90-473: The Todt Battery , also known as Batterie Todt , was a battery of coastal artillery built by Nazi Germany during World War II , located in the hamlet of Haringzelles, Audinghen , near Cape Gris-Nez , Pas de Calais , France . The battery consisted of four Krupp 380-millimetre (15 in) guns with a range up to 55.7 kilometres (34.6 mi), capable of reaching the British coast, each protected by
180-403: A Stone Age prehistoric site. Vauban built a coastal fort at the mouth of the river Wimereux, the ruins showed at low-tide until the 1940s. Napoleon ordered a port to be built here between 1803 and 1804, taking its name from the river. In 1840, the future Napoleon III , first president (and last monarch) of France, landed at Pointe aux Oies. The territory of Wimereux originally belonged to
270-500: A 120° rotation of the turret, a -4° to 60° elevation for the gun. This large embrasure was protected, on its sides, by 4 cm thick armored plates following as closely as possible the shape of the rotating turret and, on its higher part, by a "Todt front" reinforced with thick steel plates, removed by scrap metal dealers after the war. The Kriegsmarine maintained a separate coastal defense network during World War II. It established early 1940 several sea defense zones to protect
360-660: A bunker of reinforced concrete. Originally to be called Siegfried Battery , it was renamed in honor of the German engineer Fritz Todt , creator of the Todt Organisation . It was later integrated into the Atlantic Wall . The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division attacked the Cape Gris-Nez batteries on 29 September 1944, and the positions were secured by the afternoon of the same day. The Todt battery fired for
450-425: A circle with a radius of about 400 meters. In addition to the large-caliber guns, this battery also commanded the following weapon systems and buildings: 14 passive bunkers, four barracks, a belt of 15 " Tobruks " (small stand-alone bunkers, with a hole at the top, usually manned by two people that served as an observation post or machine gun nest), three bunkers with anti-tank guns facing south and directed towards
540-453: A fully equipped sawmill in Outreau , south of Boulogne-sur-mer, to produce the large quantities of formwork needed for the reinforced concrete structures and to transport it to the construction site. The formwork for the ceiling of the casemate was supported by a temporary falsework above the firing platform that had to remain combat-ready during its construction. This temporary falsework
630-640: A pair of 38 cm (15 in) guns . While the bombing of Britain intensified during the Blitz , Hitler issued his Directive No. 21 on 18 December 1940 instructing the Wehrmacht to be ready for a quick attack to commence his long-planned invasion of the Soviet Union . Operation Sea Lion lapsed, never to be resumed. On 23 September 1941, Hitler ordered all Sea Lion preparations to cease. Most historians agree Sea Lion would have failed regardless, because of
720-654: A possible crossing from the coastal strip Calais-Cape Gris-Nez – Boulogne. All suitable available heavy batteries are to be employed for this purpose by the Army High Command and the Naval High Command under the direction of the Naval High Command and are to be installed in fixed positions in conjunction with the Todt Organization. OKW Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl set out the OKW proposals for
810-790: A range of 40 km (25 mi), including small British patrol craft inshore of the English coast. Two additional radar sites were added by mid-September 1940: a DeTe-Gerät at Cap de la Hague and a FernDeTe-Gerät long-range radar at Cap d’Antifer near Le Havre. The 38 cm SK C/34 naval gun was developed by Germany mid to late 1930s to arm the Bismarck -class battleship . Bismarck ' s and Tirpitz ' s main battery consisted of eight 38 cm SK C/34 guns in four twin turrets. As with other German large-caliber naval rifles, these guns were designed by Krupp and featured sliding-wedge breechblocks , which required brass cartridge cases for
900-474: A stationary platform and are thus more accurate (and can be larger, with more ammunition stowage) than those on board ships. Super-heavy railway guns can only be traversed by moving the entire gun and its carriage along a curved track, or by building a special cross track or turntable. This, combined with their slow rate of fire (measured in rounds per hour or even rounds per day), makes it difficult for them to hit moving targets. Another problem with super-heavy guns
990-414: A unique standard charge, divided into 2 parts for easier handling: a main charge ( Hauptkartusche) and a forecharge ( Vorkartusche ). Fitted with a C/12 nASt percussion primer , the main charge, referenced as 38 cm Hülsenkartusche 34 , weighted 105.2 kg (232 lb). It was 90 cm (35 in) high and was, at its base, 47 cm (19 in) in diameter. Weighting 101 kg (223 lb),
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#17327721127391080-472: A weight of only 105.3 t (103.6 long tons; 116.1 short tons) for these guns, presumably accounting for the extra volume of the enlarged chamber. An armored single mount, the Bettungsschiessgerüst (Firing platform) C/39 was used by these guns. It had a maximum elevation of 60° and could traverse up to 360°, depending on the emplacement. The C/39 mount had two compartments; the upper housed
