We’ve had a wonderful time at Maisy Battery where we had a private tour. The Maisy Battery is a group of World War II artillery batteries constructed by the Wehrmacht near the French village of Grandcamp-Maisy in Normandy. It formed a part of Germany's Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications and was the principal position of defence for that area. It was responsible for the defence of the sector between the Longues-sur-Mer and the St Marcouf (Crisbecq) batteries. It could target both Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The complex was built under strict security by forced labour from Russia, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Wehrmacht run battery was not marked on the Allied D-Day maps which were released to the invasion troops. Given that the Allied Rangers were not briefed to assault Maisy Battery and were instead sent to attack the empty gun battery at Pointe du Hoc, author and historian Gary Sterne was the first to publicy suggest that Pointe du Hoc (leading up to D-Day) was used by German defenders as a ruse to lead the Allies away from the Maisy site.
Thank you to Gary’s son Dan who took us on an amazing tour- and tolerated some interesting questions :)
