USS Nevada leaves a calling card, Operation Overlord, June 1944

This is one of 4 gun battery casements at Azeville, Normandy, France. Built by the Todt Organization, it formed part of the 6000 mile Atlantic wall commissioned by the Nazis in ww2.

This is a hole blasted through the 2 metre thick reinforced concrete wall, made by a 356mm shell fired from the USA Nevada off the coast of Normandy on 6th June 1944. It was fired from 22 kilometres away. Yes. 22 km, think about the force needed to do that. View is from outside.

Now we move into the room where the shell entered. I would say it was about 4mx4mx2.5m from memory. The shell entered the room and blasted a chunk of reinforced concrete away as it entered. All 15 Germans taking shelter in the room died instantly from the percussion wave. There you can see the 356mm shell head that was recovered from the fields at the back of the gun battery in 2006.

Right, so I've swung the camera round 180 degrees from where the shell entered the room. You can see where it continued its journey, blasting through another 2m thick reinforced concrete wall and melting through a steel plate on exit.

This is taken from outside looking back into the room, showing where the shell melted through 20-25mm thick steel plate and blasting out another 2m section of concrete on its journey into the French countryside!

Here's a final pic of the gun casement. If you look carefully you can see how the casements were painted by the Wermacht to look like ruined buildings, with stonework, slate roofs, balconies and even trees added to look like wasteland growth.
Didn't fool the reconnaissance planes though, nor the US navy!
I hope you enjoyed the post, I've just got back from Normandy after a 5 day tour of battlegrounds and museums.
To go there and see for yourself the bravery of those who took part in Operation Overlord is a humbling experience. Just incredible.
Thanks for taking the time to look.