
Va011 Veulettes sur Mer
Va014 Les Petites Dalles R612 casemate and bunker for 4.7cm Skoda fortress gun. Copyright NormandyBunkers

Va011 Veulettes sur Mer site overview

What to see
An extensive site with a sizeable number of remaining buildings, although just a fraction of what was originally constructed on this prominent headland to the west of Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
Today there’s a walking track with lots of information boards on the remaining bunkers and casemates, along with those highlighting the geology, flora, and fauna of the chalk cliff nature reserve.
Bunker-wise, the first you can see from the car park at the base of the cliff near to the river lock are the two machine gun posts, although the first you encounter when making your way up the cliff slope is a R621 group shelter, one of three originally built on the cliff top.
From there the track takes you uphill to the two MG posts you can see from the beach area below, and both are accessible. Inside you can look out through the embrasure and see what a commanding position they held as you look along the long sandy beach to the west.
Behind the MG posts, higher up the hill, are two large gun positions – a R677 casemate for an 88mm Pak43/41 cannon which faced west along the beach. The inside has evidence of a lot of shrapnel damage – most likely following the site’s capture – with information boards about the Atlantikwall in this and the neighbouring coastal areas.
Connected to the rear of the casemate is the entrance to a tunnel system which heads deep into the chalk cliff but has now been backfilled and gated off for bats to use as a roost.
At the top of the cliff, in a prime location for its use, is a two-storey L409 emplacement for a 3.7cm anti-aircraft gun.
Walking across the headland along the track back to the main road and houses brings you in contact with the shaft of a buried Wellblech shelter, now on private land, and below it three buildings in a row – a R134 ammunition storage bunker which exhibits all the traits of a massive internal explosion, and two well-preserved personnel shelters with a R501 and R502 next to each other. The latter buildings are maintained by a voluntary group who give bunker tours during the summer months.
Near to the beach and river Durdent lock gate is a memorial monument for the crew of a B17 from the 324th Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group which crashed in the area during a mission on March 28, 1943, with the loss of its crew.
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