WW2 trips and museum visits
Widerstandnest-WN17 Hillman, 2009
65 years later
Hillman Fortress is located in the southern part of Colleville-Montgomery, formerly known as Colleville-sur-Orne. Colleville-sur-Orne was at the landing zone of the British 3rd Infantry Division under the codename Sword Beach.

Colleville was mainly defended by the fortress Hillman, a concrete set of 600 meters long where the headquarters of the 736th Regiment Grenadiers was established, with networks of barbed wire and machine-guns. The First Suffolk Regiment had to attack twice before the reinforcement was taken around 20:00 hours.

The fortress Hillman with his twelve half buried concrete buildings connected by underground passageways, is now managed by a local association.it lies between the famous "Sword" D-Day landing beach and the French city of Caën.

The 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment assaulted the complex at 13:00 on June 6, 1944 and accepted the surrender of its commanding officer, Generalmajor Krug, and his 150 men (of 736 Grenadier Regiment) early on June 7 after a very bitter fire-fight.

This 24-hectare complex of trenches, gun cupolas and underground galleries, radio rooms, command and control centres, sleeping quarters, and meal messes served as the headquarters of the region's German coastal defences.
Location: Normandy-France
Date: june 2009

Exhibition and reconstitution of a 1944 base camp with authentic vehicles at WN 17, Hillman.

June 2009.

1. Bridge over trenches
2. Trenches
3. Mine fields and barbed wire
4. Bunker A with the cupola
5. Well
6. Cistern
7. Kitchens
8. Bunker B
9. Garage
10. Peripheral defenses
Range markings in a tobruk at ‘Hillman’
The markings in this Tobruk are emblematic of the advantage the Germans had over the allies. They had had 2 years to prepare for the invasion. The range to every landmark had been measured and noted.
Generalmajor Ludwig Krug 1894-1972
Plan of WN17, Hillman

Widerstandnest 17 ‘Hillman’ was the objective of the first battalion of the Suffolk regiment of the 8th brigade of the 3rd division. ‘Hillman’ was the code name given to this position. Others in the area had names like ‘Daimler’, ‘Rover’ and ‘Morris’. Hillman was the regimental HQ of the 736th regiment of the 716th division. The commanding officer was Generalmajor Ludwig Krug. Caen was supposed to be taken on D day by the 185th and the 8th brigades. Several factors came together to make this impossible. The strong winds were pushing the tide in faster than expected making a narrow beach. This and the bad weather was hampering the unloading of tanks and causing traffic jams on the beach and roads leading off. The intelligence reports hadn’t pointed out the proximity of the 12th SS panzers and the 21st Panzers. The 21st Panzers coming through Caen in the afternoon engaged armored divisions on route for Caen. The third factor was Hillman. Hillman was sited between Sword beach and Caen. The Suffolk regiment had the mission to take Morris, then Hillman then the batteries on the Perrier heights. Morris was taken by 13:00 hrs with the help of naval gunfire directed by the radio of the forward observer. He, the forward observer, was killed in the attack on Morris so for the attack on Hillman there was no naval fire brought in. Hillman was a different kettle of fish to Morris. The site consisted of a dozen or so bunkers connected by trenches and the whole complex was surrounded by barbed wire and mine fields. The infantry were making no headway so they called on the tanks of the 185th who should have been heading towards Caen. Some tanks had tried to bypass the site but the accurate fire from the battery on Perrier made this impossible. The battle continued into the evening. The main bunker didn’t surrender until the morning of the 7th. Bunker A, where Generalmajor Krug was in attendance, had a cupola armed with a machine gun. The cupola was impervious to tank shells. A soldier by the name of Hunter attacked the cupola single handedly and put it out of action.