- La Batterie Longues-Sur-Mer
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The Longues-sur-Mer battery was a World War II German artillery battery located between the Allied landing beaches of Gold and Omaha and shelled both beaches on D-Day. The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain all its original guns in situ. |
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The coastal battery at Longues-sur-Mer, part of the Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications, was built by the Organisation Todt in the first half of 1944 and completed in four months. It consisted of four 150mm guns in concrete bunkers, and one 120mm gun. In May 1944 the battery was operational, but the firing command post built on the edge of the cliff did not yet have all the equipment necessary for calculating effective fire against naval targets.
It may not have been the most powerful in Normandy, but it was one of the best located to oppose the landings of 6 June 1944. Located slightly back from the edge of a 60m-high cliff, it was directly opposite the positions of the Allied fleet as it approached and right between Omaha and Gold landing beaches.
On D-Day, the Longues-sur-Mer battery engaged in a protracted duel with the Allied fleet, forcing some of the vessels to retreat in order to avoid being hit. However, the five guns of the battery were gradually silenced, some being destroyed by direct hits. Finally, the crew of the battery (184 men, half of them over 40 years old) surrendered without a fight to advancing British troops of C Company of the 2nd Devonshire Regiment at midday on June 7.
Today, the site is one of the best-preserved in France and the only one where you can still see some of the original cannon, capable at the time of firing shells weighing 45kg at a distance of 22km. The view from the firing command post dug into the cliff offers a vast panorama over the Bay of the Seine.
It may not have been the most powerful in Normandy, but it was one of the best located to oppose the landings of 6 June 1944. Located slightly back from the edge of a 60m-high cliff, it was directly opposite the positions of the Allied fleet as it approached and right between Omaha and Gold landing beaches.
On D-Day, the Longues-sur-Mer battery engaged in a protracted duel with the Allied fleet, forcing some of the vessels to retreat in order to avoid being hit. However, the five guns of the battery were gradually silenced, some being destroyed by direct hits. Finally, the crew of the battery (184 men, half of them over 40 years old) surrendered without a fight to advancing British troops of C Company of the 2nd Devonshire Regiment at midday on June 7.
Today, the site is one of the best-preserved in France and the only one where you can still see some of the original cannon, capable at the time of firing shells weighing 45kg at a distance of 22km. The view from the firing command post dug into the cliff offers a vast panorama over the Bay of the Seine.
