D-Day: Commonwealth Sectors

8. Musee de la Batterie de Mervil

Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandie

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The taking out of the five hectare gun battery site at Merville was of great strategic importance to the successful landing on Sword Beach. The four 100mm howitzers, protected in reinforced concrete casemates had a range of 10km and could wreak havoc on the troops as they stormed ashore. The site was well defended with minefields, anti-tank ditches and barbed wire all designed to keep unwanted attentions at bay. The gun emplacements themselves were defended by 160 men placed in machine gun nests, tobruks and 20mm anti-aircraft guns. All this led to Brigadier James Hill describing the task as a "particularly obnoxious" one when he outlined the mission to commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Terrance Otway.