6 June 1944: British victory 7 June 1944: German victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom
Germany
Commanders and leaders
Terence Otway Major John Pooley † (7 June 1944)
Raimund Steiner
Units involved
9th Parachute Battalion (6 June 1944)
3 Commando (7 June 1944)
716th Infantry Division
Artillery Regiment 1716
1st Battery
Strength
6 June 1944: 150 (assault force) 600 (in total)
7 June 1944: c. 150 men
130
Casualties and losses
6 June 1944: 75 (during the assault) 7 June 1944: heavy
22 killed 22 captured
6 June 1944: 450 men failed to arrive at the battalion assembly area following the parachute landing
v
t
e
Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy)
Prelude
Atlantic Wall
Bodyguard
Fortitude
Zeppelin
Titanic
Taxable, Glimmer & Big Drum
Combined Bomber Offensive
Pointblank
Transport Plan
Postage Able
Tarbrush
Tiger
Fabius
Airborne assault British Sector
Tonga
Caen canal and Orne river bridges
Merville Battery
Mallard
American Sector
Albany
Boston
Chicago
Detroit
Elmira
Normandy landings American Sector
Omaha
Utah
Pointe du Hoc
Anglo-Canadian Sector
Gambit
Sword
Juno
Gold
Port-en-Bessin
Logistics
American
Operation Chastity
British
Mulberry
Pluto
Ground campaign American Sector
Brécourt Manor
Graignes
La Haye-du-Puits
Saint-Lô
Carentan
Hill 30
Cherbourg
Naval
Anglo-Canadian Sector
Caen
Bréville
Perch
Villers-Bocage
Le Mesnil-Patry
Normandy massacres
Ardenne Abbey
Douvres
Martlet
Epsom
Windsor
Charnwood
Jupiter
2nd Odon
Atlantic
Goodwood
Verrières Ridge
Breakout
Cobra
Spring
Bluecoat
Totalize
Lüttich
Tractable
Hill 262
Chambois
Falaise
Saint-Malo
Brest
Mantes-Gassicourt
Paris
La Rochelle
Air and Sea operations
Ushant
La Caine
Cherbourg
Pierres Noires
Audierne Bay
Supporting operations
Dingson
Samwest
Titanic
Cooney
Bulbasket
Houndsworth
Loyton
Jedburgh
Dragoon
Wallace & Hardy
Aftermath
Cemeteries
v
t
e
British airborne forces operations of the Second World War
1st Airborne Division
Biting
Freshman
North Africa
Turkey Buzzard
Ladbroke
Fustian
Slapstick
Arnhem
Doomsday
6th Airborne Division
Tonga
Caen canal and Orne river bridges
Merville Gun Battery
Mallard
Bréville
Bure
Varsity
2nd Parachute Brigade
Hasty
Rugby
Manna
The Battle of Merville Gun Battery was a series of British assaults beginning 6 June 1944, as part of Operation Tonga, part of the Normandy landings, during the Second World War. Allied intelligence believed the Merville Gun Battery was composed of heavy-calibre 150 mm (5.9 in) guns that could threaten the British landings at Sword Beach, only 8 miles (13 km) away.
The 9th Parachute Battalion, part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade attached to 6th Airborne Division, was given the objective of destroying the battery. However, when the battalion arrived over Normandy in the predawn of 6 June, their parachute descent was dispersed over a large area, so instead of over 600 men with heavy weapons or equipment, only 150 with neither arrived at the battalion assembly point. Regardless, they pressed home their attack against an estimated German force of 130 engineers and artillerymen. Reduced to 75 men, the British succeeded in capturing the battery, only to discover that the guns were World War I-era Czech M.14/19 100 mm field howitzers, which only had an effective range of some 8,400 m (9,200 yd), just over 5 miles. Still, using what explosives they had been able to recover, they attempted, with only partial success, to disable the guns.
When the British paratroopers had withdrawn, two of the guns were put back into action by the Germans. Another attack the next day by British Commandos failed to disable the guns or recapture the battery, which remained under German control until 17 August, when the German Army started to withdraw from the area.
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