Cross-Channel guns in the Second World War
Encyclopedia
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, cross-Channel guns were long-range coastal artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
pieces placed on the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
coasts of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the Pas-de-Calais, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, at the point at which England was closest to continental Europe, with which to bombard enemy shipping in the Channel and towns and military installations.
German guns
The first such guns to be put in place were WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
guns on the French coast, which began to be installed around the end of 1940. First came Siegfried Battery to the south of Cap-Gris-Nez, with its 38 cm gun, shortly followed by:
- Three 30.5 cm guns at Friedrich August Battery, to the north of Boulogne-sur-MerBoulogne-sur-Mer-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
- Four 28 cm guns at Grosser Kurfürst Battery at Cap-Gris-Nez
- Two 21 cm guns at Prinz Heinrich Battery just outside CalaisCalaisCalais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
- Two 21 cm guns at Oldenburg Battery in Calais
- Three 40.6 cm guns (from among the so-called Adolf Guns) at Lindemann Battery between Calais and Cap-Blanc-Nez. The battery was named after the fallen commander of the battleship BismarckGerman battleship BismarckBismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, Kapitän zur See Ernst LindemannErnst LindemannOtto Ernst Lindemann was a German naval captain. He was the only commander of the battleship during its eight months of service in World War II....
. - Four 38 cm guns at Battery Todt at WissantWissantWissant is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:...
outside Cap-Gris-Nez
All these could shell across the Channel, but not target Channel shipping, which was later rectified by the addition of three K5
Krupp K5
The Krupp 28-cm-Kanone 5 , in short K5, was a heavy railway gun used by Germany throughout World War II.-Description:The Krupp K5 series were consistent in mounting a long gun barrel in a fixed mounting with only vertical elevation of the weapon...
rail-mounted guns
Railway gun
A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval ordnance, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World...
, which could fire accurately on British shipping.
British response
Having just survived the Dunkirk evacuation and Battle of BritainBattle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, the British did not have an immediate answer to this threat, but the high ground to either side of the Port of Dover
Port of Dover
The Port of Dover is the cross-channel port situated in Dover, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just away, and one of Europe's largest passenger ports, with 14 million travellers, 2.1 million lorries, 2.8 million cars and motorcycles and 86,000 coaches passing...
was fortified on the personal order of the Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
(who had visited to see the situation in person), and large calibre guns dug in there. The only British cross-Channel guns already in place were Winnie (named after Prime Minister Winston Churchill) and—later in 1940—Pooh (named after fictional bear Winnie the Pooh). These were two 14 inch
BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun
The BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun was designed for the ships of the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. This gun armed the King George V class battleships.-Background:...
(35.6 cm) guns positioned behind St Margaret's. They were spares taken from the stock of guns of the battleship King George V
King George V class battleship (1939)
The King George V-class battleships were the most modern British battleships used during World War II. Five ships of this class were built and commissioned: King George V , Prince of Wales , Duke of York , Howe , and Anson .The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limiting all of the number,...
. One used a mounting from HMS Furious
HMS Furious (47)
HMS Furious was a modified cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord John Fisher, they were very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Furious was modified while...
and the other a mounting from a test range; neither was turret-mounted. They were operated from a separate firing-control room, and manned by 25 men of the Royal Marine Siege Regiment. These boosted morale—Winnie fired Britain's first shell onto continental Europe in August 1940—but were slow and ineffectual compared to the German guns. They attacked the German guns (though they were too inaccurate and slow to fire on ships), and were protected from German aerial attack by anti-aircraft emplacements. Their separate and well-camouflaged cordite and shell magazines were buried under deep layers of earth and connected to the guns by railway lines.
Enraged by these guns' lack of success in targeting shipping, Churchill ordered three new heavy gun batteries to be built in Dover and manned by the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
for that purpose:
- Three 6 in guns (15.2 cm) with a range of 25000 yards (22,860 m), at Fan Bay Battery
- Four 9.2 in (23.4 cm) gunsBL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX - XThe BL 9.2 inch guns Mk IX and Mk X were British 46.7 calibres naval and coast defence guns in service from 1899 to the 1950s. They had possibly the longest, most varied and successful service history of any British heavy ordnance.-History:...
with a range of 31000 yards (28,346.4 m) at South ForelandSouth ForelandSouth Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England. It presents a bold cliff to the sea, and commands views over the Strait of Dover. It is northeast of Dover and 15 miles south of North Foreland...
