Longues-sur-Mer (Calvados)
The cities of Normandy during the 1944 battles
- Liberation: 7 June 1944
- Deployed units:
C Company, 2nd Devonshire Regiment, 231st Infantry Brigade, 50th Infantry Division
602nd RAF squadron, 125th Wing, 83rd Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force
132th RAAF squadron, 125th Wing, 83rd Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force
453rd RAAF squadron, 125th Wing, 83rd Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force
441st RCAF squadron, 144th Wing, 144th Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force
4/Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung 1260
- History:
Under the German occupation, construction of a coastal battery began in September 1943. The Germans chose the plateau overlooking the cliffs near the village of Longues-sur-Mer. Four Regelbau M272 casemates were built, along with a Regelbau M262A fire control station equipped with a very modern electrical communication and fire control system. They used Reich craftsmen and local labour for this purpose. The Longues-sur-Mer battery adopted the code name Wn 48 and consisted of four 150mm TK C/36 marine guns manufactured by Skoda, with a range of around 20 kilometres.
The German garrison at the Longues battery consisted of 184 soldiers under the command of the Kriegsmarine. The site was under the responsibility of the artillerymen of the 4th battery of the Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung 1260, under the command of Oberleutnant M.A. Kurt Weil. French Resistance fighters were among the local craftsmen employed to build the site: they informed the Allies about the layout and capabilities of the battery, while sabotaging the concrete used to build one of the M272 casemates, making it more vulnerable to artillery fire.
During the two weeks preceding D-Day, from March 28 to June 3, the battery receives not less than 1,500 bombs dropped by Allied aircraft. The destruction remains limited, apart from one of the casemates M272 whose concrete was sabotaged by the resistant. Electrical wiring connecting the command post to the shells was also cut off by the explosions, forcing the Germans to use a backup communication system, slower and less efficient. On the night of June 5-6, 1944, 604 tons of bombs were dropped on the site by 99 four-engine aircraft. Hit repeatedly by direct impacts, the walls of casemates, two meters thick and designed in reinforced concrete, hold up well.
The British light battleship HMS Ajax, sailing in the English Channel in Naval Force G, receives the mission to open fire (after the squadrons have passed the German battery) at Longues-sur-Mer at 5.30 am using its 152 mm and 102 mm guns.
The German artillerymen reacted by opening fire shortly before six o’clock in the direction of Omaha Beach, without causing any serious damage. From six twenty onwards, the Longues battery engaged the flagship of Force G (Gold Beach), the HMS Bulolo, which was carrying the headquarters of the British 30th Corps. The latter was forced to leave its anchorage and withdraw out of firing range. The battleships Ajax and Argonaut were ordered to come as close as possible to the coast to apply accurate fire and opened fire 179 times: the British response was such that the German battery fell into total silence from 8.45am, leading the sailors to believe that they had succeeded in destroying it.
Later that morning, after rapid repair work by the German artillerymen, the 150 mm guns again opened fire towards Omaha. In response, the French cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm and the American cruiser U.S.S. Arkansas returned fire, destroying one gun with a direct hit and damaging two others. The battery remained silent until the fourth gun, which had survived the artillery duels, opened fire again on the afternoon of 6 June, alongside the Soviet 122 mm gun, towards the beaches of Gold and Omaha, but failed to cause the Allies any major concern. In all, the Longues battery fired 115 shells in a single attack.
On 7 June, the Allies launch a new air raid around 09:00 (using seven squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortress), which precedes the assault by British troops of C Company of the 2nd Devonshire Regiment from Gold Beach. The infantrymen seized the battery before noon and captured the 120 German gunners and infantry survivors of bombing, surrendering without particular resistance.
From June 18 to 21, 1944, the British sappers built an advanced airstrike, just three hundred meters east of the Longues Battery. Named ALG B-11, it hosts squadrons of 125th and 144th Wings fighters (2nd Tactical Air Force), and sees the passage of the French aviator Pierre Clostermann aboard his Spitfire. The M272 casemates are used by the Royal Air Force to store ammunition, but an accidental explosion destroys casemate number 4 (the most easterly): four Allied soldiers are killed instantly.
Map of Longues-sur-Mer :
