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{{Short description|Coastal fortification in Normandy, France}} |
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{{Cleanup-date|July 2006}} |
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{{Infobox military structure |
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{{wikify-date|July 2006}} |
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| partof = [[Atlantic Wall]] |
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| location = [[Normandy]], France |
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| coordinates = |
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| image = Merville_Gun_Battery_(6818465782).jpg |
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| caption = Largest casemate of the Merville Battery today |
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| image2 = |
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| caption2 = |
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| type = [[Artillery battery]] |
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| code = |
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| built = [[World War II]] |
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| builder = [[Organisation Todt]] |
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| materials = Concrete, steel, barbed wire |
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| height = |
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| used = 1942-1944 |
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| demolished = |
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| condition = Several casemates and trench system |
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| ownership = {{flag|Nazi Germany}}<br>1942–44<br /> |
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{{flag|France}}<br>1944–present<br /> |
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| open_to_public = Yes |
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| controlledby = |
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| garrison = [[Wehrmacht]] |
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| current_commander = |
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| commanders = |
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| occupants = |
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| battles = [[Normandy landings]], [[Operation Tonga]] |
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| events = |
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}} |
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The '''Merville Gun Battery''' |
The '''Merville Gun Battery''' is a decommissioned coastal fortification in [[Normandy]], [[France]], which was built as part of the Germans' [[Atlantic Wall]] to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was a particularly heavily fortified position and one of the [[Battle of Merville Gun Battery|first places to be attacked]] by Allied forces during the [[Normandy Landings]] commonly known as D-Day. A British force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel [[Terence Otway]] succeeded in capturing this position, suffering heavy casualties. |
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==Defences== |
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{{further|Battle of Merville Gun Battery}} |
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The Merville Battery is composed of four {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-thick}} steel-reinforced concrete gun [[casemate]]s, built by the [[Todt Organisation]]. Each was designed to protect [[First World War]]-vintage Czech-made [[Skoda houfnice vz 14|leFH 14/19(t) 100 mm (3.93-inch) mountain howitzers]] with a range of 8,400 m.<ref>Zaloga and Johnson 2005, p. 29</ref> |
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It overlooked the British invasion area of [[Sword Beach]], and as it was believed to contain four 150mm guns, it was a serious threat to the Allied landings. Each of the guns was sited within a reinforced concrete casemate, six and a half feet thick with a further six feet of soil above. As these could only be destroyed by an unlikely direct hit from the heaviest of ordnance, it was decided that British paratroopers would attack and destroy the guns a few hours before the landings at Sword Beach began. The 9th Battalion of [[The Parachute Regiment]] was selected for the task. |
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Other buildings on the site include a command bunker, a building to accommodate the men, and ammunition magazines. During a visit on 6 March 1944, to inspect the defences, [[Field Marshal (Germany)|Field Marshal]] [[Erwin Rommel]] ordered the builders to work faster, and by May 1944, the last two casemates were completed.{{cn|date=January 2024}} |
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The northern end of the Battery was protected by an anti-tank ditch, 14 feet wide and 300 feet long, with the remaining circumference protected by two belts of barbed wire, the inner belt being 8 feet tall, and in between these lay a 50-75 feet deep minefield. The garrison, of gunners and sentries, amounted to one hundred and sixty men, and they were supported by numerous machine-gun emplacements and three 20mm anti-aircraft guns. |
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[[File:Merville2 web.jpg|thumb|Side view of another casemate]] |
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==The plan of attack== |
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The battery was defended by a [[2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling|20 mm anti-aircraft gun]] and multiple [[machine gun]]s in fifteen gun positions, all enclosed in an area {{convert|700|by|500|yd}} surrounded by two [[barbed wire]] obstacles {{convert|15|ft}} deep by {{convert|5|ft}} high,<ref>Ford, p.41</ref> which also acted as the exterior border for a {{convert|100|yd|m|adj=mid|-deep}} [[minefield]]. Another obstacle was an [[Anti-tank trench|anti-tank ditch]] covering any approach from the nearby coast.<ref name="Gregory108">Gregory 1979, p. 108</ref> |
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Lieutenant-Colonel [[Terence Otway]], the commander of the 9th Battalion, had formulated a complex plan to assault the Battery. Firstly, an advance party of four men was to land in advance of the remainder of the Battalion. They would then proceed to the Battery to cut holes in the barbed wire and clear paths through the minefield. |
