Nazis' secret base found (Omaha Beach battery contains 40 buildings "untouched" since D-Day)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | January 24, 2006 | TOM NEWTON DUNN

[Stoat]

Nazis' secret base found

Revealed ... the Nazis’ untouched secret bunker
 

By TOM NEWTON DUNN

Defence Editor 

A WARTIME bunker used by Nazis to bombard Allied troops during the D-Day landings has been unearthed untouched — after 60 years.

British treasure hunter Gary Sterne found the base exactly as it was when German troops fled after the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

Gary, 41, said: “It’s truly incredible. Apart from damage to the radio room, the whole place seemed to escape bombing unscathed.”

 

Treasure hunter ... Gary with RAF medals
 

The bunker sprawls over 20 acres and is thought to be the hidden German battery that decimated US soldiers at Omaha Beach, seven miles away.

The encampment contains 40 buildings — including a field hospital.

Some of the offices contain army papers — as well as radio equipment.

Amateur historian Gary found it in dense undergrowth after buying a German army map at a French car boot sale.

The dad of two, from Manchester, kept it secret for three years so he could buy the land near the village of Grandcamp-Maisy.

He now plans to open it as a tourist attraction this year.

[Stoat]

So a 20 acre military facility can go, apparently undetected, for 60 years in peacetime France... yet, some people are absolutely certain that there's nothing left to find in rather more trying conditions in Iraq...

An excellent point, and I have no doubt that Egyptologists and archaeologists could also quickly point to secret crypts, palaces, and even entire cities that had remained 'lost' for thousands of years or more in Egyptian deserts and South American jungles before they were stumbled upon more or less by accident. 

I believe that the speed at which so many leapt to the conclusion that there "are no WMD's" in Iraq is not only a reflection of a breathtakingly vicious political bias and a sordid effort to discredit the United States and most particularly President Bush, but also reflects a stunning ignorance of history and a gnat-like degree of patience where if success is not instantaneous then it must mean failure.

It is, however, particularly stunning that this specific find was not in a remote desert or jungle, but in modern-day France, seven miles from one of the most hallowed and visited wartime memorials on Earth.

 

[Darksheare]

A long time passed since this bunker was used.
And it was only recently discovered.



And the Dems think it's easy to find Saddams projects?!

[Joe Boucher]

During the initial Iraq war the stupids there buried jet planes and sent the others to Iran. That is right Iran. They had just had a war with each other but still better get them to Iran then have them all destroyed in a night or two. Problem was after the war, Iran refused to sen them back. Along with planes many tons of armaments were also buried.

[R. Scott]

So a 20 acre military facility can go, apparently undetected, for 60 years in peacetime France... yet, some people are absolutely certain that there's nothing left to find in rather more trying conditions in Iraq...

But France is civilized, unlike Iraq.
Don’t believe it? Just ask the French. They will tell you they are the epitome of civilization. Snails, frogs and various fungi grace the table. They have outgrown any form of violence and now believe that talk is mightier than the gun. They have learned they can depend on less civilized nations to defend them – barbarians like the English and Americans.

Do I really need to include < /sarcasm> ?

[onyx]

Whoa! Well kept secret. Amazing.

[MEG33]

http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/ikedday.html
Fact Sheet D-Day, 6 June 1944 Normandy, France
snip
Omaha Beach
The landing by regiments of the 1st and 29th Infantry divisions and Army Rangers on OMAHA Beach was even more difficult than expected. When the first wave landed at 6:30 a.m., the men found that naval gunfire and prelanding air bombardments had not softened German defenses or resistance. Along the 7,000 yards of Normandy shore German defenses were as close to that of an Atlantic Wall as any of the beaches. Enemy positions that looked down from bluffs as high as 170 feet, and water and beach obstacles strewn across the narrow strip of beach, stopped the assault at the water's edge for much of the morning of D-Day.
By mid-morning, initial reports painted such a bleak portrait of beachhead conditions that Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, United States First Army commander, considered pulling off the beach and landing troops elsewhere along the coast. However, during these dark hours, bravery and initiative came to the fore. As soldiers struggled, one leader told his men that two types of people would stay on the beach--the dead and those going to die--so they'd better get the hell out of there, and they did.

Slowly, as individuals and then in groups, soldiers began to cross the fire-swept beach. Supported by Allied naval gunfire from destroyers steaming dangerously close to shore, the American infantrymen gained the heights and beach exits and drove the enemy inland. By D-Day's end V Corps had a tenuous toehold on the Normandy coast, and the force consolidated to protect its gains and prepare for the next step on the road to Germany.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-eur/normandy/nor4o2.htm

[onyx]

ROTFLOL!

[Darksheare]

Ping, weird find.

[Skooz]

bump for later after the coffee kicks in.

[Fresh Wind]

Interesting that it was an Englishman who found the site, and one who had the foresight to do something constructive with it (rather than loot it for saleable items). I wonder if either the French or German governments will try to grab the site or its contents from him?

[Stoat]

Just ask the French. They will tell you they are the epitome of civilization

Quite true, and a visitor to France will also discover that a toilet quite commonly consists of a slab of concrete with two footprints on either side of a hole.

When I was there it appeared that steam-cleaning equipment was unknown, as evidenced by the disgusting level of dirt and filth all over famous buildings in Paris.  The foul stench of the famous Paris sewers nearly overwhelmed the senses.

I suppose that if being 'civilized' means living like pigs, then the French are quite civilized indeed.

[cyborg]

ping

[R. Scott]

The foul stench of the famous Paris sewers nearly overwhelmed the senses.

Isn’t that the acclaimed ambiance of Paris?

[Stoat]

bump for later after the coffee kicks in.

[RipSawyer]

They will tell you they are the epitome of civilization. Snails, frogs and various fungi grace the table. >>>>>>>>>>>

Now wait jist a goldarned minit there, stranger, I happen to like them frog legs and mushrooms myself, although I admit I ain't et no snails yet.

[Samwise]

Ping a ling

[Pharmboy]

miltitary history ping...

[Stoat]

Fact Sheet D-Day, 6 June 1944 Normandy, France

Thank you so much for your essential post.  It is imperative that we never forget the incredible heroism as well as the heartbreaking losses of our soldiers.

The world we live in today is a far better place, thanks to them.

[Robert A Cook PE]

"Private historian", eh?

Finds an interesting place, researches it, buys, invests in it, and will promote it.

BUT, if this were a dinosaur fossil site, he'd be castigated and denigrated by the (socialist) (government-funded) researchers.

[Stoat]

The foul stench of the famous Paris sewers nearly overwhelmed the senses.

Isn’t that the acclaimed ambiance of Paris?

My guess is that Hemingway wouldn't even recognize modern day Paris and would instantly leave in disgust.

The foul stench of the famous Paris sewers nearly overwhelmed the senses.

Isn’t that the acclaimed ambiance of Paris?