Stp78 Grandcamp Maisy
Gun position east of Grandcamp Maisy Port
Stp78 site overview
What to see
Wn78 was a small strongpoint to the east of the town and fishing port of Grandcamp Maisy. Largely covered over by the growth of the town, there are still a number of concrete constructions to be discovered here, although they can be difficult to spot.
The two main builds here are gun bunkers, but the site also featured Tobruks, and personnel shelter and tetrahedral beach defences, and many of these can be seen on the beach in front of the positions still, although in a very rusty state.
The largest structure at Wn78 is a R612 casemate for an 88mm Pak field cannon - a powerful gun which would have easily dealt with any landing craft or vehicles landing on the eastern side of the town or port area.
Following erosion of the soft cliffs, in March 2023 the mortar Tobruk on the edge of the cliff near the R612 casemate fell on to the beach and remains upright on the shoreline. The R612 will certainly follow and has recently been fenced off for public safety.
On a recent visit we also found a lot of short rusty lengths of WW2 German barbed wire - thick, single strand wire with barbs spaced every 2cm - 3cm apart. Make sure you've had a tetanus jab if you fancy picking some of this up!
At the westerly end of the site, closest to the port is a special construction SK casemate for a machine gun which has its embrasure facing north east. This casemate is now the foundations to a private house and extension building so can't be accessed.
A defensive Tobruk stands in front of the giant Peace statue which greets you as you drive from east to west on the D514 road.