Bunker system defending the German Radar Station near Douvres, Normandy, June 1944 (b/w photo)

Bunker system defending the German Radar Station near Douvres, Normandy, June 1944. Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944. The Sharpshooters’ war diary records ‘A’ Squadron’s tanks supporting an attack by the 5th Black Watch and Canadian forces on Douvres Radar Station on the evening of the 7 June 1944. ‘A’ Squadron tanks and Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) armed with petard mortars attacked the strongpoint but withdrew after losing a number of vehicles to mines and anti-tank fire. On the 17 June, after a bombardment by naval and ground artillery, Royal Marine Commandos supported by AVREs and mine-clearing tanks, successfully stormed the radar station. Mounted on the concrete bunker is a French tank turret repurposed by the Germans for static defence. From an album containing 210 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1944.