Battery - Two 15 in (38.1cm) gunsBL 15 inch /42 naval gunThe BL 15 inch Mark I succeeded the gun. It was the first British 15 inch gun design and the most widely used and longest lasting of any British designs, and arguably the most efficient heavy gun ever developed by the Royal Navy...
with a range of 42000 yards (38,404.8 m) at Wanstone Battery, known as Clem (after Clementine Churchill) and Jane (after the pin-upJane (comic strip)Jane was a comic strip created and drawn by Norman Pett exclusively for the British tabloid The Daily Mirror from 5 December 1932 to 10 October 1959.-Characters and story:...
).
These were later joined by Lydden Spout Battery
Lydden Spout Battery
Lydden Spout Battery is a World War II coastal defence battery built in 1941 west of Dover. Originally armed with three 6 inch Mark VII naval guns on Mark V mountings, later upgraded to Mark XXIV guns on the same mountings. Fan Bay Battery to the east of Dover is built to the same plan.The battery...
. Also, three BL 13.5 inches (342.9 mm) Mk V naval guns from the First World War (named Gladiator, Scene Shifter and Piece Maker) were brought out of retirement in 1939 and mounted on railway chassis. The resulting railway guns were operated by the Marines but moved by a team of Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
and, when not in use, hidden in Guston
Guston
Guston is a village near Dover in Kent, England. The village lies about a quarter of a mile North of the campus of the Duke of York's Royal Military School, near Martin Mill. The village, in the 1950s, was the site of one public house, one post office, one Saxon church and about one-hundred homes....
railway tunnel, Eythorne railway station
Eythorne railway station
Eythorne railway station was a station on the East Kent Light Railway. It opened on 16 October 1916 and closed to passenger traffic on 30 October 1948. It was the junction for the branch to Guilford Colliery, which was abandoned in 1921. The track on this branch was lifted in 1931 but relaid during...
on the East Kent Light Railway
East Kent Light Railway
The East Kent Light Railway was part of the Colonel Stephens group of cheaply built rural light railways in England. Holman Fred Stephens was engineer from its inception, subsequently becoming director and manager...
, and other places.
During September 1944 the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
3rd Canadian Infantry Division
The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Canadian Army from 1940 to c.1945.- History :The formation of the division was authorized on 17 May 1940...
was tasked with capturing Calais
Operation Undergo
Operation Undergo was the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division's operation to take the fortified French port of Calais in September, 1944. A subsidiary operation was executed to silence and capture the heavy batteries at Cap Gris Nez, which threatened the sea approaches to Boulogne...
and silencing the nearby German heavy batteries. This they did with accurate and effective assistance from "Winnie" and "Pooh"; the British guns put one of the German batteries out of action.
"Hellfire Corner"
This gunnery duel, along with heavy German shelling and bombing of Dover strait and the DoverDover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
area, led to this stretch of the Channel being nicknamed Hellfire Corner and led to 3,059 alerts, 216 civilian deaths, and damage to 10,056 premises in the Dover area and much damage to shipping. Much British shipping, perforce, had to pass through the bottleneck of Dover strait to transport essential supplies, particularly coal; Britain's road and rail network was not then able to handle the volume of traffic that had to be handled.
The British guns fired on the German battleships Scharnhorst
German battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...
, Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
and Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
during their 1942 Channel Dash, but were unable to stop them. The duel only ceased when the Allied invasion of France overran the German gun positions on the French coast in the second half of 1944. On 26 September 1944, the last day of shelling, 50 shells landed, killing five people, the last of whom was 63 year-old Patience Ransley, killed by a shell from the Lindemann Battery while sheltering in the 900 feet (274.3 m) long "Barwick's Cave" reinforced cliff tunnel.
Today
One of the guns can still be seen at the Todt Battery Museum (also known as the Atlantic Wall Museum) at WissantWissant
Wissant is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:...
. Since 1954 a section of painted armour plating taken as a war trophy
War trophy
In ancient Greece and Rome, military victories were commemorated with a display of captured arms and standards. A trophy was originally a war memorial assembled from such items on a battlefield. The Roman triumph also displayed these items as well as cultural objects, which later came to be...
from one of the Lindemann Battery's turrets has been on display on Dover's seafront.
Between Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
considerable parts of the concrete gun emplacements and associated bunkers remain, in accessible although often somewhat dangerous condition.
See also
- V-3 cannonV-3 cannonThe V-3 was a German World War II supergun working on the multi-charge principle whereby secondary propellant charges are fired to add velocity to a projectile....
German supergun of 1943-44 at Mimoyecques, Pas-de-Calais, France - List of naval guns