Wn97 Coquebourg
K.V.U.Gruppe Vire, K.V.Gr Bayeux,
K.V.Gr. Caen, KVR H2, Normandy.

Wn99 Brévands le Châlet

Details

Situated 2.5km S/E of Wn99, Wn97 a very small mortar position in 1944 on the tidal banks of the Vire River.

Wn97 Coquebourg

Details

Wn97 was part of StP Brévands. A minor part as there seems only to be two mortar positions. A very bleak at the best of times. After Wn99 was cleared, the Americans may have come up here and rounded up any odd soldiers roaming around. Maybe a fire fight or just a surrender. These men would have seen D-Day unfold, seen the bombing, the ships firing, then the assault craft moving around them. They were very isolated and may or may not have had good communications from Wn99. There looks as though they may have had a telephone link with communications box near Brévands. Wn98 Brévands had a KSS telephone connection box which linked Wn97 to Wn98 and the main east west phone line. On D-Day, that link was cut early in the morning in Sainte-Mère-Église by an American Officer with his trench knife. So everything south of Sainte-Mère-Église could not contact HQ in Cherbourg..

KSS as you would see it..

KSS (KSB)..

Connections.

Wn97 Coquebourg

Details

Pos: IV./726 : Ost Battalion 439 (Ukrainians) (352. Infanterie-Division).  (Hauptmann Hans Becker - CP: Les Veys) HQ Wn99.
2 x IC110 ringstands.
2 x le.Gr.W.203(f) mortars.

I have not visited here but found this on Google Earth, only one IC110 ringstands can be seen here.

Ost 439 Ukrainian, Ost 441, Ost 627, Georgian 797, Ost 781.
Weapons- Allied AARs stated that weapons found from these units were in poor barely serviceable condition, and German commanders commented that both Ost 439 and Ost 441 fought surprisingly well for the poor equipment they were issued.

Gr.W.203 5cm mortar(f).

5cm mortar ammunition.

Wn97 Coquebourg

Detail

Mortar ringstand, looks very like a IC110.

IC110 Tobruk plan.

Wn97 Coquebourg

Details

This is how the view would have looked in 1944 over the Vire River.
Since then the area has been turned into a Polder and is now farmed.

© 2013 Richard Drew