Despite their ability to resist bombs, the casemates had an Achilles heal their gun aperture. It faced out to sea and was an inviting target for ships whose mission was to destroy the batteries. The casemates had very little frontal protection. Engineers attempted to solve this problem by building what is know as “The Todt front" a concrete protective canopy which jutted out beyond the roof covering and deflected outwards any shrapnel from shells exploding in front of the bunker. Only the naval batteries were equipped with these tiered canopies and along with their rounded shape and the thick bank of earth surrounded them, this set them apart from the Army batteries.
The Todt Front Canopy
The “Bursting Layer" as the earth bank surrounding the casemates was called had the dual role of absorbing the shock of the explosions and making the casemates less conspicuous from the air and the sea. At Longues the gunners were also protected by 10mm of armour plating shielding the 152mm gun room.
The entrance to the casemate was guarded by machine guns which could effectively repel any ground attacks.
Each casemate was made up of a gun room and a pit dug in the ground for storing spent cartridges. Whenever the gun was fired, poisonous gasses was given off and quickly pumped out through an ingenious ventilation system. Inside the bunker, ammunition was kept in two magazines to the rear of the bunker. The ammunition stores for the whole of the battery were located south of the metalled road built by the Germans. This road served as a link between all the different sections of the battery during construction and was subsequently a very useful road leading to the casemates both for the Germans and the Allied bombers who used it as a guide as to where to drop their bombs. This was a surprising oversight on the part of the Germans, who had a particularly efficient method of camouflage; each casemate was covered in asphalt before being partially buried. Even if this task was not completely finished by June 6th, the bunkers were still very difficult to make out. In addition to this, the Germans filled in small pits in the concrete on the outside of the bunker with earth and grass to blend their fortifications in with the natural surroundings. As a final touch, the bunkers were covered with camouflage nets which were attached to hooks that can be seen to this day sticking out of the concrete. These nets were made with strips of material or pieces of sacking. The natural vegetation of the site which was, broom, beach grass and reeds was also used to camouflage the bunkers.
This is a back view of one of the Longues Bunkers where you can clearly see the hooks sticking out at the top.
