D-Day: Commonwealth Sectors

36. Hillman Casemate WN17

Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie

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A little further on, south of the village of Colleville-Montgomery, the 1st Suffolks came across bunker complex WN17 or Hillman as they had nicknamed it. This was a considerable strong-point and acted as the Battalion Headquarters and possessed a ring of Tobruk turrets and Pak guns surrounded by barbed wire and minefields. The Suffolk Regiment had earlier in the day taken the "Morris" battery and moved on to put Hillman out of action. Their first attempt was repulsed and they had to retreat to regroup and rethink. Later in the day with the arrival of tanks from the 13th/18th Hussars Regiment they were able to capture the position by 2000hrs, taking 40 prisoners. Historians feel that the delay in subduing Hillman led to the Germans being able to reinforce their positions further inland and meant that Caen, a D-Day target, took weeks instead of days to conquer, costing far more time, resources and lives than had been calculated in the initial planning.