Le Havre was the most fortified port in this area of Normandy.
Along with its neighbouring towns of Dieppe and Fecamp, these German occupied areas were protected by thousands of concrete constructions ranging from huge gun batteries, defensive positions, and extensive radar stations constantly monitoring the air and sea off the coast.
Some of the sites around the central city were captured French batteries dating back to Napoleonic times, but further north you can find the remains of one of the least known of the coastal defensive sites, MKB Brier-Alt.
This Kriegsmarine site was extensive, stretching from an observation post on the cliff top to a series of open emplacements for large calibre artillery guns over 200 metres further inland.
It was split into two areas – the main batterie and a smaller annex site built for a cluster of personnel shelters – although the two are only around 30 metres apart.
The main site featured three open emplacements positioned along a tree line and these guns were supported by a collection of buildings including a fire control post, an estimated five ammunition storage bunkers, a machinery bunker, water storage building, and a toilet block.
All these buildings stand on private land and are mostly overgrown and so are not accessible to the public.
The annex site to the north can be accessed with permission though, and here you can find five personnel shelters and a defensive post for a machine gun.
The two easterly shelters and the northern construction – the latter being the largest of the five - are almost completely buried and not accessible.
Between the two other shelters the landowners have created stables for horses, using the outer walls of the two shelters to support a roof.
The entrance to one of the remaining shelters has recently been sealed and the entrance area itself turned into a toilet for use by the landowner.
The shelter in the middle of the site is accessible though and we were able to visit inside where you can see some of the original paint remains, along with some faint marking on the walls where electric cables would have been located.
On the coast in front of the annex site, you can see the remains of a heavily overgrown Beobachtung observation bunker which stands precariously on the edge of the high cliffs and hasn’t got many more years left before it crashes down onto the beach below.
The landowner believes there was originally an underground tunnel or series of trenches which linked one or two of the shelters to the observation post, but there is no evidence of these on the ground today.