1170-436: Is that their barrels (which are difficult to make and expensive to replace) wear out relatively quickly, so they could not be fired often. Better suited for use against naval targets were the four heavy naval batteries installed by mid-September: Friedrich August , Prinz Heinrich , Oldenburg and Siegfried (later renamed Todt ) – a total of eleven guns, with the firepower of a battlecruiser . Fire control for these guns
1260-770: The Heer . These guns had an effective range of 45 km (28 mi). Designed as successors to the World War I Paris gun , they had a maximum range of 115 km (71 mi). Shell fragments were found near Chatham, Kent , about 88 km (55 mi) from the French coast. Both guns, which were operated by Artillerie-Batterie 701 (E), remained on the Channel Coast until the Liberation of France in July 1944. Most of
1350-412: The 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade to take Cape Gris-Nez from 16 to 17 September failed. As part of Operation Undergo , the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division led the attack on the two heavy batteries at Cape Gris-Nez which threatened the sea approaches to Boulogne . The plan devised by General Daniel Spry was to bombard them from land, sea and air to "soften up" the defenders, even if it failed to destroy
1440-728: The Atlantic Wall which was built between 1942 and 1944. After the Fall of France in June 1940, Adolf Hitler personally discussed the possibility of invasion with Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder , the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) on 21 May 1940. Almost a month later on 25 June he ordered Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW , supreme command of the armed forces) to begin preparation and feasibility studies, which had to be completed by 2 July, for
1530-642: The Battle of Britain , the British did not have an immediate answer to the threat posed by the German coastal batteries. However, the high ground to either side of the Port of Dover was fortified on the personal order of Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who had visited the area to see the situation in person) and wanted large calibre guns dug in there. The only British cross-Channel guns already in place were two BL 14 inch Mk VII (35.6 cm) guns Winnie (named after Churchill) and – later in 1940 – Pooh (named after
1620-751: The Boulonnais (land area) , at the junction of the D233 and the D940 roads, on the banks of the small river or large stream, the Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern limit of this commune, the straight, relatively low shore with the English Channel the western. Farming, leisure, care, public sector work and tourism are its main economic activities with a sizeable retired year-round-resident population. At Pointe-aux-Oies, dolmen can still be seen at
1710-650: The English Channel during the Second World War . The British built several gun positions along the coast of Kent , England while the Germans fortified the Pas-de-Calais in occupied France . The Strait of Dover was strategically important because it is the narrowest part of the English channel. Batteries on both sides attacked shipping as well as bombarding the coastal towns and military installations. The German fortifications would be incorporated into
1800-612: The First World War (named Gladiator , Scene Shifter and Piece Maker [sic]) were brought out of retirement in 1939 and mounted on railway chassis. The British coast batteries sank: This gunnery duel, along with heavy German shelling and bombing of Dover strait and the Dover area, led to this stretch of the Channel being nicknamed Hellfire Corner and led to 3,059 alerts, 216 civilian deaths and damage to 10,056 premises in
1890-759: The German Army . The Todt battery was under the orders of the seekommandant Pas-de-Calais, Vice Admiral Friedrich Frisius , who also commanded the other coastal batteries. The 242nd Coastal Artillery Battalion of the Kriegsmarine ( Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 242 – MAA 242) manned the battery with a garrison of some 390 men (4 officers, 49 NCOs and 337 sailors). The battery was commanded from 1940 to 1942 by Kapitänleutnant MA Wilhelm Günther and from 1942 until its capture on 29 September 1944 by Oberleutnant MA Klaus Momber. The casemates were not equipped with sighting elements. The firing coordinates were given to
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#17327721127391980-493: The Grosser Kurfürst Battery at Floringzelle near Cap Gris Nez, ending the duels. Dover was finally freed from bombardment and to mark the event the town's mayor was sent a German flag from the batteries. Between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer considerable parts of the concrete gun emplacements and associated bunkers remain accessible, although often in somewhat dangerous conditions. One of the casemates of
