A fascinating exploration of the often-overlooked gunnery duels between the formidable artillery weapons in the Atlantic Wall defences and the mighty US and Royal Navy battleships.
Amphibious landings were an essential tool of Allied military strategy in World War II. The Royal Navy and the US Navy provided operational mobility that allowed the Allies to strike unexpectedly across the vast coastlines of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Nazi Germany did not have sufficient naval power to seriously contest this, and so relied heavily on the huge and costly Atlantic Wall fortification programme. By 1944, the French coast featured more than 1,900 coastal guns over 75mm in calibre. This fascinating work describes the duel that played out in mid-1944 as the Allies launched their invasion of mainland Europe. At the heart of this is the engagement between Batterie Hamburg, one of the strongest German gun batteries defending the port of Cherbourg, and an Allied naval bombardment group led by the battleship USS Texas on 25 June. The locations of key events are clearly shown in 2D maps, and stunning artworks reveal details of design, construction, weaponry and ammunition. Also discussed is the evolution in Allied naval doctrine to overcome the coastal gun threat, based on repeated experiences during a succession of amphibious operations.