StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
StP Ste-Cécile was a very large Army (Heeres) batterie of six 15.5cm K418(f) guns with a full defence of many types of bunkers, plus an even bigger amount of Vf and Feldmässig field type arrangement. For all the crews and defence troops to live in. Some of the named casemates and bunkers that were here I cannot find. They may or may not have been built?? A batterie of six 15.5cm artillery, unusually set on the beach front, as most army (Heeres) batteries were placed inland. These guns would have covered a very large area with a 360° field of fire.
15.5cm K.418(f).
15.5cm K.418(f).
Geschützstellung (Ringstands).
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Batterie 1./H.K.A.R1245 Heeresküsten-Artillerieregiment
1 x R119 Batterie commander's bunker.
4 x R612
R612 casemate.
1 x R667 casemate for a 5cm KwK.
1 x R640
casemate for a 3.7/4.2cm Pak with front plate.
1 x R631
casemate for a machine gun with steel plate.
3 x R515
R515 casemate for a Machine gun, steel plate.
8 x Vf2a group shelter.
1 x R502
twin group shelter.
1 x Vf59a shelter with attached guard position.
6 x Geschützstellung (Ringstands)
2 x Geschützstellung + 2 Wellblech (Ringstands +2 ammunition).
6 x Vf7a ammunition bunker.
4 x Vf7b ammunition bunker bomb proof.
1 x Vf3 MG/Obs.
1 x Vf3 + Vf2a MG/Obs + group shelter.
1 x Feldmässig/B.Stellen.
26 x
Feldmässig.
1 x Latrinebunker.
2 x Vf/MG
3 x R600b ringstand for a 5cm KwK.
4 x Vf58c Tobruk's.
3 x Pz.T. FT17 3.7cm KwK144 (f).
3 x 7.5cm F.K.38
1 x 7.5cm F.K.16 n.Art.
3 x 5cm KwK 38.
6 x 15.5cm K.418(f).
R119 Batterie commander's bunker.
R612 casemate.
R667 casemate for a 5cm KwK.
R640 casemate for a 3.7/4.2cm Pak with front plate.
R631 casemate for a machine gun with steel plate.
R515 casemate for a Machine gun, steel plate.
R502 twin group shelter.
Vf7b ammunition bunker, bomb proof.
Vf2a group shelter.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Plan
This is the German plan of the area showing all the defences around St.Cécile..
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Air photo
Reconnaissance photo dated around 1946 shows the six Geschützstellung (Ringstands) and shelters & bunkers, also a lot of bombing on the 4th June 1944.
Geschützstellung (Ringstands).
I think this is one of the R502 twin group shelters now under a house.
R600b ringstand.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
Vf2a one of about eight that were here. This one now resides in a garden but was originally set in sad dunes. Capable of holding 15 men in triple bunks hung on the wall, with maybe a coal/wood burning heater. Some folding furniture and the odd cupboard. An escape out the side and then up steel steps to the side. Not exactly the nicest place to live but safe from light bombing of light artillery.
Plan.
Vf2a group shelter.
Vf2a crew room.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
Another view from the side.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
Chipped, either builders or a bomb splinter.
Plan.
Just before D-Day landings and after, the area was carpet bombed quite regularly. First, for every bomb dropped in Normandy, two were dropped in other areas. Giving the impression the landings would be somewhere else.
Daylight bombing started once air superiority had been gained and RAF and USAAF bombers came over here to bomb he radar and the batteries and places like StP Hasso, the underground storage areas.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
The pipe fittings on the side could be where the chimney came out.
In the distance a WC bunker. A long walk on a cold night with no lights.
Bunker heating pipe work.
WT80K type coal/wood burner.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
Just what is needed in a war, a concrete toilet block.
Toilets without protection
Bathing in the field.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
2020 and we managed to get a look at it..
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
Note the camouflaged forward observer, creating a path inside. It is so overgrown.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
Looking inside.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
Where to sit in a bombing raid.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
Almost camouflaged.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf/Latrine
MKB's plan of the bunker, well armoured toilet.
MLB field testing.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
Another Vf2a but this one must have held somebody who was very important.
Plan.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Vf2a group shelter
As you can see a good meter of concrete has been laid on its roof. The bombing was very heavy here so that maybe the reason.
One of the open ringstands and two very large bomb craters just to the front of this Vf2a shelter.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
R502 twin group shelter
Under this house, in fact about the same dimensions as this house it is built over is an R502 twin group shelter. Two large rooms, a store room with a periscope and two close combat embrasures.
Plan.
R502.
How it may have looked inside.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
R502 twin group shelter
Under this house, you can see the way the house sits on the bunker.
.
Periscope in the store room.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
R502 twin group shelter
Under this house, steps down the rear to the bunker.
Bunks.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 3
6 x Geschützstellung (Ringstand) 15.5cm K.418(f).Turm 3.
This one looks as though it was hit by a bomb and has been blown out.
This is Turm 3 in 1946 and it does look as though the side has been blown out for some reason. Also it still looks like a gun is in position.
15.5cm K.418(f).
Geschützstellung (Ringstand).
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Batterie 1./H.K.A.R1245
Heeresküsten-Artillerieregiment 1245 was responsible for artillery cover of the coastline between Hardelot and the Somme estuary.
HQ Heeresküsten-Artillerieregiment 1245, Oberstleutnant Denecke,Château Bonnance, Le Crotoy.
HQ 1. Abteilung, Major Ney, StP MontSaint-Frieux, Neufchâtel-Hardelot.
1st Batterie Heeresküsten-Artillerieregiment 1245.
Château Bonnance, Le Crotoy I think.
Two guns with a Vf ammunition bunker between them.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 3
You can just make out the wall running around the ringstand. In the distance is Turm 1&2.
Plan of Turm3.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 3
The hooks on the wall were for a camouflage netting to be tied down to.
A wooden framework was made to cover the gun and with a camouflage net over the tip, the gun barrel was hidden and the gun could not be seen in air photography.
Drawing of a turntable for this type of gun.
How the wheels sat onto the turntable.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 3
Tubes that carried the command cables through.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
How it may have looked.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 6
Turm 6 I am unsure what the small tower is?? The gun has been removed here but at least four guns remained in 1948.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
Turm 2 in the sand dunes to the south.
Plan.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turms 2 & 3
PRU Spitfire.
Camera changing.
WAAF interpreters at RAF Medmenham.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
Detail of where the guns trail sat.
Norway.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
Plan.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 2
Note the camouflage hooks around the concrete.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
Turm 1
We did not visit this one as it was just too wet.
StP Ste-Cécile H.K.B.
The weather, not always sunny.