2070-494: The Strait of Dover to Royal Navy warships and merchant convoys. The Kriegsmarine' s Naval Operations Office deemed this a plausible and desirable goal, especially given the relatively short distance, 34 km (21 mi), between the French and English coasts. Orders were therefore issued to assemble and begin emplacing every Army and Navy heavy artillery piece available along the French coast, primarily at Pas-de-Calais. This work
2160-650: The United Kingdom . The manning and operation of the Atlantic Wall was administratively overseen by the German Army , with some support from Luftwaffe ground forces. The fortification of the Atlantic coast, with a special attention to ports, was accelerated in the aftermath the British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire during Operation Chariot on 28 March 1942. The Führer Directive No. 51 definitely confirmed
2250-548: The invasion of Britain . In an OKW directive on 10 July, operational coastal batteries under the control of the Kriegsmarine would support the invasion fleet. All preparations are to be made to provide strong frontal and flank artillery protection for the transportation and landing of troops in case of a possible crossing from the coastal strip Calais–Cape Gris Nez–Boulogne. On 16 July Hitler issued Führer Directive 16 to have guns in place to support Operation Sea Lion: Strong forces of coastal artillery must command and protect
2340-542: The Anglo-Canadian operation to capture Calais, on 26 September 1944 (the last day of shelling) fifty shells were fired, killing five people, the last of whom was 63-year-old Patience Ransley, who was killed by a shell from the Lindemann Battery while sheltering in the 900 ft (270 m) long "Barwick's Cave" reinforced cliff tunnel. Accurate bombardment from the British heavy guns at Dover disabled
2430-826: The Army’s railway guns . The first shells landed in the Dover area during the second week of August 1940. Seven of the railway guns, six 28 cm (11 in) K5 guns and a single 21 cm (8.3 in) K12 gun with a range of 115 km (71 mi), could only be used against land targets. The remainder, thirteen 28 cm (11 in) guns and five 24 cm (9.4 in) guns, plus additional motorised batteries comprising twelve 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and ten 21 cm (8.3 in) guns, could be fired at shipping but were of limited effectiveness due to their slow traverse speed, long loading time and ammunition types. Land-based guns have always been feared by navies because they are on
2520-557: The Atlantic Wall, who died on 8 February 1942 in a plane crash days before the battery's inauguration after meeting with Hitler at his Eastern Front military headquarters (" Wolf's Lair ") near Rastenburg in East Prussia . This decision was materialized by embossed 1.50-m high letters, displayed on Casemate 3. Hitler visited the Todt battery on 23 December 1940. In 1941, the battery was initially codenamed 18 . When integrated into
2610-504: The Atlantic wall, the Todt Battery, its close-combat defensive positions and its anti-aircraft guns formed the strongpoint Stützpunkt (StP) 213 Saitenspiel in 1943, renamed StP 166 Saitenspiel in 1944 . Before 1940, Haringzelles consisted of three farmsteads bordered by low walls and bushes. The occupants left shortly after the German engineers chose the site to build the Todt Battery. German troops transplanted mature trees from
2700-409: The British had already identified the Todt, Friedrich August, Grosser Kurfürst, Prinz Heinrich and Oldenburg batteries, together with fourteen other 17-cm guns, were "by the middle of September [1940] mounted and ready for use in this region alone" , around Calais and Cape Gris-Nez. Dorsch considered that three factors contributed to making the battery combat-ready in about two months. Firstly, most of
2790-596: The C/39 armored single mounts, in the Vardåsen coastal battery at Nøtterøy (M.K.B. 6/501 "Nötteröy" ). The 38 cm SK C/34 guns of the Todt battery could fire five types of shells, four of which developed by the Kriegsmarine and one by the Heer. The Kriegsmarine shells weighted 800 kg (1,800 lb) and had a range of 40 km (44,000 yards) with an initial speed of 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s). A lighter version
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2880-509: The Dover area. British coastal convoys had to pass through the bottleneck of the Dover strait to transport supplies, particularly coal; Britain's road and rail network was not then able to cope with the volume of traffic that had to be handled. Although the German guns regularly fired on these slow moving convoys from 1940 to 1944, with an interlude in 1943, they only sank two ships and damaged several others. Two seamen were killed and others were injured by shell splinters from near misses. However,
2970-556: The English Channel, codenamed Unternehmen Zerberus (Operation Cerberus). Due to poor visibility and a number of communication failures by British forces, the first response to the German squadron was by the 9.2-inch guns of the South Foreland Battery, which were the only guns which could be directed by radar but the 10-cm S band set had only recently been installed and had never been used in conjunction with
