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M19 Maschinengranatwerfer
The M-19 Maschinengranatwerfer is a German 50 mm mortar which was used during World War II. The mortar was developed in 1934 for the purpose of defending permanent military bases. It had a maximum rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a range of 750 metres. Design Created by Rheinmetall-Borsig, it is a very heavy and complicated weapon system, with its barrel and base alone weighing 220 kg. This automatic 5 cm mortar could fire a maximum of 120 bombs a minute, and was electrically operated with manual backup. The firing rate of 120 bombs/minute was seldom used as it caused much stress and wear on the construction. It was loaded with clips of 6 bombs by two crew members. The clips were prepared by several other crew members. One gunner aimed and fired the weapon. It is unknown how many units were built, but it is estimated that the number could hardly have been much more than 150. Some mounted in the West Wall (Westwall) in Germany were removed and positioned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Międzyrzecz
Międzyrzecz (; la, Meserici, german: link=no, Meseritz) is a town in western Poland, on the Obra and Paklica river, with 17,667 inhabitants (2020). The capital of Gmina Międzyrzecz and Międzyrzecz County. Since the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, it has been situated in Lubusz Voivodeship. In 1975–1998 Międzyrzecz was part of Gorzów Voivodeship. The town limits cover . Geography The town's name refers to Mesopotamia ("between rivers", pl, Międzyrzecze) and its location at the confluence of the Obra River and the Paklica tributary, in the west of the historic Greater Poland region. About halfway between the towns of Skwierzyna and Świebodzin, it is situated south of the regional capital Gorzów Wielkopolski and north of Zielona Góra. The municipal area is in a particularly green part of Poland. Extensive forests and numerous lakes can be found in the vicinity, including two Natura 2000 protected areas south of the town. Międzyrzecz is the sevent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint-Nazaire Submarine Base
The submarine base of Saint-Nazaire is one of five large fortified U-boat pens built by Germany during the Second World War in occupied Saint-Nazaire, France. Construction Before the Second World War, Saint-Nazaire was one of the largest harbours of the Atlantic coast of France. During the Battle of France, the German Army arrived in Saint-Nazaire, in June 1940. The harbour was immediately used for submarine operations, with the arriving as soon as 29 September 1940. In December, a mission of the Organisation Todt (Oberbauleitung Süd) inspected the harbour to study the possibilities to build a submarine pen invulnerable to air bombing from England. Work soon began under the supervision of engineer Probst. The selected space was that of the docks and buildings of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, which were razed. Building began in February 1941, with pens 6, 7, and 8 completed in June 1941. On 30 June 1941, Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz formally opened the U-boat p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Corbière
La Corbière (Jèrriais: ''La Corbiéthe'') is the extreme south-western point of Jersey in St. Brélade. The name means "a place where crows gather", deriving from the word ''corbîn'' meaning ''crow''. However, seagulls have long since displaced the crows from their coastal nesting sites. The rocks and extreme tidal variation around this stretch of Jersey's coast have been treacherous for navigation and La Corbière has been the scene of many shipwrecks, including that of the mail packet "Express" on 20 September 1859. Monument Sited on the headland overlooking the lighthouse is a monument sculpted by Derek Tristram and erected in April 1997, to commemorate a rescue that took place. The accompanying plaque describes the event: :"During the morning of Monday April 17th 1995 whilst on passage from Jersey to Sark, the French catamaran "Saint-Malo" struck a rock known as La Frouquie, 900 metres north of La Corbière Lighthouse. Visibility was good at the time, but with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the largest of the Channel Islands and is from the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. The Bailiwick consists of the main island of Jersey and some surrounding uninhabited islands and rocks including Les Dirouilles, Écréhous, Les Écréhous, Minquiers, Les Minquiers, and Pierres de Lecq, Les Pierres de Lecq. Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy, whose dukes became kings of England from 1066. After Normandy was lost by the kings of England in the 13th century, and the ducal title surrendered to France, Jersey remained loyal to the The Crown, English Crown, though it never became part of the Kingdom of England. Jersey is a self-governing Parliamentary system, parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Saumarez
Fort Saumarez is a Martello tower in Saint Peter (Saint Pierre du Bois), Guernsey, on a headland that forms the northern tip of L'Erée and extends to the Lihou causeway. Martello tower The Martello tower was constructed on the site of an existing battery in 1804 after the onset of the Napoleonic Wars and during the tenure (1803-1813) of Lieutenant Governor General Sir John Doyle. Doyle named the tower for the Guernsey native and renowned Royal Navy Captain, Sir James Saumarez, who at the time commanded British naval forces in the Channel Islands. To simplify matters, Doyle had a local builder named Gray construct the tower, and two others, see below, under the rubric of "fieldworks", thereby bypassing the Ordnance Corps. The Fort Saumarez tower, like the other two Guernsey Martello towers, Fort Grey and Fort Hommet, was intended as a keep for the battery in which it was placed. The Guernsey Martellos are smaller than the British towers, with the Fort Saumarez and Fort Homme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Hommet
