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.

[SW6906]

Read post #7.

[ken5050]

Can anyone post a map? I'm trying to visualize the range of the battery to the beachhead..

[sockhead]

Liberation of France . . . I've always felt that we should have made Germany's surrender conditional . . . that they continue to occupy France.

[MEG33]

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/dday.html

Good luck!

[maggief]

[maggief]

You are most welcome. Thank you for the thread, fascinating discovery.

[DustyMoment]

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...

Great point well made. Game, set and match to you!!

[ken5050]

You're a national treasure....thanks..

[cricket]

I am concerned that this will be viewed as a profound embarrassment for the French (it was right under their noses for 60 - odd years and they apparently had no idea it was there) and that they will use some clause of French law pertaining to National Historic Sites to wrest it from him, despite his legal ownership.

Interesting to see what side their embarassment falls on. . .

. . .but, should push comes to shove. . .perhaps, Mr. Stern can claim some 'muslim' heritage so as to be protected by France's own political correctness ;:^)

[maggief]

You're welcome, ken. :)

[GreyFriar]

Ping

[ovrtaxt]

Wow, that's a Foxbat!

I wonder if it will start?

[Rebelbase]

"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..."

Deserves a bump.

And Eric Rudolph evaded one of the largest manhunts in US history in a 2-3 county area of Western NC for 5 years, yet some people can't understand why we can't catch Osama, Mullah Omar and Al Zaqari in areas 1000 times larger, hostile and with language barriers......

[Thermalseeker]

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...

Check and mate.....

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

50 years from now we may find Saddam's WMD.

[Sam Cree]

*

[epow]

although I admit I ain't et no snails yet.

Don't bother. I sampled one once off a friend's plate, all I could taste was the garlic butter. The French will eat anything that walks, swims, flies, crawls, or slithers, the nastier the better it seems.

[RGSpincich]

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

I'd say his amateur status is in jeopardy.

[Coop]

Hey, that is very interesting. Thanks for the ping.

[Always Right]

Nazis' secret base found

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