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In order to prevent an Allied invasion it was (of course) very
important to destroy the enemy invasion fleet. In order to do
this the Germans built coastal batteries. The batteries could be
divided in two kinds:
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The army-batteries, this kind of battery
was called: Heeres Küsten Batterie (H.K.B) and
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The navy-batteries, which were called:
Marine Küsten Batterie (M.K.B).
The batteries could also be divided in light,
medium and heavy batteries:
| light batteries |
<10,5 cm |
| medium batteries |
15 - 22 cm |
| heavy batteries |
> 28 cm |
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The two gunbunkers of Batterie Oldenburg (2 x 24cm)
near Calais. The bunker
in front has three floors. On the background you can just
see the fire-directionpost. |
In the battery two or more (with a maximum of six) guns were
placed in open emplacements or bunkers. The open emplacements
were mainly built at the beginning of the was. Because of the
allaid control of the skies it became more and more necessary to
place the guns under concrete; some open-emplacements were
covered with concrete structures and other batteries were equiped
with gunbunkers (Schartenstand). The main
problem with gunbunkers was that the bunker only had a range from
90° - 120° instead of the 360 degrees rang of open
emplacements.
The fire-direction of the battery was housed in the so-called "Leitstand",
the personell was housed in quarters (Gruppenunterstände),
the ammunition-storages were called "Munitionsunterstände".
There were also other kinds of works such as
searchlight-platforms, toilets, kitchens, water-storages, bunkers
for machinery etc.
Both the Navy (Marine)and the Army (Heer)
had their own designs for the above mentioned functions. The
designs were often used by both the Army and the Navy.
| |
Leitstände |
Schartenstände |
| Heer |
R 636, R 636a |
R 649, R 650, R 671, R 671 S.K., R 679, R 686, R 688,
R 689, R 690 etc. |
| Marine |
M 162a, M 262, M 157, S 414, S 446, S 497 etc. |
M 158, M 170, M 176, M 159, M 219, M 271, M 272 S 412
etc. |
The navy-designs have prefixes with the letters M (Mittel
= medium), S (Schwer = Heavy), V (Verpflegung =
dressing stations) or Fl (Flak = Anti Aircraft).
 |
Leitstand (type S 414) at Batz sur Mer (near
St.Nazaire). This bunker was the
fire-directionpost of a 24cm battery. The upper
observation-slit housed a range-
finder. The lower two slits housed direction-finders |
 |
This gunbunker (type M 270) was camouflaged as a
house.
Fort de Lève (St.Nazaire) |
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Fort de Lève (St.Nazaire). Staircase leading to an
undergound ammunition
-storage. |
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| M.K.B. Malo-Terminus at Zuydcoote (near Duinkerken).
In front you can see a
little piece of a gun bunker (Regelbau 671), in the
background you can see a personnel bunker. |
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