The German army built their larger gun batteries with a set of four casemates, but not all sites you can visit today boast the full set.
HKB Yport is a prime example with just two of the four planned R679 casemates built by the time the batterie was captured by advancing Allied forces in September 1944.
Like most batteries, the site – high on the clifftop to the west of the beautiful fishing port between Etretat and Fecamp – originally featured six large cannons in field emplacements and evolved as the German forces looked to protect their occupied lands.
Large concrete casemates were built to protect the guns from air and sea attacks with the two casemates here both featuring the classic overhanging ‘nose’ protection with additional steel plate. At casemate two - the only one safe to access today – you can still see bolts on the face of the building, and these would have once supported two large steel plates which added to the frontal armour of the building.
The two guns, both 15.5cm and of First World War French origin, were mounted on pivots inside the casemates and also had steel shields around them leaving little space for bombs or naval gunfire to make its way into the casemates.
In the fields surrounding the casemates you can just about make out the overgrown tops of a small shelter and Tobruk while the remains a fire control post stands on the edge of the cliff face overlooking the town and beach area below.