The Observation Post

Standing inside the observation post at Merville and looking straight up. A circle of white sky where the periscope came through, and a small square where the light gets in sideways.

The battery was taken in the dark of 6 June by the 9th Parachute Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway, after a drop that scattered his men across miles of flooded country. He went in with a fraction of the force he was promised, without the jeeps, the mortars, or the gliders that were meant to land on top of it.

From in here you mostly notice how thick the concrete is, and how little there is to see out of.

The Merville Battery, Merville-Franceville-Plage, Normandy. August 2019. Canon 6D Mark II, 16–35mm.

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