordered them to be placed in thick concrete casemates. This operation
was far from complete by the spring of 1944, and as a precaution, some
guns were discreetly removed from their emplacements and hidden inland.
On D-Day, the German coastal batteries offered only feeble resistance to
the Allied ships, which overcame them without too much difficulty.
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Work on this casemate at Pointe du Hoc was
completed just before D-Day |
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