Fort Hommet (or Fort Houmet) is a fortification on Vazon Bay headland (or '' houmet'' in Guernésiais) in Castel, Guernsey. It is built on the site of fortifications that date back to 1680, and consists of a Martello tower from 1804, later additions during the Victorian Era, and bunkers and casemates that the Germans constructed during World War II. Early fortifications In 1680 it is recorded that there was a fortification with one gun on the site. Following the French attempt to invade Jersey in 1781 improvements were made to island defences with Guernsey loophole towers being built, including the nearby one at Vazon. During 1795 the fortifications were improved on the headland with additional gun positions added. By 1805 six guns were recorded on the site. The connection between St Peter Port and the fort were improved with an upgrade of the road to military standard around 1808, using money arising from the sale of land from the reclaimed Braye du Valle. Martello Tower The M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands, an island group roughly north of Saint-Malo and west of the Cotentin Peninsula. The jurisdiction consists of ten parishes on the island of Guernsey, three other inhabited islands ( Herm, Jethou and Lihou), and many small islets and rocks. It is not part of the United Kingdom, although defence and some aspects of international relations are managed by the UK. Although the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the "Channel Islands" are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, although all are held by the monarch of the United Kingdom. The island has a mixed British-Norm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of Nazi Germany, to the town of Weil am Rhein on the border with Switzerland – and featured more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. From September 1944 to March 1945 the Siegfried Line was subjected to a large-scale Allied offensive. Name The official name for the German defensive line construction program before and during the Second World War that collectively came to be known as the "Westwall" (and "Siegfried Line", or sometimes "West Wall", in English) changed several times during the late 1930s reflecting areas of progress. * Border Watch programme (pioneering programme) for the most advanced positions (1938) * Limes Programme (1938) * Western Air Defense Zone (1938) * Aachen–Saar Programme (1939) * Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Allies heavily bombarded Saint-Malo, which was garrisoned by German troops. The city changed into a popular tourist centre, with a ferry terminal serving the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as the Southern English settlements of Portsmouth, Hampshire and Poole, Dorset. The famous transatlantic single-handed yacht race Route du Rhum, which takes place every four years in November, is between Saint Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. Population The population in 2017 was 46,097 – though this can increase to up to 300,000 in the summer tourist season. With the suburbs included, the metropolitan area's population is approximately 133,000 (2017). The population of the commune more than doubled in 1967 with the merging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oye-Plage
Oye-Plage (; vls, Ooie, lang) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Oye-Plage lies about east of Calais, on the junction of the D219 and the D940. The commune is nearly a mile from the English Channel. History The commune has ancient origins. The name is first recorded as ''Ogia'' in the 8th century, which means 'island' ( Protogermanic ''*aujō''), was used for those islands that survived high tides. The Vikings landed here in 879 with the aim of invading Moriny. In the county of Boulogne until 1259, Oye belonged to the counts of Artois until 1346, the English until 1558 and to the Kings of France since that date, under the name of Oye county. It was at Oye chateau that a peace treaty was signed on 6 July 1439 between France and England. There is nothing left of the castle and adjacent forts which were tasked to block the road against first the Flemish and then the Spanish. The only witness to the past, the church ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utah Beach
Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named landing beaches in Normandy, Utah is on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of the mouths of the Douve and Vire rivers. Amphibious landings at Utah were undertaken by United States Army troops, with sea transport, mine sweeping, and a naval bombardment force provided by the United States Navy and Coast Guard as well as elements from the British, Dutch and other Allied navies. The objective at Utah was to secure a beachhead on the Cotentin Peninsula, the location of important port facilities at Cherbourg. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. The intention was to rapidly seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, prevent the G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
