Stp142 Crasville Videcosville
Inland batterie covering North of Utah Beach
Stp142 site overview
What to see
This inland batterie is tucked away a distance behind the beach area and has been built around by private farms. Until early 2023, the two H671 casemates were completely overgrown and covered by trees but were cleared and fenced off in March 2023. Without permission is is not possible to visit the casemates.
Strongpoint Stp142 Crasville Videcosville features two type of large gun casemates - two H671 types flanked either side by a H650 type. All four casemates featured 105mm Schneider field guns, First World War weapons captured from the French by occupying German forces as they made their way across Europe.
Both the large H650 and smaller H671 casemates were designed around pivoting guns - the wheels and carriage for the gun would be removed and the barrels mounted on a central pivot fixed to the base of the gun room. This would give them up to 120 degrees in their arc of fire.
The H671 casemates feature two small rooms for ammunition while the much bigger H650 type casemates at the edges of the site featured two entrances with defensive close combat embrasures, two ammunition rooms, crew quarters, and an observation/defensive Tobruk as part of the main structure.
Behind the batterie you can still see the remains of a handful of defensive Tobruks, personnel shelters, an anti-aircraft gun stand, and several concrete storage bunkers, including one for water.