Widerstandnest-WN32
La Marefontaine Battery, 2011
The La Marefontaine battery is located 2 km inland from Gold beach in the fields just outside the hamlet of La Marefontaine south of Ver-sur-Mer. This German gun battery, manned by 6./ II./ Artillerie-Regiment 1716
was still under construction by D-Day. It still lacked numerous of fortified protections and because it had no view of the beach and the sea, this battery relied on a firing command post equipped with a rangefinder and a clear view of the sea for targeting purposes. This firing command post (WN 35b) was located in a wooded area near the hamlet of Maromme on the heights at Meuvaines.
Just as the casemates of the Mont-Fleury battery at Ver-sur-Mer the La Marefontaine casemates had been built according to the new method. This method, a time-saving and steel saving method, consisted of erecting two parallel walls of stone blocks were concrete was pored into to create a thick concrete wall. Like all German sites also this site was linked by means of telephone lines enabling it to communicate with other sites.
On D-Day the site was overrun by the British Green Howard's after it was shelled intensively by the British cruiser HMS Belfast. The German garrison surrendered to the approaching Green Howard's who were supported by flame thrower tanks of the 141st RAC (Royal Armoured Corps).
This photo shows both the Mont-Fleury and the La Marefontaine battery. The four casemates of the
La Marefontaine battery are just visible at the top in this photo.