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The Dover Strait coastal guns were long-range coastal artillery batteries that were sited on both sides of the English Channel during the Second World War. The British built several gun positions along the coast of Kent, England while the Germans fortified the
Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
in
occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
. The
Strait of Dover The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...
was strategically important because it is the narrowest part of the English channel. Batteries on both sides attacked shipping as well as bombarding the coastal towns and military installations. The German fortifications would be incorporated into the
Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...
which was built between 1942 and 1944.


German installations

After the
Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
in June 1940, Adolf Hitler personally discussed the possibility of invasion with ''Großadmiral'' (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder, the Commander-in-Chief of the ''
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' (German Navy) on 21 May 1940. Almost a month later on 25 June he ordered '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (''OKW'', supreme command of the armed forces) to begin preparation and feasibility studies, which had to be completed by 2 July, for the
invasion of Britain The term Invasion of England may refer to the following planned or actual invasions of what is now modern England, successful or otherwise. Pre-English Settlement of parts of Britain * The 55 and 54 BC Caesar's invasions of Britain. * The 43 AD ...
. In an OKW directive on 10 July, operational coastal batteries under the control of the ''
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' would support the invasion fleet. On 16 July Hitler issued Fuhrer Directive 16 to have guns in place to support Operation Sea Lion: Commencing on 22 July 1940, '' Organisation Todt'' began work on artillery positions primarily at
Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
for every heavy artillery piece available; the batteries were required to be capable of withstanding the heaviest bombardments. The first German guns began to be installed around the end of July 1940. The German batteries in order of construction were: * ''Siegfried'' Battery at Audinghen, south of Cap Gris-Nez, with one
38 cm SK C/34 naval gun The 38 cm SK C/34SK – ''Schnelladekanone'' (quick loading cannon); ''C – Construktionsjahr'' (year of design) naval gun was developed by Germany mid to late 1930s. It armed the s and was planned as the armament of the s and the re-armed s ...
(15-inch) gun (later increased to 4 and renamed ''Todt'' Battery), shortly followed by: * Three guns at ''Friedrich August'' Battery, to the north of Boulogne-sur-Mer * Four guns at ''
Grosser Kurfürst Grosser or Großer is the masculine nominative singular form of the German adjective "gross", meaning "big", "great", "large", "tall", and the like. It is part of many placenames, especially of mountains. It is also a surname. People with that surn ...
'' Battery at Cap Gris-Nez * Two guns at ''Prinz Heinrich'' Battery just outside
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
* Two guns at '' ''Oldenburg'' Battery in Calais * Three 40.6 cm SK C/34 (16-inch) guns (from among the so-called ''Adolf'' Guns) at ''Lindemann'' Battery between Calais and
Cap Blanc-Nez Cap Blanc-Nez (french: kap blɑ̃ ne, literally "Cape White Nose" in English; from Dutch ''Blankenesse'', white headland) is a cape on the Côte d'Opale, in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'', in northern France, culminating at 134 m. The cli ...
. The battery was named ''Lindemann'' after the fallen captain of the battleship ''Bismarck''. By early August, ''Siegfried'' Battery and ''Grosser Kurfürst'' Battery were fully operational as were all of the Army’s railway guns. The first shells landed in the
Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
area during the second week of August 1940. Seven of the railway guns, six K5 guns and a single
K12 K–12 refers to primary and secondary education in the United States, Canada, and Australia. K12 may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * K-12 (album), ''K-12'' (album), by Melanie Martinez ** K-12 (film), ''K-12'' (film), the accompanying ...
gun with a range of , could only be used against land targets. The remainder, thirteen guns and five guns, plus additional motorised batteries comprising twelve guns and ten guns, could be fired at shipping but were of limited effectiveness due to their slow traverse speed, long loading time and ammunition types. Land-based guns have always been feared by navies because they are on a stationary platform and are thus more accurate (and can be larger, with more ammunition stowage) than those on board ships. Super-heavy railway guns can only be traversed by moving the entire gun and its carriage along a curved track, or by building a special cross track or turntable. This, combined with their slow rate of fire (measured in rounds per hour or even rounds per day), makes it difficult for them to hit moving targets. Another problem with super-heavy guns is that their barrels (which are difficult to make and expensive to replace) wear out relatively quickly, so they could not be fired often. Better suited for use against naval targets were the four heavy naval batteries installed by mid-September: ''Friedrich August'', ''Prinz Heinrich'', ''
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...
'' and ''Siegfried'' (later renamed ''Todt'') – a total of eleven guns, with the firepower of a
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
. Fire control for these guns was provided by both spotter aircraft and by DeTeGerät radar sets installed at Blanc-Nez and Cap d’Alprech. These units were capable of detecting targets out to a range of , including small British patrol craft near the English coast. Two additional radar sites were added by mid-September: a DeTeGerät at Cap de la Hague and a FernDeTeGerät long-range radar at Cap d’Antifer near Le Havre. The longest-ranged guns were ''Kanone'' 12 ''in Eisenbahnlafette'', manned by the ''
Heer Heer may refer to: People * Jeet Heer, Canadian author and journalist * Jeffrey Heer (born 1979), American computer scientist and entrepreneur * Kamal Heer (born 1973), Punjabi singer and musician * Oswald Heer (1809–1883), Swiss botanist and ...
''. These guns had an effective range of . Designed as successors to the World War I
Paris gun The Paris Gun (german: Paris-Geschütz / Pariser Kanone) was the name given to a type of German long-range siege gun, several of which were used to bombard Paris during World War I. They were in service from March to August 1918. When the guns w ...
, they had a maximum range of . Shell fragments were found near
Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. The town developed around Chatham ...
, about from the French coast. Both guns, which were operated by ''Artillerie-Batterie'' 701 (E), remained on the Channel Coast until the Liberation of France in July 1944. Most of the batteries continued firing until September 1944 when they were overrun during the clearing the Channel Coast. By then more than a thousand rounds had been fired by the German coastal batteries against England and shipping. The only two vessels to be sunk by German fire were: * ''Sambut'', 7,219 BRT, 6 June 1944 * ''Empire Lough'', 2,824 BRT, 24 June 1944 ''Empire Lough'' was one of 21 coastal vessels in the convoy ETC-17, escorted by the frigate and corvette . On 24 June 1944, the convoy left Southend en route to the Seine Bay when the ships were engaged by German long-range coastal artillery guns off Dover. ''Empire Lough'' was set on fire and declared a total loss after she was beached near Folkestone. The master Robert Robinson and one crew member were lost. The freighter ''Gurden Gates'' (1,791 grt, built 1943) was damaged in the same action.


