Some amazing images taken by a drone. Whilst in the Normandy for the 71st anniversary of D-Day the World War II Foundation used a drone to take some fascinating images of iconic places. These images give a unique look at known places from a completely different view point.
In this group, the drone captured images at Longues-sur-Mer battery and elements of the Omaha landscape. There is also a series of images from Brecourt Manor and La Fiere and they will come later in the week.
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Do you recognise these locations?
The battery at Longues was situated between the landing beaches Omaha and Gold. On the night before the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944, the battery was subjected to a barrage comprising approximately 1,500 tons of bombs, although much of this landed on a nearby village. The bombing was followed from 0537hrs on the morning of the landings by bombardment from the French cruiser Georges Leygues as well as the U.S. battleship Arkansas. The battery itself opened fire at 0605hrs and fired a total of 170 shots throughout the day, forcing the headquarters ship HMS Bulolo to retreat to safer water.
Three of the four guns were eventually disabled by British cruisers Ajax and Argonaut, though a single gun continued to operate intermittently until 1900hrs that evening. The crew of the battery (184 men, half of them over 40 years old) surrendered to the 231st Infantry Brigade the following day. The heaviest damage was caused by the explosion of the ammunition for an AA gun, mounted by the British on the roof of casemate No.4, which killed several British soldiers
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