: Will Fowler
: D-Day: Gold, Juno and Sword
: Amber Books Ltd
: 9781909160538
: 1
: CHF 3.50
:
: 20. Jahrhundert (bis 1945)
: English
: 90
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
In any military operation throughout history, few 24-hour periods have been as crucial as that of 6th June 1944. With the aid of specially commissioned maps, D-Day: The First 24 Hours series gives the dramatic history of the first 24 hours of the Normandy landings, and explains in detail the events that occurred in each landing zone. In this fourth volume of the series, the book describes the British and Canadian landings on Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. The book also includes details of the human cost of the first day, and a full order of battle for both sides.

With colour and black& white photographs, the book is a guide to key events in the first 24 hours of the D-Day landings that saw the Allies successfully achieve a foothold in Northern Europe.

The two-storey fire control and observation post at Les Longues battery that is still in excellent condition today. The scars of the Allied bombardment are clearly visible. The battery was not captured until 7 June, but it was put out of action by Allied naval gunfire.

CHAPTER ONE


GOLD BEACH


At the western end of the Anglo–Canadian beaches, Gold was the objective for the XXX Corps. The German planners had dismissed it as a potential site for a major landing because of the steep bluffs and rock strewn shore, which would make any landing difficult. Once ashore, the British forces were to swing right to link up with the American V Corps at Omaha. They would also drive inland, with the liberation of the historical town of Bayeux as an objective to be secured before the end of D-Day.

IN SEPTEMBER 1943, A FORMIDABLE German coastal battery was commissioned on the cliffs at Les Longues between Omaha and Gold. Manned by theKriegsmarine, it had four 15cm (5.9in)Torpedobootskanone C/36 guns taken from decommissioned destroyers. The guns had been made at the Czechoslovakian armaments plant at Skoda, Pilsen, and had a range of 19.5km (12 miles) that covered the approaches to the future Omaha, Gold and Juno beaches.

The guns were in Type M272 casemates that gave them an elevation of minus four degrees to plus 40 degrees and an arc of fire of 130 degrees – which was possible because of cut-outs at the sides of the embrasure. The casemates had been textured and landscaped for camouflage and protection. They were about 330m (1100ft) from the cliff and had not been built in a straight line but in a slight convex arc that enabled the guns to cover a wider area. As with all naval designs, ammunition was kept in magazines within the casemates.

At the cliff edge, a two-storey semi-underground Type M262 Observation and Fire Control bunker had been constructed. It had optical range and direction finding equipment, map room and accommodation. Telephone cables buried 2m (6.5ft) deep ran from the OP to the guns.

The battery, manned by 184 sailors, had seven personnel shelters and six bunkers with Tobruks. A mortar pit was located behind the No 2 gun casemate. A 2cm (0.78in) flak gun was sited to cover the cliffs and as anti-aircraft protection. The whole position was protected by barbed wire and minefields. The battery was bombed on 28 May and 3 June when it received 150 tonnes (148 tons) of bombs. They did no damage.

GERMAN GUNS IN ACTION


On the morning of 6 June, the guns went into action against the invasion fleet. They engaged the USS<