2 detachments of the 44th division of the Heer (land army) of the Wehrmacht arrived in Royan and its region on 06/23/1940. Their mission is to control the Gironde estuary which controls access to the port of Bordeaux.
In December 1941, the Pio.Btl.327 of Oberstleutnant HUMBERT took part in the first work to build support points (the famous "Atlantic Wall") with the Fest.Pio.stab.28 of the Oberst SCHULTZ based in Royan and the Oberbauleitung PAULA of the Organization Todt.
The work took on more scope from October 1942 thanks to the Todt Organization, and was supervised by the Pionere Führer of the AOK 7 (7th Army), Generalmajor Otto SCHAUM.
In Charente Maritime, all the works will require the implementation of more than 4 million m3 of concrete. The TODT organization had a standardized fortification program "REGELBAUTEN" already used for the construction of the Siegfrid line. The Atlantic Wall required 300,000 French workers and nearly 3,000 companies.
The Chay, Suzac and Coubre batteries were installed in March 1942. Southern limit of the "Festungen Gironde Nord", the Suzac B1 battery, which became S 30 HKAA 5/746 Köln, was equipped, in 1944, with 5 series firing pieces composed of 4 tubes of 76.2 GK 307 (r) horse-drawn installed under casemates at 120° firing H669 and four 105 K 331 Schneider cannons sheltered under structures at 60° firing H671, controlled from a post of fire direction PDT H636a., armament supplemented by support weapons of lower caliber (50 mm mortar, 20 machine gun, DCA) installed on platform, in tank or in tobruk, and by a concrete shelter for H128 personnel and an H134 block. A minefield protects access to the battery and concrete obstacles deter any attempt to land on the beaches.
The Suzac battery, then the southern limit of La Poche de Royan, hit by bombing during Operation "Vénérable" on April 14 and 15, 1945, was largely destroyed by Allied aviation supported by "Lorraine" and the "Duquesne", two old ships built in 1913 and 1928 respectively.
There remain on the ground 5 bunkers (in English) or blockhouses in German) under the command of a firing post (CP) and the ruins of a shelter buried under ivy. 2 other shelters are embedded in buildings where they serve as cellars. Finally a last bunker is exploded.
Translated by Google •
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