Ok guys
the photo shows the German Strongpoint WN65 on Omaha Beach and is situated north of the D514 in the village of Laurent-sur-Mer. This is a well know picture of troops of the 2nd US Inf. Div. walking of the beach. The Bunker is a H677 type. Inside is only one of two ORIGINAL remaining guns in casemates on this beach. The gun is a 5cm KwK gun. The other original is an 88mm gun at WN72, north of the D514 at Vierville-sur-Mer.
he other big guns is from the Longues battery. Longues-s-Mer Just to the west of Arromanches, the Battery is signposted from the D 514. the first photo shows one of Casemates Gun number 1 at Longues. In the German war journals there is an entry that this gun had, the day before D-day, a minor hit in front of the gun, during an air raid. This small damage was not discovered. So on D-day while fighting the allied warship Ajax and more ships, a shell exploded in the chamber of the gun, and a barrel burst happened. The blast went backwards to the ammunition rooms and blew out the back of the bunker
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After the war, every town or village Mayor in the battle torn parts of Normandy and France was allowed by the government to remove any metal, equipment, food, materials, etc. and sell/use the items for the well of his people. The mayor of Longues-sur-Mer decided to keep the guns inside, to be a memorial of a bloody and hostile time ion the past.
Tthe observation bunker also called "B-Stelle" of Longues-sur-Mer Battery became famous . It was also the location of the film "The Longest Day" when Pluskat saw the allied ships coming out of the fog on June 6 1944.
This LCI was not taking us on a Whale Watching Trip:-
This is where they dropped us and went back to their ship and England:-
This is what the Krauts were planning to surprise and hurt us with:-
Didn't matter we got up the hill anyway and then made them sorry for being Badies!!
Sgtleo
