Resistance nest 62
The Resistance Nest 62 (short WN 62 ) was a fortified and partially bunkered German base at the time of the Second World War , which was part of the Atlantic Wall on the coast of Normandy . The fame of this defensive position stems from the fact that the US landing forces, which landed in 1944 as part of Operation Overlord , suffered enormous losses from the defensive fire in this position .
location
Resistance nest 62 comprised an area approximately 332 meters × 324 meters that was approximately 50 to 100 meters from the coastline. It was located about a kilometer north of Colleville-sur-Mer on a limestone elevation - rising about 20 degrees towards the hinterland. The different positions and structures of this base were 10 to 50 meters above sea level and allowed a relatively good overview of the beach area in front of it. When Operation Overlord began, the area of Resistance Nest 62 fell in the US Omaha Beach strip . It was exactly on the border of the Easy Red and Fox Green subsections.
Armament and conception
The base was bordered on the coast by a water-filled anti-tank trench four meters wide and 1.7 meters deep, which had a total length of approx. 300 meters. The entire base area was protected by barbed wire barriers. The following defensive weapons were stationed:
- two captured Czech 3-inch guns
- two 5 cm anti-tank guns
- two light grenade launchers (caliber 50 mm)
- two captured water-cooled Polish machine guns model 1917 ( Ckm wz. 30 ) (one of them in an earth bunker)
- a twin MG 34 (two barrels side by side) for defense against low-flying aircraft
- an ordinary (single barrel) MG 34
- a MG 42 in open field position
- a MG 42 on a rotating carriage in a shelter
There was also an artillery observation post and two fixed fortress flamethrowers . As in many other places on the Normandy coast, the apron of the base was provided with obstacles. Some of these barriers had been installed so that they were below the waterline at high tide. The aim was to ensure that enemy landing craft ran aground and were capsized if possible ( Rommel asparagus ). The area in front of the resistance nest 62 was additionally protected by laid land mines .
crew
The crew of resistance nest 62 consisted of members of the 3rd company of Grenadier Regiment 726 of the 716th Infantry Division (28 soldiers) and members of the 1st battery of Artillery Regiment 352 of the 352nd Infantry Division (13 soldiers) together. So a total of only 41 soldiers (at least 18 of whom survived the attack by the Americans). The main task of the 13 soldiers of the 352nd Infantry Division was to direct the artillery fire from the gun batteries in the hinterland. Among other things, this base was assigned:
- Oberleutnant Bernhard Frerking ( fire control officer ) was shot in the head on the afternoon of June 6, 1944 while being pulled out of the resistance nest
- Private Heinrich Severloh (boy of First Lieutenant Frerking, deployed at the base as a machine gunner on MG 42 in the open field position)
- Private Franz Gockel (machine gunner on one of the two Polish machine guns for booty)
Events of June 6, 1944
Resistance nest 62, like the other 14 resistance nests in the Omaha landing section, was attacked by American B-24 bombers in the early morning of June 6, 1944 . Damage was caused (especially in the southern, inland part of the position). Anglo-American warships then shelled the future landing zones. Around 6:30 a.m., the first of a total of eleven waves of American landing troops approached the beach in front of resistance nest 62. The artillery fire directed from the base and in particular the machine gun fire of Private Heinrich Severloh , who fired around 12,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition, were caused inflicted enormous losses on the landing forces. In addition to machine-gun fire, Severloh and Gockel each fired 400 targeted single shots with their carbines at the landing troops. At around 3:30 p.m., the last survivors left the base and retired to the hinterland to resistance nest 63, which, contrary to the official name, was merely a bunkered command post - i.e. without loopholes and installed weapons. The survivors reached this shelter at 4:30 p.m.
Current condition
Some of the positions can still be seen today, especially the remains of the concrete positions.
literature
- Heinrich Severloh: WN 62 - Memories of Omaha Beach Normandy, June 6, 1944. HEK Creativ Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-932922-11-5 .
- George Bernage: Omaha - June 6, 1944. Editions Heimdal, France, 2002, ISBN 978-2-84048-154-6 .
- Helmut Konrad Freiherr von Keusgen: Base WN 62 - Normandy 1942–1944. HEK Creativ Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-932922-12-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinrich Severloh: WN 62 - Memories of Omaha Beach Normandy, June 6, 1944. HEK Creativ Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-932922-11-5 , p. 16.
- ^ Heinrich Severloh: WN 62 - Memories of Omaha Beach Normandy, June 6, 1944. HEK Creativ Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-932922-11-5 , pp. 14, 131.