This now heavily populated suburb of Le Portal on the southern outskirts of Boulogne-sur-Mer has always been a prime location for defensive structures given the high vantage point and views of the English Channel.
The first fortified building can be attributed to Louis XV, but it was Napoleon who built the Fort du Mont de Couppes on the cliffs here in 1804 as part of his Boulogne HQ Camp for his 60,000 strong army.
The remains of this Napoleonic fort formed the foundations of a new, more powerful French Navy batterie in 1886 which, in turn provided foundations for the German Kriegsmarine batterie started in mid-1940 to protect the occupied city and port from Allied attacks.
There are a number of large structures still remaining at Stp232 Seerose, the easiest to spot is the Vf Leitstand or observation post on the cliffs below the town.
This building doesn’t look much, but it would have played an important role in directing fire from the Fort de Couppes batterie. It’s a two-storey construction with a viewing platform on the top level. This is where a rangefinder would be posted to pick out targets for the guns which were to be housed in two M270 type casemates nearby.
Only one M270 was ever built and this is now buried near a school playground, but you can make your way carefully along the cliff top to see machine gun positions, personnel shelters, Tobruks, and ammunition stores.
Covering the rear of the site and located around the original location of the Napoleonic fort are three R630 casemates for fortress-level machine guns. Their embrasures of the R630s all face inland to give protection for the strongpoint from any attacks from the rear.