Varaville gun emplacement

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Alanmccoubrey
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Varaville gun emplacement

#1

Post by Alanmccoubrey » 11 Aug 2015, 16:30

Does anyone have a clue as to what this gun might be ? I think the barrel is too thick to be a Festungspak 38 or the KWK version and I'm sure there is a step in the barrel close in to the shield.

Image

The photograph is from this site.
http://www.ladives1944.com/images/
Alan

JKernwerk
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#2

Post by JKernwerk » 11 Aug 2015, 16:52

It is a 5cm KwK L/42.
JK


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bunker14
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#3

Post by bunker14 » 11 Aug 2015, 17:22

hello

two other pictures from this gun

Image

Image

Alanmccoubrey
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#4

Post by Alanmccoubrey » 11 Aug 2015, 17:39

Thank you both, to me it just looked too long in that first photograph but plainly that is what it is.
Alan

jopaerya
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#5

Post by jopaerya » 12 Aug 2015, 07:05

I agree with Alain . it looks a part of the tip of the barrel with muzzle break is missing .
On the last photo from Bunker 14 you can see it .

Regards Jos

sirhc1023
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#6

Post by sirhc1023 » 13 Aug 2015, 20:14

jopaerya wrote:I agree with Alain . it looks a part of the tip of the barrel with muzzle break is missing .
On the last photo from Bunker 14 you can see it .

Regards Jos
Jos,

Would you or the other two gentlemen who posted photos here have any further information on the strongpoint in which this gun was situated ? Medmenham Air Interpretation Reports from early in 1944 identify 3 other casemates/shelters on this site. 2 were approximately 24 feet x 24 feet (7.27m x 7.27 m) and the other 14 feet by 26 feet (4.24m x 7.87m). The latter may have been the gun pit but I can't be sure.

The three photos above were likely taken post war. It would be of great interest to myself and my colleagues (Alan is one of them) if there was some photographic evidence of these casemates/shelters taken at the same time as the Festungspak. If not, an identification of the bunker types would be of great help. I cannot find a WN number for this strongpoint either, so any info on that score would also be appreciated.

The site and gun pit unfortunately do not exist anymore. They were obliterated when the D513 was " straightened" out and now runs through/over what was the site. I would be curious to know when this road improvement was made. Perhaps someone took pictures before the site was demolished. It is of note that the memorial at Varaville was unveiled I believe on the 50th Anniversary. I wonder if this coincides with the road improvements ?

Very grateful to the gentlemen who posted the photos as they have resolved a detail we were suspicious about. Many accounts of the battle at Varaville are specific about there being a 75mm anti-tank gun on the site. Clearly this was not the case.

Chris

jopaerya
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#7

Post by jopaerya » 13 Aug 2015, 21:01

Hello Chris

The Stp./W.n. is called Cab 04 , I already searched for more information on this place but could not find anything so far .

Regards Jos
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15 Houlgate 1-3 (3).jpg

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Manuferey
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#8

Post by Manuferey » 13 Aug 2015, 22:22

sirhc1023 wrote:Many accounts of the battle at Varaville are specific about there being a 75mm anti-tank gun on the site. Clearly this was not the case. Chris
Chris,

Unless a battle account has been written by an Allied officer with sufficient knowledge of German artillery and who was able to inspect the actual gun, it would be hard for anybody with no specific knowledge of German artillery to tell the difference for example between a 5 cm Pak 38, a 7,5 cm Pak97/38 or a 7,5 cm Pak 40, even by just looking at it. This is why we have to rely on photographs or German documents when photographs are not available to learn the exact type of a gun at a particular position.

Emmanuel

sirhc1023
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#9

Post by sirhc1023 » 13 Aug 2015, 22:27

jopaerya wrote:Hello Chris

The Stp./W.n. is called Cab 04 , I already searched for more information on this place but could not find anything so far .

Regards Jos

Hi Jos,

Varaville is inland from Cabourg. I did notice that one of the photos filenames includes Cab04 in its filename, but i think this is in error. The gun is definitely at Varaville as in the top picture you can make out the Chateau Gatehouse in the background.

Does your map extend inland ?

sirhc1023
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#10

Post by sirhc1023 » 13 Aug 2015, 22:32

Manuferey wrote:
sirhc1023 wrote:Many accounts of the battle at Varaville are specific about there being a 75mm anti-tank gun on the site. Clearly this was not the case. Chris
Chris,

Unless a battle account has been written by an Allied officer with sufficient knowledge of German artillery and who was able to inspect the actual gun, it would be hard for anybody with no specific knowledge of German artillery to tell the difference for example between a 5 cm Pak 38, a 7,5 cm Pak97/38 or a 7,5 cm Pak 40, even by just looking at it. This is why we have to rely on photographs or German documents when photographs are not available to learn the exact type of a gun at a particular position.

Emmanuel
I quite agree. Seems like they were not the only ones. Just this evening I read on a battlefield tour site that the gun at Pegasus Bridge was a 75mm.

jopaerya
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#11

Post by jopaerya » 14 Aug 2015, 08:54

Thanks Chris

Found the correct place , looks Varaville was lying near the border of the 15th- and the 7th Army
I could not find anything on maps on Varaville or the Chateau .

Regards Jos

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AETIUS 1980
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Re: Varaville gun emplacement

#12

Post by AETIUS 1980 » 10 Aug 2021, 14:06

Hello,
Varaville is a hamlet located in the south of France ville and one of the rare crossing points at the time on the Dives. Although not codified, the strong point was occupied by a section inherited from Ost.Btl.642. Captured on the morning of the 6th by Canadian paratroopers, the site will be abandoned and then reinvested in the evening by the Germans. The Generalleutnant Reichert (711.Inf.Div, Div. Kdr) will visit it besides in the company of the kdr of Gr.Rgt.858.
Regards
AETIUS

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