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==Notes== |
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At 00:30, before this reconnaissance party had reached the Battery, one hundred [[RAF]] [[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] and [[Handley Page Halifax|Halifax]] heavy bombers would attack it with 4,000lb bombs in the hope of destroying the position altogether or at the least inflicting considerable damage upon the defences. At 00:50, the main force of the 9th Battalion would land and they would be expected to reach the Battery by 04:00. With them would come a troop of [[Royal Engineers]] from the [[591st Parachute Squadron]], and a plethora of equipment, including mine-clearance devices, [[Bangalore Torpedo|bangalore torpedoes]] for dealing with the barbed wire, and two guns of the [[4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery]], which would be used to puncture the steel doors that sealed each of the casemates. |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==References== |
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At 04:30, No.4 Platoon was to make a diversionary attack on the main gate area whilst two sniper groups fired at enemy troops in pillboxes, machine-gun emplacements, and upon flak towers. The next phase was to be the timed arrival of three [[Horsa]] gliders, containing most of the Battalion's "A" Company and more Engineers, who were to land inside the Battery itself and attack each of the casemates with [[Sten guns]] and [[flamethrower|flamethrowers]]. At the same time, "C" Company would make the main assault by proceeding along the cleared paths through the minefield, quickly followed by the remainder of "A" and then "B" Companies. |
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*{{cite book|last=Ford|first=Ken|title=D-Day 1944 (3): Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford, UK|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84908-721-6}} |
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*{{cite book|last1=Gregory|first1=Barry|last2=Batchelor|first2=John|title=Airborne Warfare, 1918–1945|publisher=Exeter Books|year=1979|location=Exeter, UK|isbn=978-0-89673-025-0}} |
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*{{cite book|last1=Zaloga|last2=Johnson|first1=Steven J|first2=Hugh|title=D-Day Fortifications in Normandy|series=Volume 37 of Fortress Series|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford, UK|year=2005|isbn=978-1-84176-876-2}} |
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==Further reading== |
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In the event of failure, the battleship, [[HMS Arethusa (26)|HMS Arethusa]], would open fire on the Battery at 05:30 if no success signal had been received. |
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* ''The Day the Devils Dropped In''. Neil Barber, Pen & Sword Books 2002. {{ISBN|978-1-84415-045-8}} |
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==Initial problems with the plan== |
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{{Commons category|Merville Battery}} |
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* [http://www.batterie-merville.com/ The Merville Battery - Official Site] |
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The entire plan, as laid out above, broke apart completely. Due to navigational errors, low cloud, and the pathfinders being dropped astray and so were unable to mark the drop zone for the 9th Battalion, the paratroopers were scattered anywhere up to ten miles from the zone. Lt-Colonel Otway waited at the Rendezvous Point, but by 02:50 only one hundred and fifty of his six hundred and fifty men, and nothing else besides, had arrived. None of the Jeeps, anti-tank guns, mortars, mine-detectors, medical personnel, sappers or the naval liaison party had arrived. |
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==Success after on the ground changes to the plan== |
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{{coord|49|16|10|N|0|11|52|W|source:frwiki|display=title}} |
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With time pressing on, Otway was left with no choice but to attack with what he had. When the 9th Battalion arrived at the Battery they found that their reconnaissance party had gone about their business excellently, having made a thorough study of German positions as well as clearing four paths through the minefield. The RAF bombing raid had, however, missed the Battery completely and their bombs fell away to the south, doing no harm to the Germans but landing dangerously close to the reconnaissance party. |
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{{World War II}} |
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By 04:30, the Battalion had been reorganised into four assault groups, led by Major Parry and consisting of "A" and "C" Companies, which were to proceed along two of the paths cut through the minefield. As they were forming up, however, they were spotted and as many as six German machine-gunners opened fire upon both of the 9th Battalion's flanks. A small party of paratroopers under Sergeant Knight engaged the three guns near the main gate, taking out their crews with bayonets and grenades, whilst the only Vickers medium machine-gun available to the Battalion dealt with those upon the other flank. Knight then led his group around to the main gate and improvised the diversionary attack by opening fire with everything at their disposal, which suitably distracted the Germans. |
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{{Battle of Normandy}} |
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[[Category:Atlantic Wall]] |
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As this was happening, two of the assault gliders approached the Battery, the third having cast-off over England when its tow rope snapped. The gliders were to be guided to the Battery by the troops on the ground using [[Eureka beacons]], however none of these had been recovered from the drop, and so the gliders pilots were flying by eyesight alone. Their view was further obscured by clouds and smoke from the bombing raid, which resulted in one of the gliders mistaking a village two miles away for their objective. The other, however, found the Battery and was making its final approach when it was spotted and fired upon by a machine-gun, wounding four of the men inside and throwing the glider off course. The glider finally came to rest 750 yards away. The glider was a wreck and several men had been hurt in the crash, however they disembarked in time to detect and ambush a party of Germans who were marching towards the Battery. |