British emplacements

Having withdrawn in the
Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...
and winning the Battle of Britain, the British did not have an immediate answer to the threat posed by the German coastal batteries. However, the high ground to either side of the
Port of Dover The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime pa ...
was fortified on the personal order of Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
(who had visited the area to see the situation in person) and wanted large calibre guns dug in there. The only British cross-Channel guns already in place were two BL 14 inch Mk VII (35.6 cm) guns ''Winnie'' (named after Churchill) and – later in 1940 – ''Pooh'' (named after the story book character Winnie the Pooh) at St Margaret's at Cliffe. Both guns were spares taken from the stock of guns of the battleship . One gun used a mounting from , while the other had a mounting from a test range; neither was turret-mounted. Their separate and well-camouflaged cordite and shell magazines were buried under deep layers of earth and connected to the guns by railway lines. Both batteries were camouflaged and protected from aerial attack by anti-aircraft emplacements behind and below St. Margaret's. Both guns were operated from separate firing-control rooms and were manned by 25-man troop of the
Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
Siege Regiment. Although ''Winnie'' fired Britain's first shell onto continental Europe in August 1940 boosting morale, the Mk VII naval guns were slow to reload and ineffectual compared to the German guns in the
Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
. Both conducted extreme range counter-battery operations against the German's coastal guns but they were too inaccurate and slow to fire on enemy shipping. Due to these guns' lack of success in targeting shipping, Churchill ordered three new heavy gun batteries to be built in Dover and manned by the Royal Artillery: * Three BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk VII guns with a range of , at ''Fan Bay Battery'' * Four BL 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mks IX–X guns with a range of at ''
South Foreland South Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England. It presents a bold cliff to the sea, and commands views over the Strait of Dover. It is centred northeast of Dover and 15 miles south of North Foreland. It includes ...
Battery'' * Two BL 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns with a range of at ''Wanstone Battery'', known as ''Clem'' (after Clementine Churchill) and ''Jane'' (after the pin-up). The guns were later joined by
Lydden Spout Battery Lydden Spout Battery is a World War II coastal defence battery built in 1941 west of Dover. Originally armed with three 6-inch Mark VII naval guns on Mark V mountings, later upgraded to Mark XXIV guns on the same mountings. Fan Bay Battery to t ...
, consisting of three more BL 6-inch Mk VII guns. Also, three BL 13.5-inch (343 mm) Mk V naval guns from the First World War (named ''Gladiator'', ''Scene Shifter'' and ''Piece Maker'' ic were brought out of retirement in 1939 and mounted on railway chassis. The British coast batteries sank: * ''Pentiver'', 2,382 BRT, 2 March 1943 * ''Livadia'' 3,094 BRT, 4 October 1943 * ''Munsterland'' 6,315 BRT, 20 January 1944 * ''Recum'' 5,500 BRT, 20 March 1944 * ''S.184'' (sunk 5 September 1944, by its own troops)


