Batterie Todt, near Sangatte, Pas-de-Calais.

This place is phenomenal. It's such a short distance away from Calais ferry port I have stopped here several times since I first went there with the Fortress Study Group back in the late '90s.

There are four Turms, one of which is being renovated by an Englishman as a tourist attraction. The exhibits that he had there at the time of our visit were substantial and ongoing, the biggest of which is a massive railway gun that was located in the South of France and driven by road in two seperate convoys, one with the barrel, the other with the carriage. One of the Turms is very easily accessible, being around a track a bit further on from the one in my pictures.




A Tobruk emplacement to one side of the railway gun.

A collection of AFVs and other equipment assembled for presentation as exhibits.



The museum area in the bowels of the emplacement.

More equipment being readied for exhibiting. A white painted tank, which I believe is a Cruiser Mk.1.







Further reading on the 280mm gun and its journey from the South of France can be found here... http://www.afterthebattle.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?products_id=194 and the Cross Channel guns here... http://www.afterthebattle.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=145

I so need to get over and take a look at the many sites in this area.
Nice one cavey

SK

Fantastic to see the railway gun. There's a pic from one of my books showing the Howitzer 18inch, which was situated in Dover.. interesting to see how it looked whilst on the rail track back then. Really glad that they saved one.

Interesting picture Foxylady...but it's not the same gun. The one in your photo is more likely to be Boche Buster or Scene Shifter. The 280mm gun now at Batterie Todt is a German rail gun but not of the type utilised in these gun emplacements.

Caveman said:

Interesting picture Foxylady...but it's not the same gun.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. Just thought it might be interesting to see another, similar, rail gun and how it looked whilst deployed. The one in the pic is of 'Boche-Buster' with its 18" Howitzer gun.

Boche-Buster had an interesting existence. The carriage itself is Boche-Buster, and was found covered in cobwebs at a transport shed in Chilwell Ordnance Depot. It had been lying there since 1920 when it was found once again in November of 1939. Boche-Busters 250-ton assembly lived in a tunnel between Bridge and Bishopsbourne during the war. More recently the gun was found at Shoeburyness but the carriage had been scrapped at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich during the early 1960s.

Thank you Foxy-Lady for your post. It was not until I re-read your first post after I had made my comment where you did not try to insinuate that it was the same gun. I apologise.

Nice post bud,
like the pcs of the German K5 railgun, there is another at the Aberdeen proving ground in the US.
These guns usually had names, Leopold was the most famous along with Annzio Annie who I think is still at Aberdeen.
http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/11/24/48580-historic-enemy-artillery-piece-makes-its-way-to-fort-lee/
http://www.davidpride.com/Army/us_apg_08.htm
Fantastic shots.

Foxylady said:

Fantastic to see the railway gun. There's a pic from one of my books showing the Howitzer 18inch, which was situated in Dover.. interesting to see how it looked whilst on the rail track back then. Really glad that they saved one.

Click to expand...

Fox - has your book got an exact location on that gun in Dover? It looks like the old narrow gauge line that used to run from the South Foreland to the Eastern Docks, but I thought that had gone by WW2...
GDZ

godzilla73 said:

Fox - has your book got an exact location on that gun in Dover? It looks like the old narrow gauge line that used to run from the South Foreland to the Eastern Docks, but I thought that had gone by WW2...
GDZ

Click to expand...

I'll quote what's written about it, Godz.

"...like most of the railway guns, it used the lines of the Elham Valley light railway (which ran roughly north-south along Elham Valley) and was thus well-placed to provide counter-invasion fire to a number of likely beaches and other points. A special spur line was was built at Kingston, and the Bourne tunnel was used as a shelter for the equipments in the event of air raids...The line boasted some delightful place names such as World's Wonder Bridge, Lickpot Bridge and Charlton Park while the Black Robin Pub at Kingston was no doubt a popular stop as well as being the calibration site for the 18-inch howitzer..."

Military Archaeology by Terry Gander.

Hope that helps. I don't know the area at all so thought you'd make out more from the book description yourself.

If that is the Elham valley line, then that shot with the sea in the background (if it is the sea - my laptop resolution isnt the best!) probably isn't Dover at all, but more likely to be at Folkestone. Fascinating railway the Elham Valley line . Ran from Shorncliffe (now Folkestone West) to the long since defunct Canterbury South station.
Thanks for the info though!
GDZ

The 18inch railway gun above is now located in a car park inside Larkhill camp.

Hello
This tunnel is the place the gun was stored in during war time.

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