Stp Hannover;
field battery at Leffinge
This field-battery is situated in Leffinge
along the Fleriskotstreet which leads from Leffinge to Wilskerke.
(The task of a field battery was to cover
the beach whilst coastal battery fire covered coastal waters. A field battery
lies about 3 Km off the coast.)
Although this battery lies close to
Oostende, it was not part of StpGr Ostende, but was called Stp
"Hannover".
"Hannover" was equipped by
divisional artillery which meant that men and guns changed each time another
division occuppied the battery.
A map from March 25th 1943 shows that the
Stp was equipped with 3 x LeFH 10.5 cm. The unit at that time was 2. battery of
I/252 AR of the 171.ID.
Its task was to cover the coastal batteries
of Raversijde.
It is now a cattle field with two gun
casemates, three open emplacements, shelters, trenches and the remains of
anti-invasion defences.
On the site there are three open
emplacements made of masonry with a layer of concrete. They all have a wide
entrance for the gun and one on either side for the crew. Inside, on either
side of the entrance there were recesses 1.4 m wide for storing gas masks, ammo
etc…
It is remarkable that all three emplacements
have a different shape.
The
best preserverd open emplacement with the Rommel aspargus in background.
The Stp's two gun casemates are Regelbau
611's. (Gun casemate for field guns (60°))
These have a gun-room, two ammunition rooms
(one for shells, the other for cartridges). On the other side there is the crew
room. The bunker has two entrances, one for the gun and another for the crew.
Both entances are defended by a close-combat room (Nahkampfraum). A Tobruk
completes the bunker.
The roof of both casemates is cracked.
Probably the Germans or the Canadians gathered the remaining battery ammunition
into the bunkers and exploded it. Apart from shell bursts in the roof, there is
no other damage.
Frontal
view on both 611 gun casemates.
Around the casemates there are several
Vf (Verstärkt feldmäßig) shelters; probably for the crew or for ammunition. One
of these is a WC shelter.
A concrete trench almost filled with sand
lies between the bunkers and the farm.
The concrete building on the street was
probably the kitchen and canteen.
In front of and next to the bunkers there
are still various "Rommelaspargus". These are concrete poles 160 cm
high. From February 1944 on they were placed in the fields on the command of
Fieldmarshall Erwin Rommel. After one of his inspection tours, he wanted to
extend the defences inland. These poles were connected to each other with
cables and formed an obstacle against glider landings. Usually these
"Rommelaspargus" were of wood, but these are in concrete.
The battery fire control post was that of
the former World-War I battery Aachen at the Raversijde site.
This battery has been protected as a
historical monument since 19th Oct 1998.
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