The Atlantic Wall (1): France

The gun batteries along the Pas-de-Calais took part in a desultory campaign of bombardment against the English coast around Dover starting in 1940 and continuing well into 1944. This resulted in a continuing campaign of counter-bombardment from British batteries as well as a prolonged air campaign against the “Iron Coast” gun batteries. Although the air campaign was not especially effective in disabling the fortified casemates, the battery sites soon took on the appearance of a lunar landscape due to the many bomb craters. There was also some exchange of fire between coastal batteries and British warships over the years and the heavy gun batteries along the Pas-de-Calais frequently fired upon coastal shipping in the Channel.

The Allied campaign against the coastal batteries was intensified in 1944 and extended to upper and lower Normandy and parts of Brittany in April 1944 as part of the run-up to the D-Day invasion. The campaign was intentionally conducted also at sites other than the D-Day beaches to keep the Wehrmacht guessing where the actual landings would take place. The bombardment campaign had very mixed results, in some cases effectively neutralizing some batteries such as the army coastal battery on Pointe-du-Hoc, in other cases failing to have any appreciable effect on the battery such as at Merville, while in other cases having mixed success such as Longues-sur-Mer, where the gun casemates were intact but their performance degraded due to the destruction of the cabling between the fire-control post and the guns.

The D-Day landings in lower Normandy on June 6, 1944, quickly overwhelmed the defenses. The coastal batteries with very few exceptions had been disabled before the landings and, even in the case of the few batteries that engaged the landing fleet such as the St. Marcouf, Azeville and Longues-sur-Mer batteries, they were quickly suppressed. The only defenses that posed a significant problem were those at Omaha Beach, and this was due primarily to the presence of more defenses, more and better troops, and a more challenging defense configuration due to the bluffs along the beach compared to the other D-Day beaches.[1]

^{The Czechoslovak 47mm Festungspak 36(t) was so widely used in the Atlantic Wall that several standardized bunker designs were developed to accommodate it. This shows the interior of one in the Cherbourg defenses. (NARA)}

^{One of the problems of the coastal gun casemates was that they prevented full traverse. During the fighting for Cherbourg, MKB Hamburg removed portions of the incomplete casemate to permit a wider arc of fire for its 240mm gun. (NARA)}

Once the D-Day landings took place, there was no immediate evacuation or weakening of other portions of the Atlantic Wall since senior German commanders remained convinced for several weeks that the Normandy landings were only a feint and that other landings would occur elsewhere along the coast. Elements of the Atlantic Wall defenses were involved in continual combat through June as the US First Army advanced up the Cotentin Peninsula, culminating in the VII Corps attack on Cherbourg in late June 1944. Although Cherbourg had been ringed with defenses as part of the Festung policy, in reality these defenses were not adequate to stop the US Army. The outer crust of Cherbourg defenses served to delay the US advance, but they were comprehensively breached within a few days of intense combat. The defenses in Cherbourg itself were mostly oriented seaward and so played little role in the city fighting. Indeed, the traditional French fortified defenses around the port played as much a role in the defense as did the newer Atlantic Wall defenses, such as Fort Roule in the center of the city and the fortified harbor. The heaviest fortifications, such as the numerous navy coastal artillery batteries, played little or no role in the fighting since their ferro-concrete carapace limited the traverse of their guns to seaward targets. This experience would be repeated in the subsequent battles for the Channel ports, where most of the work on the Atlantic Wall fortifications proved to be in vain due to this fatal shortcoming.

Further fighting ensued along the Atlantic Wall after the breakout from Normandy in late July that unleashed the Allied advance along the coast toward the Pas-de-Calais and toward Brittany. St. Malo at the junction between lower Normandy and Brittany was the scene of an intense urban battle made all the more difficult for the US Army by the traditional walled fortifications of the port. The assault on St. Malo by the 83rd Division began on August 5 and took nearly two weeks of fighting, finally being overwhelmed on August 17. Even then, German defenders held out on the offshore fortifications of Cézembre until September 2. The port of Brest was one of the most heavily fortified along the Atlantic Wall and US armored spearheads began probing its defenses on August 7. The city was gradually surrounded and a full-blooded attack began on August 25 by VIII Corps of Patton’s Third Army. Although the fortifications and gun positions of the Atlantic Wall defenses played some role in the defense of Brest, for the most part they were not especially useful for the defenders except in some limited sectors. Once again, traditional French fortifications such as Fort Montbarey and Fort de Portzic proved more troublesome than the newer and much smaller Atlantic Wall bunkers, most of which were oriented seaward. As in the case of Cherbourg, the German garrison was eventually overwhelmed, but in the interim, the Kriegsmarine managed to demolish the harbor facilities. As a result, the US Army decided against a direct assault on St. Nazaire or Lorient, preferring to simply bottle up the German garrison rather than sacrifice large numbers of infantrymen for a shattered port. The same would be the case along the Bay of Biscay, with fortified ports such as Royan and La Rochelle holding out until May 1945. To reduce the number of US troops assigned to this siege, in the autumn of 1944 newly raised French units were gradually assigned this mission.