Operational history


Hellfire Corner

This gunnery duel, along with heavy German shelling and bombing of Dover strait and the Dover area, led to this stretch of the Channel being nicknamed ''Hellfire Corner'' and led to 3,059 alerts, 216 civilian deaths and damage to 10,056 premises in the Dover area. British coastal convoys had to pass through the bottleneck of the Dover strait to transport supplies, particularly coal; Britain's road and rail network was not then able to cope with the volume of traffic that had to be handled. Although the German guns regularly fired on these slow moving convoys from 1940 to 1944, with an interlude in 1943, they only sank two ships and damaged several others. Two seamen were killed and others were injured by shell splinters from near misses. However, the civilian crews of the merchant ships found the shelling more unnerving than the attacks by aircraft or E-boats that they were also subjected to and there were instances of crews refusing to sail from their forming-up point at Southend-on-Sea because of the German guns.


The Channel Dash

On 11 February 1942, the German
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
s and , the heavy cruiser and more than twenty smaller escort vessels sailed from Brest in Brittany to their home port of Wilhelmshaven by an audacious dash through the English Channel, codenamed ''Unternehmen Zerberus'' (Operation Cerberus). Due to poor visibility and a number of communication failures by British forces, the first response to the German squadron was by the 9.2-inch guns of the South Foreland Battery, which were the only guns which could be directed by radar but the 10-cm
S band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...
set had only recently been installed and had never been used in conjunction with the guns. As the visibility was only , it was hoped that the radar would be able to register the splashes as the shells landed so that the guns would be able to correct their aim but nothing was detected. After firing three two-gun
salvo A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in one blow and prevent them from fighting b ...
es without being able to detect the "fall of shot" – the shells were actually landing almost a mile astern of the main German ships – it was decided to fire full salvoes using only the ranging information from the radar. After six minutes of rapid fire, the last shots were fired at a range of . None of the 33 shells fired came close to the German ships. A minute before the last shots were fired, South Foreland came under counter-battery fire from across the Channel but little damage was sustained.


Final duels

During the Anglo-Canadian operation to capture Calais, on 26 September 1944 (the last day of shelling) fifty shells were fired, killing five people, the last of whom was 63-year-old Patience Ransley, who was killed by a shell from the ''Lindemann'' Battery while sheltering in the long "Barwick's Cave" reinforced cliff tunnel. Accurate bombardment from the British heavy guns at Dover disabled the ''Grosser Kurfürst'' Battery at Floringzelle near Cap Gris Nez, ending the duels. Dover was finally freed from bombardment and to mark the event the town's mayor was sent a German flag from the batteries.


Legacy

Between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer considerable parts of the concrete gun emplacements and associated bunkers remain accessible, although often in somewhat dangerous conditions. One of the
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
s of the Todt Battery can be visited at the ''Musée du Mur de l'Atlantique'', the Atlantic Wall Museum, at Audinghen. One of the Krupp K5 guns is also there. Since 1954, a section of painted armour plating taken as a
war trophy __NOTOC__ A war trophy is an item taken during warfare by an invading force. Common war trophies include flags, weapons, vehicles, and art. History In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, military victories were commemorated with a display of captu ...
from a turret of the Lindemann Battery has been on display on the Dover seafront. Many of the British batteries remained until the decision was taken to retire all the coastal artillery in 1956. The big 15-inch guns at Wanstone Farm were not removed until 1959. The sites have either been demolished, buried or left to decay. At Wanstone Farm Battery, ancillary buildings such as the plotting room and the guard house are visible, although overgrown and the sergeants' mess has reverted to its original use as a farm house.


See also

* V-3 cannon German supergun of 1943–44 at Mimoyecques, Pas-de-Calais * Dover Castle * Hougham Battery * List of naval guns * Operation Sea Lion *
Fan Bay Deep Shelter Fan Bay Deep Shelter is a series of tunnels constructed during World War II as accommodation for Fan Bay Battery artillery battery, 23 metres down in the White Cliffs of Dover at Fan Bay near the Port of Dover. The tunnels and gun battery were bu ...


Footnotes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

*


External links


Batterie Todt in Northern France



BBC ''People's War''



British Pathé wartime newsreel of the 14-inch gun "Winnie" being loaded and fired

British Pathé wartime newsreel of ships being shelled - the shells miss and a spotter plane turns up but is forced to retreat by the RAF
* Terry Gander
Twentieth century British coast defence guns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover Strait coastal guns, 1940-1944 Strait of Dover Military history of the English Channel World War II in the Pas-de-Calais Military history of Kent Large-calibre artillery World War II sites in France World War II sites in England Dover District Battles of World War II involving France Battles of World War II involving Germany Battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Kent coast