WW2 trips and museum visits

The Azeville Battery, 2007

The Azeville Battery (Batterie d'Azeville) at the village Azeville was composed of four 105-mm guns protected by casemates camouflaged as ordinary dwellings, two on either side of a country lane. There were also shelters and ammunition bunkers. The various buildings were linked together by a network of underground passages.

 

During night of the 5th/6th of June 1944, the Azeville Battery came under heavy attack from American paratroopers. The battery was so heavily defended, that the Americans did not accomplish the taking of the battery and had to withdraw. in the morning the battery was able to join the action against the landings on Utah-Beach. Its action significantly held up the Allied forces who ended up having to pass around the battery. The position finally fell on the 9th of June after intense fighting and several counter attacks.

The German battery at Azeville is part of the iron triangle and is situated to the north of Utah Beach.

 

Just after dawn on June 6th 1944, after an eventful night, shells started dropping in the area. The German battery Crisbecq had quickly sunk a destroyer. Azeville, whilst not sinking a ship, damaged several ships during the first few hours. The main landing on Utah-Beach was carried out whilst out of range of these guns by the tide which pulls to the right in the Seine Bay. The guns here could reach the beach area but because the construction of the casemate’s only allowed 1200 of traverse, the barrel would be touching the wall of the casemate’s. The Americans landing on Utah-Beach had the taking of this battery as one of their D-Day objectives.  The bad weather and strong wind combined with the sea currents brought the Utah task force 2 km further south than had been planned, and therefore further away from the batteries at Crisbecq and Azeville. The range of the 105 mm cannons at Azeville was around 11 km and the Madeleine beach is 10 km to the south east. This distance did not prevent the battey from reaching the Utah landing area, where they caused a lot of damage, but at the limit of their range and angle of fire, lacked precision. The lack of ammunition made the Germans at Azeville monitor their stocks very closely. Although Dr. Hugo Treiber, his rank was Hauptmann ordered regular firing onto the beach, the firing was not as intense as he would have liked. The American troops of the 4th Infantry Division who disembarked at Utah-Beach had the objective of controlling both Crisbecq and Azeville batteries by the afternoon of D-Day. The German resistance was more intense than had been anticipated. By the evening of D-Day, the Americans had not been able to move against either battery, and despite the best efforts of the navy force at sea, the batteries and most of their defences were still in tact. The first American assault on Crisbecq was a disaster and the Americans withdrew. On the morning of June 7th the Americans launched their first attack on Azeville. Infantry, supported by Sherman 75 mm tanks approached casemates No 3 and 4 from the south east. The first tanks got to within 80 metres of the casemates, and both the Americans and Germans opened fire at the same time. A Sherman is no match for a 105 mm cannon and although the cannon in No 2 bunker was damaged it was able to be repaired quickly

 

The first assault amounted to nothing and there were many dead on both sides. This was the first of many assaults and between each assault the USS Nevada shelled both batteries together with Quineville a little further to the north. During the night of June 7th - 8th, the Americans tried to surround both batteries for another assault. The commander of Crisbecq "Commander Ohmsen" phoned Azeville to ask them to shell his battery to try and dislodge the Americans. The fire was very accurate and at this point the Americans were on the roof of the fire Control Post and about to place explosives into the bunker. The Americans, not believing that the Germans would fire on their own position thought it was their own ships that were responsible for the firing. The Americans withdrew and the firing stopped but not before 90 American prisoners had been taken at Crisbecq. Shortly after, another attack was launched on Azeville, but this time the Americans attacked from several different directions. Here at Azeville the only cannons able to fire through 3600 were the anti aircraft guns mounted on the top of casemates No 1 and 4. These fired on the tanks approaching from the west. The flak gun on casemate No 4 had been damaged in an earlier attack but was operational again at this time. There were also three machine gun nests all able to fire on the approaching Americans. Some days before D-day the battery had received a stock of anti tank mines and some of these had already been buried. This attack failed because the Americans could not get close enough to the battery. During the night of June 8th - 9th the USS Nevada damaged casemate No 1 with two 356 mm shells (14 inch). The first caused the damage visible on the exterior wall and the second came in through the gun window. This shell did not explode, but inside killed the gun crew of five before entering the plotting room also killing the crew in here. The shell then continued through the metal machine gun portal, hitting the exterior wall in two places. All the men in this casemate were killed either by concrete shards or by the violent air movement caused by the shell. The shell was found in 1994 just outside the doorway but was in a dangerous condition and had to be exploded. This attack by the USS Nevada shocked the Germans and Dr. Hugo Treiber was not a fanatic and did not wish to loose any more men needlessly. During the morning of June 9th, the Americans bombarded the area and encountered weak resistance. The anti aircraft gun on casemate No 4 attacked an approaching Sherman, which had infiltrated the area without too much difficulty. The Captain walked out of casemate No 4 with an American parachutist who had been taken prisoner earlier, waving a white flag. For the troops at Azeville the war was over. Of the German force of around 250 at the start of the battles 169 were taken prisoner.

 

                                                                                                    Source: www.normandy1944.org.uk

 

The Taking Of The Azeville Battery