France 2014 - Longues-sur-Mer
We stopped near Longues-sur-Mer to see a German Gun emplacement. Four 152mm guns in partially soil-covered concrete pillboxes, with a very fine view of the sea - although from a remarkably long way back. Or at least it seemed like a long way to me: apparently the guns were very effective, so they must have had a greater range than I thought. It took multiple days with a lot of ship-based guns to take them out ... and I wonder if that impression is correct - if perhaps they weren't stormed by land, as three out of four of the emplacements are essentially intact. We also walked closer to the shore to see the heavily fortified spotting post and the machine gun nests (still 300 meters or so from the actual ocean, and quite high up). And the ammunition dump: an underground concrete bunker 100 meters or so from the guns. Retrieving ammunition under heavy shelling from the ocean must have been a terrifying proposition.
 |
 |
 |
 |