3060-585: The German guns in the Pas-de-Calais . Both conducted extreme range counter-battery operations against the German's coastal guns but they were too inaccurate and slow to fire on enemy shipping. Due to these guns' lack of success in targeting shipping, Churchill ordered three new heavy gun batteries to be built in Dover and manned by the Royal Artillery : The guns were later joined by Lydden Spout Battery , consisting of three more BL 6-inch Mk VII guns. Also, three BL 13.5-inch (343 mm) Mk V naval guns from
3150-517: The Germans had 42 heavy guns in the vicinity of Calais, including five batteries of cross-channel guns, the Todt Battery (four 380 mm guns), Batterie Lindemann (four 406 mm guns at Sangatte), Batterie Wissant (150 mm guns near Wissant), Grosser Kurfürst (four 280 mm guns) and Gris-Nez (three 170 mm guns). The Germans had broken the drainage systems, flooding the hinterland and added large barbed wire entanglements, minefields and blockhouses. The first attempt by elements of
3240-592: The Second World War, German Naval Headquarters were situated on the northern side of the town. After D-Day , as Allied forces moved northwards, the town was shelled from Cap Gris Nez , and was re-taken by the Canadian 1st Army on 22 September 1944. The seaside development was started during the Second Empire , resulting in a remarkable architectural ensemble of houses and buildings typical of
3330-847: The Todt Battery can be visited at the Musée du Mur de l'Atlantique , the Atlantic Wall Museum, at Audinghen. One of the Krupp K5 guns is also there. Since 1954, a section of painted armour plating taken as a war trophy from a turret of the Lindemann Battery has been on display on the Dover seafront. Many of the British batteries remained until the decision was taken to retire all the coastal artillery in 1956. The 15-inch guns at Wanstone Farm were not removed until 1959. The sites have either been demolished, buried or left to decay. At Wanstone Farm Battery, ancillary buildings such as
3420-400: The armored turreted 38 cm SK C/34 naval gun was at the center of an open vast circular room with an internal diameter of 29 m, under an 11-meter high ceiling. Two continuous concrete benches are running along the rear wall of the casemate. The lower one supports the rotating turret. The railroad track connecting the casemate to the main ammunition bunkers located at Onglevert arrived at
3510-451: The batteries continued firing until September 1944 when they were overrun during the clearing of the Channel Coast . By then more than a thousand rounds had been fired by the German coastal batteries against England and shipping. The only two vessels to be sunk by German fire were: Empire Lough was one of 21 coastal vessels in the convoy ETC-17, escorted by the frigate HMS Dakins and corvette HMS Sunflower . On 24 June 1944,
3600-417: The casemates by the fire control post located in a regelbau S100 bunker along the shoreline at Cran-aux-Oeufs, 1,200 m (3,900 ft) north of the battery ( 50°50′50.45″N 1°35′4.37″E / 50.8473472°N 1.5845472°E / 50.8473472; 1.5845472 ). The command center, two personnel bunkers, a water reservoir with its close-combat defensive positions at Cran-aux-Oeufs formed
3690-597: The civilian crews of the merchant ships found the shelling more unnerving than the attacks by aircraft or E-boats that they were also subjected to and there were instances of crews refusing to sail from their forming-up point at Southend-on-Sea because of the German guns. On 11 February 1942, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and more than twenty smaller escort vessels sailed from Brest in Brittany to their home port of Wilhelmshaven by an audacious dash through
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3780-498: The commune of Wimille , from which it separated on 28 May 1899. In the same year, the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux in March by Guglielmo Marconi . In the First World War , Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units used Wimereux communal cemetery for burials. Lady Hadfield set up and ran a Red Cross hospital here at her own expense for
3870-542: The convoy left Southend en route to the Seine Bay when the ships were engaged by German long-range coastal artillery guns off Dover. Empire Lough was set on fire and declared a total loss after she was beached near Folkestone. The master Robert Robinson and one crew member were lost. The freighter Gurden Gates (1,791 grt, built 1943) was damaged in the same action. Having withdrawn in the Dunkirk evacuation and winning
3960-583: The defenses. Preceded by local bombardments to keep the defenders under cover until too late to be effective, infantry assaults would follow, accompanied by flame-throwing Churchill Crocodiles to act as final "persuaders". Kangaroo armored personnel carriers would deliver infantry as close to their objectives as possible. Cross-Channel guns in the Second World War The Dover Strait coastal guns were long-range coastal artillery batteries that were sited on both sides of
4050-485: The defensive role of the batteries of the Cape Gris-Nez on 3 November 1943. Built on the small plateau of Haringzelles, located 3 km southeast of Cape gris-Nez, the Todt battery consisted of four casemates. Each casemate consisted of two parts: the firing chamber which housed the 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns under an armored turret, designated as Bettungsschiessgerüst C/39, and, on two floors, one of which
