Battery Todt
The Todt Battery , originally Siegfried , was a gun emplacement of the Marine Artillery Department 242 of the German Navy on Cap Gris-Nez on the English Channel in occupied France during the Second World War . It was equipped with four 38 cm ship guns with a range of up to 55.7 km.
history
After the end of the campaign in the west , the ongoing conflict with Great Britain claimed the main focus of the German leadership. Hitler ordered planning for an invasion of England to begin. In this context, several remote support batteries with long-range guns were installed on the Atlantic coast, which should serve to control the English Channel and to bombard the coast of England, which is at least 35 km away.
At Cap Gris-Nez, a promontory on the Strait of Calais , the narrowest part of the English Channel, the Siegfried Battery was built as a fortified gun emplacement. In September 1941 the first guns in the battery began to bombard England, and in February 1942 the official inauguration took place. The battery was renamed in honor of Fritz Todt , the head of the Todt Organization , who died in early February .
On February 12, the Todt battery played a role in the Cerberus company , the breakthrough of the German warships Scharnhorst , Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen through the English Channel, which received fire protection from the gun emplacement.
In the further course of the war, the battery became part of the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall , which were particularly strong in the area around the Strait of Calais due to the proximity to Great Britain, as the German leadership was expecting the Allied landing here. Even after the Allied landing in Normandy, the bombardment of England continued. After the RAF bombing raids were largely ineffective, the Todt battery was captured by Canadian troops from the land side on September 29, 1944.
Three bunkers survived the Second World War without major damage. One was destroyed by booby traps set off by two French people. A bunker now houses a museum, which among other things still has a plaque on which the gun crew documented their shots against England. One of the two preserved K-5 railway guns is in the outside area.
There are still several bunkers in the surrounding area, which served as fire control and to protect the position.
Technical specifications
- Guns: four individual guns 38 cm SK C / 34
- Range: 42–55.7 km
- Thickness of the outer walls: 3.5 m
- Diameter of the bunker: 40 m
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 39.7 " N , 1 ° 35 ′ 59.7" E