RichTO90

We used to go to the INTERARMCO surplus store by his warehouses in Alexandria to look for coll World War II stuff. Around 1973 to 1978 IIRC. They had a Nebelwerfer sitting out front and some other intersting odds and ends.

Sigh...yes, it did, I was there in 2000 and it was more evident then, less erosion. The thing is, all that needed to be done was for the cables to be cut, which is what happened at Longues and others. Not that it mattered at Pointe du Hoc because the guns were not in a firing position, they were in a dispersal area, because the rubble was bouncing.

That could be, most sources are not too specific. I used the generic "relinered" without checking.

That at least theoretically was the difference, which is why the various Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Regimenter in Normandy had various fire control and communications bunkers either in place or under construction. However, my understanding is that the reality was they rarely had the ability to engage naval targets moving at high speed on diverging azimuths, which was the purview of the Marine-Artillerie-Abteilungen, which had more sophisticated navy-style analog fire control systems tied to the firing pieces, such as at Batterie Marcouf and Batterie Longues. The problem for those was that the FCS were vulnerable to loss of communications from the FC bunker to the guns because the cables were cut by the prelanding air and naval bombardment. That happened to all the guns at Longues, while two of the three at Marcouf were disabled by counterbattery fire and the third was unable to bear on targets. For Point du Hoc, the Heeres-Batterie there was simply not in position and had no communications to its fire control bunker because the cables again were cut by the massive bombardment, which is also why they were moved.

Okay, that's a stretch since I thought we were talking about World War II. Those are not "S Boats", they are Great War era T-Boot of the S klasse. Those would be included under "There were also a lot of earlier naval 8.8cm guns on different mounts that may have been used but in many cases they are only identified as 8.8cm so it is difficult to tell for sure." That includes all the Great War and pre Great War 8.8cm guns on different mountings - Schiffskanone (SK), Torpedobooteskanone (TbsK), and Unterseebooteskanone (UbtsK). Typically, the guns were the 8.8cm SK L/30, L/35, and L/45 and were on different mounts. They were also fitted on various smaller vessels of the KM, such as Vorpostenboot and other auxiliaries.

Yep, many of the Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilungen mobilized in 1941 were sent to the Ostfront in the Baltic and the Black Sea. For example, 143. was organized 21 June 1941, then went to 18. Armee in late July. Twenty-four 15.5-cm cm Kanone 416 (f) in four batteries. 144. was organized the same time, but with three batteries and twelve 10.5-cm Kanonen 331 (f). it went to 11. Armee.

Most of those are identified on Lexikon https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/inhaltsverzeichnis1.htm and Luftwaffe, 1933-45 http://www.ww2.dk/

Lots of French 15.5cm guns and howitzers in coast artillery. Some of the "French" 75s were actually Belgian.

The 8.8cm? No, they may have come from T-Boot, but the S-Boot largest armament was 4cm FlaK 28 or 3.7cm SKC/30. There were also a lot of earlier naval 8.8cm guns on different mounts that may have been used but in many cases they are only identified as 8.8cm so it is difficult to tell for sure.

I'm trying to remember if a medium regiment went to Greece? And, never mind, Leo comes through again. 7th and 64th Medium Regiments RA went to Greece. Of course, the six could have been 60-pdr or 4.5"/60-pdr from Dunkirk as well. I doubt the Germans knew the difference. Unless there is some more info on just what the 365 (e) was we are just guessing.

Sure. The Germans also used a lot of it against the Soviets. The only thing it demonstrates is just how desperate the Germans were.

No 4.5" Medium Guns went to France. They did not exist yet. The guns lost in France were 60-pdr (19) and 4.5" 60-pdr (32), which is why I was unclear where they came from or what they were. The Germans reference them as the Fremdengeraete 365 (e). No, they were also not 4.5" AA. Those were only in Britain and Malta at the time.

2./H.K.A.-Abtl.1282 at Royan had six British 4.5" guns - where they came from I have no idea. Bttr. Seeziel (Zuidzand, Zandvoort)/M.A.A. 201, Bttr. Scheveningen/M.A.A. 205, Heyst aan Zee/M.A.A. 203, Bttr. Blankenese/M.A.A. 260 each had four "Vickers" 3.7" guns. Flak-Bttr. Malo Terminus/M.A.A. 244 had three as did Flak-Bttr. Le Portel Flugplatz/M.A.A. 240 and Bttr. Südmole/M.A.A. 266. Westkapelle/M.A.A. 202 had four and Ostkapelle/M.A.A. 202 had three. So at least 32 of them as of 1 June 1944. Six were designated "Flak", which likely meant they were set up primarily in that role. They others were either dual purpose of exclusively in the coast defense role. The 8.8cm guns in the Atlantik Wall were probably not taken from U-Boot and there were few of them. I have only confirmed them at Brest with 6./M.A.A. 262. They had three 8.8cm SKC.35 in UBootslafette C/35. Most of the rest of the 8.8cm guns in the Wall may be identified as Pak43/1 or Flak 37/38/41. There were also some ex-Soviet 8.5cm relinered to 8.8cm, both M31 and M38. More common was the ex-Torepdobooteskanone, the 10.5cm SKC32, which was mounted on the 8.8cm Marine pivot Lafette C/300 and the 10.5cm SKL/60 in Einheitslafette.

Nope. At the beginning of the war, Landwehr were age 35-45, Landsturm were older than 45. However, many of those who were able-bodied, were mobilized, but in regular Heer divisions. The prewar concept of 21 Landwehr divisions as occupation, security, and LOC units was never implemented (only one, 14. Landwehr was partly mobilized then redesignated as 205. Infanterie-Division in December 1939). Instead, they were activated as Landesschützen-Bataillonen - 303 were established on the outbreak of war, drawing on Landwehr and Lansturm personnel. On 1 April 1940, 187 battalions were mobilized as occupation troops outside the borders of the Reich and they eventually became the backbone of the military government in occupied territories. In spring 1942, the Landesschützen-Bataillone assigned to the Ostheer were redesignated as Sicherungs-Bataillonen, followed by 58 of those of the Westheer in early 1944, which formed 15 Sicherungs-Regimenter.

As of 1 March 1944, OB West utilized 3,486 captured field artillery pieces, mostly French and Soviet, but also considerable Belgian and Dutch pieces. The Luftwaffe in France used dozens of ex-British 3.7" AA guns. Hundreds of ex-French tanks and other armored vehicles were used, as were tens of thousands of trucks. Most of the occupation troops - not the frontline Heer units as much, but the dozens of Landdescheutzen battalions were mostly equipped with French small arms.