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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Merville battery is a German coastal fortification built between 1941 and 1944 as part of the Atlantic Wall, located 2 km from the sea, near Orne Bay. Composed of four concrete casemates initially containing 100 mm guns (instead of the expected 150 mm), it was protected by minefields, barbed wire and fire stations. His role was to defend the Sword Beach area, one of the Allied Landings beaches.

On the night of 5-6 June 1944, the battery was the target of an airborne operation by 150 British paratroopers of the 9th Battalion (6th Airborne Division). Despite a failed aerial bombardment and a dispersal of troops, the poorly equipped soldiers stormed the casemates after a fierce fight. The guns were neutralized at 0000, allowing partial security for landing.

The operation, marked by logistical errors (lost gliders, missing explosives) and exceptional courage, became one of the exploits of D-Day. The German garrison, with 50 men, was almost completely neutralized, but two cannons were reused by the Germans within 48 hours. The battery, classified as a Historic Monument in 2001, is now a museum preserved by the Conservatoire du littoral.

Since 1977, the 5 hectare site, managed by a Franco-British group, has welcomed 75,000 visitors annually. A Douglas C-47 aircraft, a symbol of airborne troops, has been on display since 2008. The museum traces the history of the assault and honours the memory of the soldiers on both sides, while illustrating the defensive engineering of the Atlantic Wall.

The preservation of the site was initiated in 1969 by Françoise Gondrée and British general Richard Gale, founder of the Pegasus Bridge Museum. The classification in 2001 kept the casemates, the command post and the trenches, providing an intact witness to the 1944 fighting. The site remains a place of major memory of the Liberation of Normandy.

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