UNIQUE - Cherbourg gun battery for sale...

UNIQUE - Cherbourg gun battery for sale...

Are you are interested in owning a piece of the Atlantic Wall in Normandy ?

A superbly preserved and untouched Normandy German Gun Battery has just come up for sale.

The huge gun battery and complex which covers 2.4 hectares of land is positioned above Cherbourg at Querqueville / Amfreville (German strongpoint code Stp 277) and it could be yours for 375,000 Euros.

Its history is well known as it defended the port of Cherbourg from the hills above the city. Battery York as it was locally known, fought an artillery duel with USS Texas before being over-run after a land battle for the bunkers with the US army.

It has magnificent views over the harbour and also a magnificent view over the nature reserve and beaches in front of it, and, it offers the buyer the opportunity to uncover an untouched battlefield - all left as was were after the war..… It was closed off to the public since the war, and owned by the French government. And it is now up for sale by the current owners.

If you are seriously interested you can email me and I will put you in direct contact with the owners and I can send you many more modern photographs. I can also arrange for interested parties to visit the site and be given a tour. I am told that the site also has a number of buildings which have not yet been re-uncovered which were closed off at the end of the war. As well as many which could be used immediately.

It is one of the most intact, well documented and undamaged Gun Batteries in private hands that will ever come up for sale in Normandy.

There are plenty of period photographs of the Germans in occupation at the battery. I can also send you wartime US intelligence photos, aerial reconnaissance pictures and other documentation - as well as a clean Asbestos survey, proof of free-and-unrestricted ownership and sales information.

The battery contained 4 huge German built casements for 170mm guns (complete with rear ammunition stores and underground storage) as well as the mounts and casements for a further 4 Napoleonic guns… a big underground hospital, numerous ancillary bunkers, tobruks, toilets, living accommodation etc… many platforms for wooden cabins (which can be rebuilt)… and it even has an almost complete gatehouse which can be lived in as all it needs is 2 doors and 2 windows… so you already have your own on-site house. Not to mention that the battery has its own gated driveway with Victorian gate posts and original 15ft gates - giving you all the privacy you could wish for.

There is a 6 metre x 4 metre water storage area which would make a great infinity pool and a large 3 story observation tower - not to mention a nice concrete anti-aircraft position, ammunition casements, tobruks, tunnels etc. - and an original Napoleonic gun position. All ideal if you wanted to make the ultimate home where you can wake up with a million dollar view.

The acres of land come with modern planning permission for additional buildings - including permission to build a 32 bedroom hotel … but you probably wont need it. The Germans built the site with more buildings than you would ever use.

It would make a fantastic museum setting, or a magnificent site for a modern home or even a caravan and camping site.
Just google "cherbourg batterie yorke" or Stp277 Amfreville (York)

Some technical information courtesy of www.atlanticwall.org.uk
The Kriegsmarine gun batterie just to the west of Cherbourg was equipped with four 170 mm cannon of German origin. They were manufactured by Schiffs and were of the SKL40 type.
They were housed in M271 casemates and were placed here to protect the western approach to the port.
The site is unusual in as much as the casemates were aligned in slightly different directions. This would have made the task of direction finding even more difficult than usual.
The spotting of targets and the calculations were done in the Fire Control Post and four small observation positions placed around the site. The site was ringed with mine fields and several machine gun posts, mortars, and two PaK 75mm cannons, protecting the rear of the site. The batterie had its own hospital, kitchens, workshops and command post. These were in fact part of the old French Fort that the Germans acquired on their arrival.
The batterie first came under fire on June 25th, during the final stages of the liberation of Cherbourg.
The battery was shelled by the British cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise, both firing 6 inch shells (160 mm).
The batterie returned fire and the Glasgow was damaged.
The batterie was then engaged by the USS Texas and these two continued to fire until the batterie was final silenced by the infantry who overran the batterie. There are two relatively rare bunkers on the site a 607 and a 610 these were used for ammunition and as a command post. A very rare find is an abandoned German 75mm field gun minus is barrel, and could it have been one of the guns used here?
Stp277 M271 x 4 Fire Control Post/SK - SK/Dressing Station - Vf - VfB Positions x 2 - 170mm SKL/40 x 4 Manned by 2/AR1709
Price on Request!

Code: 55411