4140-543: The forecharge was 84.5 cm (33.3 in) high and had a diameter of 42 cm (17 in). The propelling charge for the Siegfried shell ( Siegfried ladung ) also came in two parts capable to fire with a light load ( Siegfried Hauptkartusche) or with a full load ( Siegfried Hauptkartusche ) with its forecharge ( Siegfried Vorkartusche ). The Siegfried Hauptkartusche weighted 133 kg (293 lb) and its forecharge 123 kg (271 lb). In both cases,
4230-419: The forests of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Desvres to camouflage the construction operations. According to the post-war accounts of Franz Xavier Dorsch who supervised the construction of the Todt battery, the construction was divided into 2 phases. First, the guns were to be ready to fire within 8 weeks, with half of its auxiliary facilities ready but without any protective cover in reinforced concrete. The battery
4320-503: The forward coastal area. Commencing on 22 July 1940, Organisation Todt began work on artillery positions primarily at Pas-de-Calais for every heavy artillery piece available; the batteries were required to be capable of withstanding the heaviest bombardments. The first German guns began to be installed around the end of July 1940. The German batteries in order of construction were: By early August, Siegfried Battery and Grosser Kurfürst Battery were fully operational as were all of
4410-854: The guns and their accompanying carriages would find refuge in quarries, under the railway tunnels or under one of the three dombunkers (cathedral-bunkers), reinforced concrete shelters of an ogival shape whose construction began in September 1940. Six 28 cm K5 pieces and a single 21 cm (8.3 in) K12 gun , with a range of 115 km (71 mi), could only be used effectively against land targets. Thirteen 28 cm (11 in) and five 24 cm (9.4 in) pieces, plus additional motorized batteries comprising twelve 24 cm guns and ten 21 cm weapons. The railway guns could be fired at shipping but were of limited effectiveness due to their slow traverse speed, long loading time and ammunition types. Better suited for use against naval targets were
4500-865: The guns and their loading equipment, while the lower contained the ammunition hoists, their motors, and the elevation and traverse motors. The mount was fully powered and had an underground magazine. C/39 mounts were also installed at the Hanstholm fortress in Denmark, and the Vara fortress in Kristiansand , Norway. Plans were made to install two of these mounts at Cap de la Hague and two at Paimpol in France, modifying guns originally intended for an abortive refit of Gneisenau , but were not executed for unknown reasons. Work on putting two more mounts at Oxsby in Denmark
4590-648: The guns by railway lines. Both batteries were camouflaged and protected from aerial attack by anti-aircraft emplacements behind and below St. Margaret's. Both guns were operated from separate firing-control rooms and were manned by 25-man troop of the Royal Marines Siege Regiment . Although Winnie fired Britain's first shell onto continental Europe in August 1940 boosting morale, the Mk VII naval guns were slow to reload and ineffectual compared to
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#17327721127394680-412: The guns. As the visibility was only 5 nmi (5.8 mi; 9.3 km), it was hoped that the radar would be able to register the splashes as the shells landed so that the guns would be able to correct their aim but nothing was detected. After firing three two-gun salvoes without being able to detect the "fall of shot" – the shells were actually landing almost a mile astern of the main German ships – it
4770-410: The hamlet of Onglevert, located 1.5 km (1 mi) east of the battery Todt. Each casemate was connected to these ammunition bunkers (30 x 20 x 5 m) by a truck road and by a network of Decauville -type narrow-gauge tracks. These two large constructions were made up of 6 cells arranged on either side of a corridor closed at each end by a heavy double-winged armored door. They were integrated into
4860-561: The heavy naval batteries that began to be installed around the end of July 1940. First came the Siegfried Battery at Audinghen , south of Cape gris-Nez , (later increased to 4 and renamed Todt Battery). Four naval batteries were operational by mid-September 1940: Friedrich August with three 30.5 cm (12.0 in) barrels ; Prinz Heinrich with two 28 cm guns ; Oldenburg with two 24 cm weapons and, largest of all, Siegfried (later renamed Batterie Todt ) with
4950-663: The hospital and is buried here. Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps . In 1916, Solomon J Solomon set up a Royal Engineers establishment, the Special Works Park, in a disused feldspar factory. Here were developed new military camouflage techniques and equipment for the British Army. It became the General Headquarters of the British Army in 1919. During
5040-442: The interior of the coast, nine pieces of anti-aircraft guns of French origin, installed at the center of the battery, a drinking water pumping station, a hospital bunker and a pre-existing farm, between casemate 2 and casemate 3, integrated into the defensive system to serve as barracks and an observation post. Each casemate had a buffer stock of propelling charges and shells but relied on two separated ammunition bunkers located near
