Longues-sur-Mer battery

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Longues-sur-Mer artillery battery, built on a cliff overlooking the Channel between Omaha Beach and Gold Beach, was part of the German Atlantic Wall defences. It consisted of a fire-control post on the cliff edge, which served as a rangefinder and command post, and four reinforced concrete casemates, each housing a 150 mm naval gun. Three casemates remain intact and still contain their guns; the fourth survives only as ruins. The site is considered the only battery on the Normandy coast to have kept its original guns. On 6 June 1944, air and naval bombardments prevented it from becoming fully operational, and British troops captured it the following day. Listed as a monument historique in 2001, the battery belongs to a state public body, which has assigned it to the Conservatoire du littoral, and it is managed by the Calvados departmental council.