Longues Battery

Since the advent of gun powder, defensive warfare has been dominated by the gun battery. Many of these WW2 gun batteries can still be seen today.

This section holds together the various WW2 gun batteries in the 'World at War' website and signposts to other WW2 battery websites.

The Atlantic Wall

Hitler's Atlantic Wall defenses during WW2 was an impressive series of fortifications that ran the length of Europe from Denmark to Spain. Spanning almost a thousand miles the Atlantik Wall was constructed by the Organisation Todt in only a few years.

It took only a day to breach on D-Day, June 6th 1944.

Normandy Batteries

Selected because its Atlantic Wall defences were weaker than in the Pas-de-Calais, Normandy is still home to many WW2 batteries such as Longres Battery and Point du Hoc. Today many of these batteries are museums.

Inland Batteries

With a long history of conflict with its neighbour, France constructed a series of defensive fortifications along its border with Germany, called the Maginot Line. This impregable defensive line extended from neautral Belgium to the Swiss border, blocking any possible German thrust into France.

The Germans simply bypassed these defenses and invaded France through neautral Belgium!

The Maginot Line wasn`t the only fixed inland WW1-esque defensive position in Europe.

Fort Eben Emael

To maintain its neutrality Belgium constructed a ring of fortresses around its key cities of Brussels, Antwerp and Liege. Fort Eben-Emael was taken using using airbourne troops, while the others were bypassed, icons to a by-gone age of warfare.

Batteries in the UK

You needn`t travel outside the UK to see the remains of WW2 Batteries.

Jersey is an island litterally teeming with WW2 German defensives, itself being turned into an island fortress after its occupation.

Mainland UK also has its WW2 Batteries, with the coastal defences at Brixham, Devon being a good example. Of lesser historical importance, but no less interesting are the hundreds of anti-aircraft batteries constructed, such as that at Lavernock, S.Wales.

WW2 Batteries are an interesting indication of the efforts made during the 1930s and 1940s to defend our island nation from Hitler's domination.

 

 

The guns of Longues Battery escaped post-war scrap merchants

The forward observation bunker at Longues Battery was used in the movie 'The Longest Day' (1962)

 

Brixham Battery, Devon is a good example of a WW2 coastal battery