5130-480: The large amount of coastline which Germany had acquired after invading the Low Countries , Denmark , Norway , and France . In spring 1940, the Kriegsmarine began to reorganize coastal defense around sea defense zones . Logistically, the sea defense zones and its separate coastal defense network were strictly a Navy command but were eventually integrated into the Atlantic Wall which was generally overseen by
5220-647: The last time on 29 September 1944 and was taken hours later by the North Nova Scotia Highlanders that landed in Normandy, as part of the 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division , after an intense aerial bombardment, as part of Operation Undergo . Germany's swift and successful occupation of France and the Low Countries gained control of the Channel coast. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder met Hitler on 21 May 1940 and raised
5310-412: The level of the higher bench through two 2 meters-wide openings. Between the two benches runs a circular corridor equipped with two concentric Decauville-type rails. The inner track supported the rollers of the turret loading crane, while the second track was used to move trolleys with shells and propelling charges. Two passages gave access for servicing the shaft. The embrasure of the casemate allowed
5400-454: The main charge was in the form of a yellow brass casing while the additional load was contained in a fiber-reinforced cellulose bag. The loading was carried out in the following order: shell, Vorkartusche , then Hauptkartusche . Although the guns were already operational in September 1940, the battery went into action, for the first time, two days after its inauguration ceremony on 12 February 1942, providing counter-battery fire , to support
5490-584: The most of the railway tracks entering the dunes and skirting the hills of Boulonnais , before fanning out behind Cape gris-Nez. Other firing locations were set up behind Wissant and near Calais, at the level of the Digue Royale (royal dyke). Copied from swing bridges and railway turntables , Vögele rotating tables were assembled, on stabilized or lightly reinforced ground, at the end of these various deviations enabling rapid adjustments and all-round firing of these railway guns. Outside of firing periods,
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#17327721127395580-483: The number of workers employed by the Organisation Todt for the construction of the heavy coastal batteries between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais. About 9000 of them were Germans. According to Dorsch, the firing platforms and all the facilities needed for the ammunition, the machinery and the crew were finalized in 8 weeks and three days. Winston Churchill , in his book " The Second World War ", recorded that
5670-494: The plotting room and the guard house are visible, although overgrown and the sergeants' mess has reverted to its original use as a farm house. Wimereux Wimereux ( French: [vim(ə)ʁø] ; West Flemish : Wimeruwe ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France . Wimereux is a coastal town 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Boulogne-sur-Mer , thus in
5760-597: The propellant charges. Under optimal conditions, the rate of fire was one shot every 18 seconds, or three per minute. Under battle conditions, Bismarck averaged roughly one round per minute in her battle with HMS Hood and Prince of Wales . The Kriegsmarine also planned to use these naval guns as the armament of the three planned battleships, with a displacement of 35,400 tons, which were tentatively named "O", "P" and "Q". The ships' main armament batteries were to have consisted of six 38 cm SK C/34 guns mounted in three twin turrets . By 1940, project drawings for
5850-667: The proposed invasion of Britain in a memorandum issued on 12 July, which described it as "a river crossing on a broad front", irritating the Kriegsmarine . On 16 July 1940 Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 16, setting in motion preparations for a landing in Britain, codenamed Operation Sea Lion. One of the four conditions for the invasion to occur set out in Hitler's directive was the coastal zone between occupied France and England must be dominated by heavy coastal artillery to close
5940-420: The range of the gun elevation was -4° to 60°, its loading had to be performed horizontally, i.e. at an elevation of 0°. In 1949, France exchanged 3 German 38 cm SKC/34 naval guns from the Todt Battery with three French 380 mm/45 Modèle 1935 naval guns intended for the battleship Jean Bart . These French guns were originally transported to Norway following the decision in March 1944 to install them, using
6030-487: The return of the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst , the two Scharnhorst -class battleships, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and escorts to German bases through the English Channel . They were not silenced until 1944, when the batteries were overrun by Allied ground forces. They caused 3,059 alerts, 216 civilian deaths, and damage to 10,056 premises in the Dover area. However, despite firing on frequent slow-moving coastal convoys, often in broad daylight, for almost
