If you look at a list of the remaining WW2 Germans batteries in this area of Normandy most people would struggle to pinpoint Batterie Hennequeville on a map, and few would have ever visited – but it’s a great site to explore!
Hidden away in woodland and private gardens on the bluffs to the north east of the port town of Trouville and Deauville, this easterly-facing batterie consisted of four R671 casemates for 10.5cm captured French guns.
While they can’t be visited without permission, you can see from the track running through the woodland that they’re still in great condition, with their classic domed ‘noses’ built to deflect bombs from damaging the guns inside.
You can see that two currently remain unused, one is being used for storage, and one has even been turned into a summer house with double-glazed windows covering the gun embrasure!
On the track into the woods, there are several concrete buildings which were built to support the batterie, including two personnel shelters, and an unusual fire control post.
The FCP can easily be missed as from the track it appears completely buried but a quick walk down a slope to the side initially brings you to what looks like the exit of an escape shaft and then the front of the building.
While it doesn’t look to be of a standard construction, the bunker has seen some post war destruction and the front wall of the observation section has partially been removed, but at least this gives you the ability to access the inside of the building.
Behind the observation room – which faces easterly towards the port in line with the casemates – is a doorway and rungs of a steel ladder which takes you further underground into the main room, likely to have been the main plotting and communications area. It has been subjected to multiple fires in recent years so most of the walls are black with soot and there is also a lot of debris inside, so you need to take care if visiting.
A doorway to the right rear of the main room opens into a short corridor where there is a room with the remains of a toilet and second room which looks like it was an officer or crew room where there are marks on the wall from a washbasin and mirror, and possibly a telephone and cables.
In places you can see different colours were painted on the walls and in one corner is the entrance to the ‘escape shaft’, although this is in the top corner of the room so could have been used for ventilation rather than escape.
At the end of the corridor is a bricked-up entrance which once led to a set of steps and a rear entrance to the bunker, although this entrance is now buried under the woodland track.