Houlgate map 1711 OT GPS N49 18.266 w000 04.028
The installation here was very similar to that at Mont Cainsy, with the
exception that by D-day only two casemates of the type H679 had been built to
house the six 155 mm captured French guns.
The Regiment based here was the 3/HKAA 1255, who stayed in underground bunkers
linked by tunnels.
The site on a cliff with a height of just over 300 feet was conceived to protect
the west entrance to the river Seine.
There was also a fire control post situated some distance away on the D163.
The fire control post has been turned into a orientation table.
On the night before the landings the RAF visited the battery and dropped over
500 tons of bombs, although the site had been bombed before in May and two of
the guns destroyed.
On the morning of D-day the Royal Navy monitor, HMS Roberts opened fire with her
15 inch guns on the battery, without much success. It was shelled again with
15 inch guns by the HMS Erebus in late June.
The battery shelled Sword beach along with the battery at Mont Cainsy until
finally silenced at the end of June. The two mobile guns were moved frequently
to avoid being hit by Allied fire.