6120-527: The ships of the Royal Navy. In an OKW directive on 10 July, General Wilhelm Keitel requested artillery protection during the planned invasion: In pursuance of the requested analysis of artillery protection for transports to Britain (...), the Führer has ordered: All preparations are to be made to provide strong frontal and flank artillery protection for the transportation and landing of troops in case of
6210-413: The site. The Organisation Todt had to improve the road network in the surrounding area to transport the building materials with up to 1200 heavy trucks. A dedicated road was built between the construction site and the largest source of gravel in the nearby quarries of Hidrequent- Rinxent , near Marquise , avoiding towns when possible and building a new bridge above the road Boulogne-Calais to not disrupt
6300-578: The special long-range Siegfried shells. The gun could not traverse on its mount, relying instead on moving along a curving section of track or on a Vögele turntable to aim. The battery Todt was equipped with four 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns and their corresponding C/39 Firing platform. With a range up to 55.7 km (34.6 miles), the guns were capable of reaching Dover and the British coast located less than 30 km from Cape Griz-Nez. Normally these were placed in open concrete barbettes , relying on their armor for protection, but Hitler thought that there
6390-471: The story book character Winnie the Pooh ) at St Margaret's at Cliffe . Both guns were spares taken from the stock of guns of the battleship HMS King George V . One gun used a mounting from HMS Furious , while the other had a mounting from a test range; neither was turret-mounted. Their separate and well-camouflaged cordite and shell magazines were buried under deep layers of earth and connected to
6480-588: The strongpoint Widerstandsnest (Wn) 166a Seydlitz. This command center was equipped with a 10.5-meters optical coincidence rangefinder under a steel cupola. A direction finder and active ranging radar FuMO 214 Würzburg Riese was installed on top of one of the personnel bunkers . Target information was also provided by both spotter aircraft and by naval radar sets installed at Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap d’Alprech, south of Outreau , known as DeTe-Gerät ( Dezimeter Telegraphie-Gerät , decimetric telegraphy device). These units were capable of detecting targets out to
6570-470: The strongpoint Wn Onglevert , renamed Wn 183 Eber from 1944. The battery fired its first shell on 20 January 1942, although it was only officially opened in February 1942 in the presence of Admirals Karl Dönitz and Erich Raeder. Originally to be called Siegfried Battery, it was renamed in honor of the German engineer Fritz Todt , creator of the Todt Organisation and responsible for the construction of
6660-401: The three battle-cruisers were complete. They were reviewed by both Hitler and Admiral Raeder, both of whom approved. However, outside "initial procurement of materials and the issuance of some procurement orders", the ships' keels were never laid. In large part, this was due to severe material shortages, especially of high-grade steel, since there were more pressing needs for these materials for
6750-532: The topic of invasion, but warned of the risks and expressed a preference for blockade by air, submarines and raiders . By the end of May, the Kriegsmarine had become even more opposed to invading Britain following its costly victory in Norway . Over half of the Kriegsmarine surface fleet had been either sunk or badly damaged in Operation Weserübung , and his service was hopelessly outnumbered by
6840-477: The traffic of this strategic road. The road from the train station of Wimereux to Audinghem had to be upgraded to allow the transport of the guns. Two Sd.Kfz. 9 half-tracks towed the guns, weighing more than 70 tons, loaded on Culemeyer -type heavy trailers, developed by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik , with 48 wheels on 12 axles and a capacity up to 100 tons. The Organisation Todt could also use
6930-506: The treatment of wounded and sick servicemen. The Women's Hospital Corps, founded by Flora Murray and Louisa Garratt Anderson , opened their second hospital in Wimereux, on request of the RAMC . It was the first women's hospital to be recognised by the British Army. Colonel John McCrae , the Canadian gunner and doctor who wrote the popular war poem " In Flanders Fields ", served and died in
7020-522: The war effort. Besides, the dockyard personnel necessary for the ships' construction were by now occupied with more pressing work, primarily on new U-boats . Spare guns were used as coastal artillery in Denmark, Norway and France. The coastal defense version of the SK C/34 was modified with a larger chamber for coast defense duties to handle the increased amount of propellant used for the special long-range Siegfried shells. Gander and Chamberlain quote
