Heading east from Dieppe on the main D925 road towards Le Treport takes you through many beautiful Norman villages and few of these escaped the defensive building projects of the occupying German forces of the Second World War.
One such location is Berneval-le-Grand – 10km east of Dieppe – where a huge gun batterie was under construction to protect captured Russian 12cm field guns positioned to cover the eastern side of the port.
It’s believed that there were actually six field guns at this location – three of the larger 17cm guns and three 12.2cm guns – the latter being the ones which R669 type casemates were planned to protect.
Known as Heers Kusten Batterie (HKB) Berneval, this army artillery position was set to be a formidable site, however only one of the R669 casemates was ever built.
It remains today as the standout building in agricultural fields on the edge of the cliffs with several other structures – three small shelters dotted around the expanding village. These once included several Wellblech personnel shelters.
On the beach in front of the high cliffs are the remains of a forward observation/fire control post for the batterie.
In August 1942, before the construction of the current buildings, this site was known as the Goebbels Batterie and was an objective for British No.3 Commando as part of Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe.
The Goebbels Batterie is believed to have consisted of three 17cm and four 105mm guns along with ground defences and manned by around 120 troops, including infantry.
Unfortunately, the convoy carrying the Commandos across the Channel was attacked by German ships and many were destroyed or damaged and were forced to return to Newhaven, England.
Seven landing craft did make it through though, six containing 120 men landed at Yellow Beach I at Berneval and one containing 20 men hit the beach at Belleville, a site codenamed Yellow II.
Almost all the men from Yellow I were killed, wounded, or captured, including Lt. Edward Loustalot, a US Army Ranger who is believed to be the first American soldier to be killed in the European theatre of conflict.
Led by Major Peter Young, the second group from Yellow II got to within 180 metres of the batterie but the small force was unable to mount a serious assault.
Supported by RAF Hurricane aircraft - bomber versions - they caused enough of a distraction to stop the gun firing on the main landing beach area around 6km to the west in Dieppe before retreating back to the beach and escaping to England.