When German forces occupied the coastline of the English Channel in 1940, one of the measures undertaken to give early warning of attacks from the sea or air was to set up a line of radar stations.  Although this invisible screen was a passive defence, it was a serious ‘barrier’ that had to be neutralised for the Allied invasion to be launched in 1944.

Planners at RAF Medmenham had established there the Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) to examine the results of aerial photography over the Continent and the unit prepared plans of every enemy radar site ready for briefing pilots undertaking pre-invasion attacks. Those once-secret plans are now reproduced in this book, alongside the wartime photography, with comparison views of the sites today.

Where farmland has now reclaimed the sites little remains to be seen, but on others there are still significant traces of a once-powerful weapon in the German armoury.

To set the scene, Professor R. V. Jones, the Assistant Director of Intelligence at the Air Ministry, recounts the events leading up to the proposal to mount a raid on the radar site at Bruneval. The site had what became known as a ‘Würzburg’ and the idea was to dismantle and remove the critical parts of the unit to bring them back to Britain and, hopefully, at the same time capture the operators for interrogation.

The operation in February 1942 achieved all its aims, and over the following two years, the CIU built up a Target List with folders including detailed descriptions of all 61 sites in Belgium and France that would have a bearing on the invasion area in Normandy. Undoubtedly the information — now reproduced in this book — was of inestimable value in assuring the success of Operation ‘Overlord’ in June 1944.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction — BRUCE ROBERTSON

24 The Bruneval Raid— ALFRED PRICE

46 Operations Against Coastal Radar Stations — R. V. JONES

50 Ypres/Voormezele (Target No. 1)

52 Dunkirk/Fort des Dunes (Target No. 2)

57 Gravelines/Le Clipon (Target No. 3)

58 Gravelines/Petit-Fort-Philippe (Target No. 4)

60 Cap Blanc-Nez (Target No. 5)

65 Cap Blanc-Nez/St Pol (Target No. 6)

66 Cap Gris-Nez (Target No. 7)

68 Cap Gris-Nez/Pointe du Riden (Target No. 8)

70 Cap Gris-Nez/Bellevue (Target No. 9)

72 Cap Gris-Nez/Wattermel St George (Target No. 10)

74 Cap Gris-Nez/Onglevert (Target No. 11)

76 Boulogne/Boursin (Target No. 12)

78 Boulogne/Monument (Target No. 13)

79 Boulogne/Mont Lambert (Target No. 14)

80 Boulogne/Cap d’Alprech (Target No. 15A)

82 Boulogne/Cap d’Alprech (Target No. 15B)

83 Boulogne/Hardelot (Target No. 16)

84 Mont Violette (Target No. 17)

85 Neufchâtel/Mont St Frieux (Target No. 18)

86 Le Touquet/Plage Ste Cécile (Target No. 19)

88 Fruges/Prédefin (Target No. 20)

90 Aubigny/Frévillers (Target No. 21)

92 Berck-sur-Mer (Target No. 22)

94 Cayeux/Nouveau Brighton (Target No. 23)

96 Amiens/Montrelet (Target No. 24)

98 Abbeville/Vaudricourt (Target No. 25)

100 Le Tréport/Mont Huon (Target No. 26)

101 Dieppe/Caude-Côte (Target No. 27)

104 St Valéry-en-Caux/Manneville-ès-Plains (Target No. 28)

106 St Valéry-en-Caux/St Martin-aux-Buneaux (Target No. 29)

108 Fécamp/Chapelle de la Vierge (Target No. 30)

110 Cap d’Antifer/Sémaphore (Target No. 31)

112 Cap d’Antifer (Target No. 32)

116 Yvetot/Épinay-sur-Duclair (Target No. 33)

118 Neufchâtel/Sully (Target No. 34)

120 Le Havre/Cap de la Hève (Target No. 35)

122 Lisieux/Le Theil-Nolent (Target No. 36)

124 Bernay/La Chalière (Target No. 37) 126 Houlgate/Sémaphore (Target No. 38)

128 Caen/Douvres-la-Délivrande (Target No. 39)

134 Arromanches (Target No. 40)

135 Pointe et Raz de la Percée (Target No. 41)

138 St Lô/Bourg d’Enfer (Target No. 42)

139 Vire/Le Parc (Target No. 43)

140 Barfleur/Le Vicel (Target No. 44)

144 Cherbourg/Cap Lévy (Target No. 45)

146 Cherbourg/Fermanville (La Brasserie) (Target No. 46)

148 Omonville la Rogue/Asselins (Target No. 47)

150 Cap de la Hague/Auderville (Target No. 48)

154 Cap de la Hague/Jobourg (Target No. 49)

156 Cap de Carteret/Sémaphore (Target No. 50)

158 Guernsey/Fort George (Target No. 51)

160 Guernsey/Pleinemont (Target No. 52)

162 Jersey/Rouge Nez (Target No. 53)

163 St Malo/Pointe du Grouin (Target No. 54)

164 Cap Fréhel/Sémaphore (Target No. 55)

166 Moncontour/Bel-Air (Target No. 56)

168 Loudéac/La Récompense (Target No. 57)

170 Monterfil/Les Épinais (Target No. 58)

171 Vitré/La Haye (Target No. 59)

172 Oisseau/Marêtre (Target No. 60)

173 Falaise/Ri (Target No. 61)

174 Dieppe/Ste Marguerite (Target No. 62)

175 St Valéry-en-Caux/St Léger (Target No. 63)

176 Bayeux/Le Mesnil (Target No. 64)

178 Calais/Sangatte (Target No. 65)

182 Postscript 187 Index