Azeville battery
Construction on the site began in 1941, with installation of four First World War-era French 105mm artillery pieces in open gun pits completed in December 1941.In addition to the casemates there were ammunition bunkers, defensive mortar pits and Tobruks fitted with machine guns plus a minefield.Prior to the Normandy landings, the battery was subject to frequent aerial bombardments but it was still operational on D-Day, 6 June 1944.The battery was first attacked by 20 paratroopers of 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, who had been dropped in the wrong area.At dawn Captain Treiber drove the short distance to Crisbecq, leaving Lieutenant Kattnig in command.Machine-guns and anti-aircraft flak guns on top of casemates 1 and 4 fired at the approaching American tanks and troops.The following night (June 8/9) the battleship USS Nevada fired on Azeville and put casemate No.On the morning of June 9 a preliminary artillery and tank bombardment was followed by an attack made by the 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment.Lieutenant Kattnig, who had been seriously injured, contacted the Crisbeq command post asking for permission to surrender.Of the 253 Germans at the battery, 78 were killed, the rest captured and a small group escaped north.