Located in the area of Puys to the east of Dieppe town centre, Die01 was one of the landing beaches for the ill-fated Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942.
The site takes advantage of the topography of the valley it protects and has positions running from the wide pebble beach up either side of the cliffs.
While some structures are now beach dwellers following erosion of the soft chalk cliffs, to the west you can still see the well preserved R600 emplacement.
This is a two storey building with a crew room and ammunition store under the ground and a position for a 5cm KwK anti-tank gun on top. It stands in a private garden and can’t be accessed by the public.
On the opposite flank there are more structures including a R612 casemate for a 7.5cm field cannon. It’s difficult to see this from the road as it stands behind private dwellings but we we’re told by a local resident that it’s still in their garden and is buried so not able to be accessed.
As you go higher up the cliff, the right flank also supports a Tobruk for a tank turret, an observation and machine gun post, and a anti-aircraft gun position and small shelter – likely for ammo storage.
At the heart of Die01 is a structure which could easily be confused as being an original gun casemate, but this is actually a memorial which pays tribute to the men of the Royal Regiment of Canada who lost their lives in this area in August 1942.
The memorial stands next to an actual bunker from the Atlantikwall, a camouflaged observation post which had a commanding view along the beach towards the town to the west.