The Merville Gun Battery was part of the German “Atlantic
Wall” defenses against an allied invasion. The Merville Gun Battery was assigned
to a the British under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway.
Otway’s parachute troops were scattered wide of the target. He
began the assault just before 3:00 am on D-Day (6 June 1944) with about 150 of
540 troops. The actual attack began about 4:15 am. The fighting was fierce and
included hand-to-hand combat. After about 20-minutes the Germans surrendered.
German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel ordered rapid completion
of the site in March 1944. This site consisted of a command bunker, a trench
system, and thick concrete casemates. The defense included a 20 mm anti-aircraft
gun and several machine guns in an enclosed area surrounded by two fences of five
(or six)-foot-high barbed wire, which was more than 10 feet wide. A minefield
lay between the barbed wire fences. On the beach side was an anti-tank ditch,
which was 10 feet deep and 14 feet wide.
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