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[[Category:Operation Overlord]] |
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[[Category:Normandy]] |
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As the glider flew by, Lt-Colonel Otway gave the order to attack. Major Parry blew his whistle, the Bangalore torpedoes were detonated to further clear the barbed wire, and the four assault groups charged forward. In the darkness, the marked paths were not so clearly visible and so it was inevitable that some men strayed from the path and onto mines. Three German machine-gun positions fired on the assault groups but these were soon dealt with by the Battalion's Bren gunners and snipers. Amidst the enemy fire and exploding mines, firing from the hip and lobbing grenades at any strong-points that they encountered, the paratroopers charged on towards the casemates. Initially taken by surprise, the German garrison quickly recovered, first by shooting flares into the sky to illuminate the area, and then by bringing shellfire down outside the wire, and even arranging for a Battery at Cabourg to fire directly onto the minefield. |
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Calvados (department)]] |
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[[Category:Military history of France during World War II]] |
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Otway ordered in his reserve to deal with the final machine-guns that were hitting the assault teams, who by now were pouring into the casemates and engaging their defenders hand-to-hand. The guns, which were to be destroyed with specialist explosive that had not been recovered after the drop, were knocked out one at a time using the high-explosive anti-tank Gammon bombs which each man carried. The fighting began to die down as the garrison was at last overcome, and by 05:00 it was all over. Inside and around the Battery the scene was one of carnage, with dead and wounded of both sides lying everywhere. The German garrison had approximately numbered one hundred and thirty, but by the end of the battle, only six were unscathed. Of the one hundred and fifty men of the 9th Battalion who began the assault, sixty-five had been killed or wounded. |
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[[Category:Military history of Normandy]] |
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[[Category:Artillery battery fortifications in France]] |
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The guns which had posed such a threat to the invasion, even though they were found to be obsolete 100mm guns instead of the 150mm calibre that was expected, had been destroyed and many lives were saved as a result. The assault upon the Merville Battery, by a small and wholly ill-equipped force, is still regarded as one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of The Parachute Regiment. |
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[[Category:World War II sites in France]] |
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[[Category:Tourist attractions in Calvados (department)]] |
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* [http://www.1940.co.uk/history/article/merville/merville.htm The Merville Battery] |
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[[de:Artilleriebatterie bei Merville]] |
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Latest revision as of 01:21, 25 August 2024
| Merville Gun Battery | |
|---|---|
| Part of Atlantic Wall | |
| Normandy, France | |
.jpg) Largest casemate of the Merville Battery today | |
| Type | Artillery battery |
| Site information | |
| Owner |  Nazi Germany1942–44  France1944–present |
| Open to the public | Yes |
| Condition | Several casemates and trench system |
| Site history | |
| Built | World War II |
| Built by | Organisation Todt |
| In use | 1942-1944 |
| Materials | Concrete, steel, barbed wire |
| Battles/wars | Normandy landings, Operation Tonga |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Wehrmacht |
The Merville Gun Battery is a decommissioned coastal fortification in Normandy, France, which was built as part of the Germans' Atlantic Wall to defend continental Europe from Allied invasion. It was a particularly heavily fortified position and one of the first places to be attacked by Allied forces during the Normandy Landings commonly known as D-Day. A British force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway succeeded in capturing this position, suffering heavy casualties.
Defences
[edit]The Merville Battery is composed of four 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) steel-reinforced concrete gun casemates, built by the Todt Organisation. Each was designed to protect First World War-vintage Czech-made leFH 14/19(t) 100 mm (3.93-inch) mountain howitzers with a range of 8,400 m.[1]
Other buildings on the site include a command bunker, a building to accommodate the men, and ammunition magazines. During a visit on 6 March 1944, to inspect the defences, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ordered the builders to work faster, and by May 1944, the last two casemates were completed.[citation needed]
The battery was defended by a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun and multiple machine guns in fifteen gun positions, all enclosed in an area 700 by 500 yards (640 by 460 m) surrounded by two barbed wire obstacles 15 feet (4.6 m) deep by 5 feet (1.5 m) high,[2] which also acted as the exterior border for a 100-yard-deep (91 m) minefield. Another obstacle was an anti-tank ditch covering any approach from the nearby coast.[3]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Ford, Ken (2011). D-Day 1944 (3): Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-721-6.
- Gregory, Barry; Batchelor, John (1979). Airborne Warfare, 1918–1945. Exeter, UK: Exeter Books. ISBN 978-0-89673-025-0.
- Zaloga, Steven J; Johnson, Hugh (2005). D-Day Fortifications in Normandy. Volume 37 of Fortress Series. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-876-2.
Further reading
[edit]- The Day the Devils Dropped In. Neil Barber, Pen & Sword Books 2002. ISBN 978-1-84415-045-8
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Merville Battery.
49°16′10″N 0°11′52″W / 49.26944°N 0.19778°W
