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Pointe du Hoc
La Pointe du Hoc (French pronunciation: [pwɛ̃t dy ɔk]) is a promontory with a 35-metre (110 ft) cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France.
In World War II, Pointe du Hoc was the location of a series of German bunkers and machine gun posts. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, the German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Provisional Ranger Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. United States generals including Dwight D. Eisenhower had determined that the place housed artillery that could slow down nearby beach attacks.
Pointe du Hoc lies 6.5 km (4.0 miles) west of the center of Omaha Beach. As part of the Atlantic Wall fortifications, the prominent cliff top location was fortified by the Germans.
The battery was initially built in 1943 to house six captured French First World War vintage GPF 155 mm K418(f) guns positioned in open concrete gun pits. The battery was garrisoned by the 2nd Battery of Army Coastal Artillery Battalion 1260 (Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung 1260 or 2/HKAA.1260). To defend the promontory from attack, elements of the 352nd Infantry Division were also stationed at the battery.
To provide increased defensive capability, the Germans began to improve the defenses of the battery in the spring of 1944, with enclosed H671 concrete casemates being started and the older 155 mm guns displaced. The plan was to build six casemates but two were unfinished when the location was attacked. The casemates were built over and in front of the circular gun pits, which housed the 155 mm guns.
Also built was a H636 observation bunker and L409a mounts for 20 mm Flak 30 anti-aircraft guns. The 155 mm guns would have threatened the Allied landings on Omaha and Utah beaches when finished, risking heavy casualties to the landing forces.
In the months before D-Day the Germans were recorded by Allied Intelligence removing their guns one by one as they re-developed the site with the final aim of four casemates facing Utah Beach and the possibility of two 155 mm guns in open emplacements. The U.S. 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions were given the task of assaulting the strong point early on D-Day. Elements of the 2nd Battalion went in to attack Pointe du Hoc but delays meant the remainder of the 2nd Battalion and the complete 5th Battalion landed at Omaha Beach as their secondary landing position.
Though the Germans had removed the main armament from Pointe du Hoc, the beachheads were shelled by field artillery from the nearby Maisy battery, which was fired on by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins. The rediscovery of the battery at Maisy has shown that it was responsible for firing on the Allied beachheads until 9 June 1944.
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Pointe du Hoc
La Pointe du Hoc (French pronunciation: [pwɛ̃t dy ɔk]) is a promontory with a 35-metre (110 ft) cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France.
In World War II, Pointe du Hoc was the location of a series of German bunkers and machine gun posts. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, the German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Provisional Ranger Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. United States generals including Dwight D. Eisenhower had determined that the place housed artillery that could slow down nearby beach attacks.
Pointe du Hoc lies 6.5 km (4.0 miles) west of the center of Omaha Beach. As part of the Atlantic Wall fortifications, the prominent cliff top location was fortified by the Germans.
The battery was initially built in 1943 to house six captured French First World War vintage GPF 155 mm K418(f) guns positioned in open concrete gun pits. The battery was garrisoned by the 2nd Battery of Army Coastal Artillery Battalion 1260 (Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung 1260 or 2/HKAA.1260). To defend the promontory from attack, elements of the 352nd Infantry Division were also stationed at the battery.
To provide increased defensive capability, the Germans began to improve the defenses of the battery in the spring of 1944, with enclosed H671 concrete casemates being started and the older 155 mm guns displaced. The plan was to build six casemates but two were unfinished when the location was attacked. The casemates were built over and in front of the circular gun pits, which housed the 155 mm guns.
Also built was a H636 observation bunker and L409a mounts for 20 mm Flak 30 anti-aircraft guns. The 155 mm guns would have threatened the Allied landings on Omaha and Utah beaches when finished, risking heavy casualties to the landing forces.
In the months before D-Day the Germans were recorded by Allied Intelligence removing their guns one by one as they re-developed the site with the final aim of four casemates facing Utah Beach and the possibility of two 155 mm guns in open emplacements. The U.S. 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions were given the task of assaulting the strong point early on D-Day. Elements of the 2nd Battalion went in to attack Pointe du Hoc but delays meant the remainder of the 2nd Battalion and the complete 5th Battalion landed at Omaha Beach as their secondary landing position.
Though the Germans had removed the main armament from Pointe du Hoc, the beachheads were shelled by field artillery from the nearby Maisy battery, which was fired on by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins. The rediscovery of the battery at Maisy has shown that it was responsible for firing on the Allied beachheads until 9 June 1944.