What to see

The guns which were planned for this site on the north Cotentin coast to the west of Cherbourg would have created one of the most formidable German batteries built in France.
The site was originally a French batterie and construction had begun on a series of tunnels, shafts, and mounts for re-using two battleship turrets.
When the occupying German forces took over Castel Vendon it was earmarked to be the recipient of two, 28cm double-barreled naval gun turrets following a refit of the German battleship/battlecruiser Gneisenau and these were to be built along with four M272 type casemates housing 150mm guns - an incredible amount of firepower!

The battleship guns never arrived however and the batterie was never completed . There was also supposed to be a Fire Control Post built in front of the casemates but this was never achieved either.
Today there are three remaining M272 casemates, the fourth was destroyed towards the end of June 1944, and two large concrete rings where the turrets were to be mounted.
Please note this site is on private land, is extremely dangerous, and off limits to the public.

To the east of the site, along the D45 road, there is a small car park which features a couple of bunkers linked to the Castel Vendon site. One is a special construction machine gun and observation post with three embrasures and the second a simple personnel shelter.