Normandy June 2007

Strictly speaking not derelict, as they are all part of the tourist trail now. But certainly not in use either.


Casement #3 at the Merville Battery. Stormed by the 9th Parachute battalion 00:30 hrs 6th june '44.


Casement #3


Merville Battery gun emplacement


Merville Battery gun emplacement detail. (censored as I don't know the score regarding banned symbols in some countries..)


Merville battery date of construction


Battle damage.


Forward observation post for the Merville battery














The bit on the right above was a false wall that faced the sea, presumably to draw fire (hopefully) away from the main part of the post. The thinness of it can be seen below.





Moving along th coast to the Longues sur Mer battery, which amazingly still has the guns in place. No one seems to know why the scrapmen left these particular ones in situ...
























The forward range-finding and observation post. As far as I know, this was used in the film 'The Longest Day'




Looking out across the channel.






Post for a range-finder


A 'Tobruk', named after the defensive positions used in North Africa


'Dear Santa, thanks for the lousy christmas...'




A bunker at Courseulles sur Mer...'Juno' beach




Juno beach, xth June 2007 07:30 hrs. Lest we Forget.

Good to see buildings like these still there after so long. Especially good to see the guns still left there in some of the emplacements. Very, very nice pictures. Another part of our history we can see.

Cheers,

Sal

great stuff!

Great set of pics Phantex. I love the original graffiti. I think though that what you had down as an observation post for Merville is actually a machine gun bunker designed to enfilade the beach. The wall you mention was to protect the embrasure from direct fire from offshore, you can't fire directly at it unless you are in its line of fire.

Great set of photos. I like the ones with the guns still in place, but the final one on Juno beach has just the right amount of depth of field and the focusing is spot on :notworthy:

Well worth a visit in the future

Phil

Fabulous set of photos of some great defences. Love seeing the various remains...amazing to see the guns still in situ. Excellent stuff.

"I think though that what you had down as an observation post for Merville is actually a machine gun bunker designed to enfilade the beach. The wall you mention was to protect the embrasure from direct fire from offshore, you can't fire directly at it unless you are in its line of fire"

It may very well be, there's a few remains in that area and whilst the Forward Observation Post is one of them it's entirely possible I didn't photograph that particular bunker/building... difficult to tell specifically which is which. I like the explanation for the 'thin wall' I mentioned: I defer to your probably superior knowledge on this one! Family has a property at Franceville Plage (not immediate, unfortunately!)...I'll need to go back sometime and cover the whole place, hopefuly with some sort of ground plan.

Nice one, I'm liking this

Must get back across the Channel soon ...

What sort of scale is that Tobruk? I 've seen some on the Atlantic Coast of France, but they seem to be a bit smaller than the one you have there.

Great stuff there Phantex I would love to get over there and have a look around

"What sort of scale is that Tobruk? I 've seen some on the Atlantic Coast of France, but they seem to be a bit smaller than the one you have there."

It's for a Mortar crew, 3 people and a big metal tube! The niches round the side are for ammunition cases.

Nice pictures. I visited here about 10 years ago now. The Pictures cannot count for the size and scale of the bunkers etc. I remember the big craters in the fields were the mortars etc hit. Amazing stuff to be honest.

The battery at Longues sur Mer is amazing, in fact all of the D-day emplacements are worth a look.
Shame you didn't post pictures of the Mulberry harbour remains that can be seen in the sea at Courseulle and Arromanche. They are truly awesome.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?h...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCwQsAQwAw

At the very big risk of looking like a lightweight, it was blowing a gale when we were at Aromanche...we sheltered in a restaraunt on the sea front and watched waves bang off the Mulberry while we devoured big pots of mussles...
And when we were at Courseulles the wind was fair whipping up there too...I remember getting sand-blasted when I lay down to take the pic of the poppies on the beach.

It was June after all!

If I get it together I'll post a link to youtube: I've got a video of a walkabout at Longues Sur Mer I can upload... through the bunkers etc....don't hold your breath though...I'm very lazy...

Sounds about right for that beach.
After all Courseulles has a wind-surfer-on-wheels school.
Now they are serious fun

Did Arromanches last year - pics at
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=11231&highlight=Arromanches

for thems thats interested!
GDZ