^{One of the M271 casemates for a 170mm SKL/40 gun of MKB York near Amfreville on the coast west of Cherbourg. (NARA)}

^{This is the third casemate of MKB Hamburg, 9./MAA.260, in Fermanville east of Cherbourg armed with a Krupp 240mm SKL/40. The battery commander, Oberleutnant Rudi Gelbhaar, was awarded the Knight’s Cross in June 1944 for the battery’s engagements with Allied warships. (NARA)}

Operation Astonia: Festung Le Havre

While the US Army was dealing with the fortified ports in Brittany, Montgomery’s 21st Army Group was advancing northward toward upper Normandy, the Picardy coast and, eventually, the Pas-de-Calais. The honor of taking Dieppe was given to the Canadian 2nd Division and the city fell without a major fight on September 1. The second major port in Normandy, Le Havre, was invested by the British I Corps starting on September 3. To soften up the defenses before the ground attack, the Royal Navy monitor HMS Erebus began bombardment along the coast on September 5, but was forced to withdraw by the heavy concentration of coastal artillery west of the city. These positions included the only heavy gun battery in the city, a 380mm turreted gun from the French warship Jean-Bart located at Clos de Ronces and supported by the Goldbrunner battery of 3./HKAR.1254 with three 170mm K18 guns, two of which were in H688 casemates. Besides these batteries, there were several other batteries in the immediate vicinity that took part in some of the subsequent engagements. The Erebus returned on September 8, but was again forced back by heavy gunfire from the German coastal batteries. Prior to the start of I Corps’ main attack, Operation Astonia, on September 10, the Erebus returned but was accompanied by the battleship HMS Warspite, which demolished the offending batteries with its 15in. guns. The two ships then conducted a six-hour bombardment against other coastal fortifications and defenses. The battle for Le Havre by two infantry divisions supported by the specialized armor of the 79th Armoured Division lasted only two days in no small measure due to the demoralization of the isolated garrison.

^{The 105mm Unterseeboot Torpedoboot Flak L/45 was a U-boat deck gun adapted to coastal defense and is seen here with 3./MAA.260 in one of two casemates located at the end of the pier at the Gare Maritime in Cherbourg. (NARA)}

^{Some bunkers were camouflaged to blend into their surroundings like this observation bunker along the seawall in Le Havre. (NARA)}

^{This is Bruno, one of three gun casemates of MKB Friedrich August of 2./MAA.240 in La Trésorerie, armed with a massive 305mm SKL/50 gun. It was captured by the Canadian North Shore Regiment during Operation Wellhit. (NAC PA-174409 Donald Grant)}

Operation Wellhit: Festung Boulogne

While Operation Astonia was under way, Canadian forces had begun to probe the outer defenses of both Boulogne and Calais. The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division was assigned Operation Wellhit, the assault against Boulogne and the associated German fortifications in the neighboring hills. In light of the experiences at Le Havre, the specialized armor of the 79th Armoured Division was also used to support the Canadians, especially Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tanks and Churchill AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineer) fitted with heavy petards. Festung Boulogne had three major concentrations of fortifications: a trio of coastal batteries near Pointe de la Crèche on the coast north of the city, a set of defensive bunkers and a gun battery from 4./AR.147 on Mont Lambert on the main road into the city from the east, and a series of coastal guns and bunkers on the heights to the south of the port around Le Portel. Besides the defenses of the city itself, Operation Wellhit also contained a subsidiary attack on German positions around La Trésorerie overlooking the city to the northeast, which contained the substantial naval battery of Batterie Friedrich August of MAA.240 with three 305mm SKL/50 guns in massive casemates. Operation Wellhit began on September 17, including an attack by the North Shore Regiment on La Trésorerie and two brigades assaulting toward Mont Lambert. Mont Lambert was not overcome until September 18 after engineers had blasted the final bunkers with explosive charges. The gun casemates of Batterie Friedrich August were stubbornly defended by nearby Flak positions armed with 20mm cannon, but the position was finally overwhelmed on the second day of fighting using PIAT anti-tank launchers and grenades. The Canadians fought into the city and captured the old citadel, but then were faced with the problem of clearing the numerous bunkers on the heights south of the city around Le Portel. These positions had been a constant source of fire through the fighting, with one battery of Flak guns alone having fired some 2,000 rounds in the three days of fighting. This position was finally overwhelmed but fighting for the other bunkers on the high ground continued through September 22 when the garrison finally surrendered. Canadian troops had begun to attack the bunker complexes of La Crèche but the garrison surrendered before a full-scale attack was launched.