7110-525: The weaknesses of German sea power, compared to the Royal Navy . On 23 March 1942, days after the British raid on the German coastal radar installation at Bruneval , Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 40, which called for the creation of an "Atlantic Wall", an extensive system of coastal defenses and fortifications , along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from
7200-518: The whole of that period (there was an interlude in 1943), there is no record of any vessel being hit by them, although one seaman was killed and others were injured by shell splinters from near misses. Following the victory of Operation Overlord and the break-out from Normandy, the Allies judged it essential to silence the German heavy coastal batteries around Calais which could threaten Boulogne-bound shipping and bombard Dover and inland targets. In 1944
7290-476: The workers could be immediately accommodated in the Nissen huts of the former British camp of Etaples , about 15 km southwest of Boulogne. Secondly, the camouflage of the construction site was kept minimal given the size of the future casemates, which allowed the swift progress of the construction. Thirdly, suitable construction aggregates were found in large quantities within a radius of about 15 km from
7380-526: Was assigned to the Organisation Todt and commenced on 22 July 1940. By early August 1940, all of the Army's large-caliber railway guns were operational taking advantage of the narrow width of the English Channel in the Pas-de-Calais . Firing sites for these railway guns were quickly set up between Wimereux , in the south, and Calais in the north, along the axis Calais- Boulogne-sur-Mer making
7470-405: Was decided to fire full salvoes using only the ranging information from the radar. After six minutes of rapid fire, the last shots were fired at a range of 30,000 yd (27,000 m). None of the 33 shells fired came close to the German ships. A minute before the last shots were fired, South Foreland came under counter-battery fire from across the Channel but little damage was sustained. During
7560-524: Was developed for the coastal batteries to increase the operational life of the barrel from about 200 rounds to 350 rounds. Developed by the Wehrmacht, the Siegfried shell (German: Siegfried Granate ) was almost 40 percent lighter could be fired with a reduced charge at 920 m/s (3,000 feet per second) out to 40 km (44,000 yards). With a full charge it reached 1,050 m/s (3,400 feet per second) and could travel 55.7 kilometres (60,900 yd) – over 34 miles. The Kriegsmarine shells were fired with
7650-429: Was later removed once the reinforced concrete had sufficiently hardened to support itself and was used to building the next casemate of the battery. In November 1941, the casemates were completed after pouring 12,000 cubic meters of concrete and using 800 tonnes of reinforcing bars to build each SK ( Sonderkonstruktion ) casemates. No shots were fired by the battery between September 1940 and January 1942. The pivot of
7740-420: Was not enough protection for Todt Battery and ordered a concrete casemate 3.5 m (11 feet) thick built over and around the mounts. This had the unfortunate effect of limiting their traverse to 120°. The guns of the Todt Battery weighed 105.3 tons and had a total length of 19.63 m (64.4 feet). The 15.75 m-long (51.7-foot) barrel was progressively rifled with 90 right-handed twisted grooves. Although
7830-586: Was provided by both spotter aircraft and by DeTeGerät radar sets installed at Blanc-Nez and Cap d’Alprech. These units were capable of detecting targets out to a range of 40 km (25 mi), including small British patrol craft near the English coast. Two additional radar sites were added by mid-September: a DeTeGerät at Cap de la Hague and a FernDeTeGerät long-range radar at Cap d’Antifer near Le Havre . The longest-ranged guns were 21 cm (8.3 in) Kanone 12 in Eisenbahnlafette , manned by
7920-475: Was then to be completed in its entirety as soon as possible, without specifying an exact date, while maintaining, at all time, the gun capability to fire from their 60 mm-thick armored turrets. The Organization Todt began the groundwork at the battery in July 1940 and began to build in August 1940 the firing platforms with circular parapets for the rotation of the armored C/39 firing platform with its 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns. Dorsch estimated at 12000 – 15000
8010-411: Was underground, the ammunition bunkers and all the facilities needed for the ammunition, the machinery and the crew. The casemates are 47 meters long, 29 wide and 20 high, 8 of which are underground. The reinforced concrete walls and roof are 3.5 m thick to be able to resist 380 mm shells, ordinary 4000 pound bombs or 2000 pound armor-piercing bombs . The casemates were distributed along an arc of
8100-483: Was well advanced but incomplete by the end of the war. Some modified SK C/34 guns also saw service as 38 cm Siegfried K (E) railway guns , one of these being captured by American forces during the Rhône Valley campaign in 1944. Like the 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns deployed as coastal defense, the 38 cm Siegfried K guns were modified with a larger chamber to handle the increased amount of propellant used for
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