Battery Waldam

Rotating shooting turret

In the dunes of Fort Vert, close to Calais, the German "Organization Todt" built a French artillery battery during the Second World War.

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The intention was to harass enemy ships approaching the French coast.

The workmen of Batterie Todt built an extra floor on top of the existing fire control post of the French.

Two M270 casemates appeared between the pools. When you stand in front of such a clumsy block of concrete, you immediately notice how limited the range of the cannon must have been. An attack from the rear could never be repulsed.

Revolving tower

The solution? An experimental rotating turret , which allowed enemies to be bombarded in a 360° radius.

The 750-ton colossus rests on ball bearings. The Germans had captured this from a gun turret of the French battleship "Provence".

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On September 30, 1944 , Canadian troops captured Batterie Waldam from the interior. As a result, to this day the dome points in the direction of where the attack came.

They made the dome unusable using explosives. Today all the cannons have disappeared and only concrete skeletons remain in the landscape.

Above the entrance to the ammunition bunker, at the foot of the rotating dome, you will still find the inscription "Bunker Rosemarie", the name the Germans gave it.

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Rotating shooting turret

Revolving tower

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