^{This is one of four M272 casemates of MKB Vasouy, 9./MAA.266, opposite Le Havre which was armed with a 150mm Tbts.KL/45. (Author’s collection)}

Operation Wellhit led to the capture of about 10,000 German troops at a cost of about 600 Canadian casualties through the use of proven combined tank–infantry tactics that succeeded in the face of a significant number of bunkers and heavy gun emplacements. The capture of the port took six days instead of the planned two days, but the operation involved only about a third the troops used at Le Havre. The Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tanks proved to be especially useful and an after-action report recorded that most German bunkers surrendered at the first sign of a flamethrower tank. The AVRE tanks were not particularly effective as their petard launcher, although powerful, could not penetrate the 2m reinforced concrete of the bunkers, and this weapon was no more effective than any other tank gun in penetrating the embrasures and armored doors of the fortifications, if anything being shorter-ranged and less accurate. The aerial bombardment that preceded the attack was not effective in suppressing the bunkers and hindered tank operations in Boulogne due to the craters and rubble. In subsequent operations, such as Calais, the emphasis was shifted to the use of fragmentation bombs to limit the cratering. The fighting demonstrated the limitations of the Atlantic Wall fortifications since the vast majority of defenses were oriented seaward. The heavy gun casemates limited the arc of fire of the guns and, as a result, most batteries were unable to take part in the fighting. The few batteries that did have suitable orientations, such as the dual-role Flak batteries designed for enfilade fire along the port, were responsible for the majority of Canadian casualties.

Operation Undergo: Festung Calais

Although consideration was given to simply bypassing Calais in favor of devoting the troop strength to the clearing of the Scheldt estuary leading to Antwerp, in late September Montgomery was convinced to deal with Calais due to the havoc that its strong gun positions could cause to Allied shipping in the Channel. On the night of September 9/10, the Regina Rifles took the fortified port town of Wissant and overran the bunkers on Mont Coupole, which offered excellent observation of the Cap Gris-Nez and Calais region.

^{The defenses south of Boulogne included MKB Pechnelke, with its four H671 casemates for Vickers 94mm Flak M39(e), of MAA.240 in outskirts of the suburb of Le Porte. These guns were captured in the 1940 battle of France and are often misidentified in historical accounts of the 1944 fighting as 88mm guns. (Author’s collection)}

Operation Undergo was again assigned to the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, supported by the 6th Assault Regiment RE of the 79th Armoured Division with their specialized armor. After a series of delays, the attack began on September 25 with heavy tank and artillery support. Batterie Lindemann could offer little resistance as its guns were pointed to sea, and the garrison surrendered at noon on September 26. Within two days, the two Canadian brigades had cleared through most of the defenses to the southwest of the city, while at the same time routes of escape to the east were cut off. Once again, the old French fortifications such as Fort Lapin proved to be more formidable than the scattered German bunkers, and it was taken only after a determined Canadian infantry assault backed by Churchill Crocodile flamethrowers; the same process was repeated at Fort Nieuley. A temporary truce was called on September 29 to organize the evacuation of civilians still in the city.

^{The German headquarters for the defense of Boulogne was located on the city’s southern shoulder and was based around StP 261 Pantoffelblume in Fort d’Alprech. On the southern slope of this strongpoint below the Marine Nationale signal tower was this H612 field gun casemate. This provides a good example of a common style of indented camouflage created using rolled-up paper placed in the concrete mold to break up the smooth surface. (Author’s collection)}

^{Canadian troops of the North Shore Regiment pose along the massive 406mm SKC/34 gun of Turm Cäsar in its S262 casemate, one of three belonging to the famous MKB Lindemann of 5./MAA.244, in Sangatte. This battery was submerged as part of the construction of the Channel Tunnel. The chain mail hanging over the gun embrasure was designed to protect against shell splinters and was a common feature on the larger German gun bunkers. (NAC PA-133142 Donald Grant)}

While the 7th and 8th Brigades were busy in Calais, the 9th Infantry Brigade was assigned to clear the fortified belt along Cap Gris-Nez including the Batterie Todt with its four massive 380mm guns. By this stage the Canadians had a well-orchestrated scheme for dealing with the bunkers and all four of the main German batteries were overcome in a few hours fighting on September 29 and 1,500 prisoners taken at the cost of 42 casualties, with only five killed.

The evacuation of the civilians from Calais only served to further undermine morale within Festung Calais. When the truce ended on September 30, the defense simply collapsed and the garrison formally surrendered at 1900hrs. In spite of the enormous numbers of heavy gun bunkers and coastal defenses, the landward defenses were completely inadequate to hinder a determined attack, especially considering the lack of sufficient infantry in the Festung Calais garrison. The garrison did manage to thoroughly wreck the harbor, and it took more than three weeks to rehabilitate the port.

Unlike Calais and Cap Gris-Nez, Dunkirk lacked long-range gun batteries so Montgomery decided to contain the port rather than waste time and troops capturing it. The Festung Dunkirk garrison numbered about 12,000 troops. Both sides engaged in periodic artillery skirmishes, and evacuation of the civilian population occurred during a truce on October 3–6. The Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade replaced most of the Canadian troops cordoning the city after the truce. After the German garrison staged a raid on the night of October 19/20, Operation Waddle was conducted on October 28 to discourage further actions, the last major military action of the siege. The garrison offered to surrender on May 4, 1945, and the town was finally liberated on May 6.