Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Part of the Cherbourg outer ring defence, this machine gun bunker covers a bare hillside on the east side of Maupertus airport or as it was called then StP Theville Flugplatz at the time. Behind the casemate are four Tobruk's covering the back of the bunker.
R630 machine gun casemate with armoured plate.
Inside an R630 type casemate.
Steel plate being fitted.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Plan
About a five man crew for the casemate & eight men to crew the Tobruks.
1 x R630 casemate
4 x Vf58c Tobruk's
details
Two man crew, one for the machine gun and the other to manage the ammunition supply.
Crew in an R630 casemate.
Commander.
Gunner.
Ammunition man.
Tobruk crew (gunner/observation)
Close combat defence covering the rear door.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Plan
1958 photo showing how the field system worked with the R630 covering the N/E side of the field. The Tobruks can fire grazing fire at knee height over a 360° around their position.
R630 Plan.
Vf38c type Tobruk.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Plan
The 200 numbers are the main Cherbourg See defence.
The 400 numbers are the Cherbourg outer ring defence.
The 500 numbers are the defences between the See and the outer ring. HQ, Flak, etc.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Defence
The size of the Cherbourg defence, there was also many anti-tank ditches built covering the eastern, southern & western approaches to the city.
Plan of how to build an anti-tank ditch.
Water filled ditch.
Road block.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
To the left side is the gun room shooting to the left and the right side is the entrance into the casemate.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Left door to the Tobruk defence/observation. The next door is the entrance to the casemate.
Plan.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Left door to the Tobruk defence/observation. The next door is the entrance to the casemate.
The two yellow arrows.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Back wall and escape.
Escape plan
Plan of escape (yellow).
The two design's of escapes, here this one is the square type.
Looking up an escape tunnel.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Frontal view of the machine gun embrasure.
Plan.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Side view of the machine gun embrasure.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Bolts cut off that held the steel plate in place.
455P01 metal plate.
Observation slot.
Gun commanders viewing slot.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Gun room.
Gunner in position.
A large steel bolt to hold the metal plate in place and then it was concreted in.
Plan.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Ammunition room viewed from the crew room. The door on the left is into the gun room..
Plan.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Door into the Tobruk.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Entrance into the bunker.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
The door way into a lobby, on the right is a fitting for a radio aerial. Not always fitted. Over the years I have noticed many seem not to be fitted, but some have earth strips in place and I feel they were the only ones fitted. There would have been a field telephone link with maybe the Tobruk's and a small HQ.
Plan.
Aerial in the slot.
Bunker phone (MKB Bunkertour).
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Crew room. This is where the crew would sleep and eat. There was a bunker heater that could burn coal or wood that food could be cooked on and also to heat the room, bunks attached to the walls that could fold down to make more space. A ventilations system to allow fresh filtered air against a gas attack inside and even smoke filters if there was heavy smoke outside. Manually turned or if there was electricity, then that could be used.
On the left wall is the escape tunnel which we saw outside earlier, then the door in from the lobby. Next the ventilation system with the six bolts on the wall. Next the close combat defence embrasure. A machine gun/sub machine gun or even a rifle/pistol could fire through here at any enemy trying to enter down the steps.,
Plan crew room..
410p9 escape door..
19P7 door.
Heers-Einheits-Schutzlüfter1, 2m.
483P2 close combat embrasure.
Bunker beds..
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Close combat room covering the entrance with a 48P8 embrasure.
48P8 embrasure.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
4ML01 air compensator, allows the air pressure to equalise after a close explosion.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
R630
Looking at the area the gun would have covered.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Tobruk
All the Tobruk's should be Vf58c type..
Map.
Vf58c or Bf58c two ways these can be named.
Elevation.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Tobruk
Tobruk.
details
Used as an observation.
With a shield.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Tobruk
Tobruk.
details
With a rifle.
AA position.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Tobruk
Tobruk.
details
With a heavy machine gun.
Wn414 Sud de la Rue
Flugplatz
© 2013 Richard Drew