Langrune-sur-Mer Wn 26

The village of Langrune-sur-Mer is defended by a large anti-tank wall and the support point Wn 26 manned by soldiers of the 9th company (commanded by the Hauptmann Kurt Mickish) of the Grenadier-Regiment 736, (716. infantry Division). The Wn 26 consists of a 75 mm FK 231 (f) barrel.

Langrune-sur-Mer was in the Sword Sector. However, it is the units that have to land at Juno Beach that are responsible for seizing them.

48 Royal Marines Commando (joining the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division) disembarked at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer at 8.55 am and advanced rapidly towards Langrune.

48 RM Commando moved parallel to the beach to Langrune fighting nearly all the way, they had to take Wn 27 at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer first.

Wn26 One of the beach exits with a defended pillbox to he right (MG). The houses along the front took quite a battering on D-Day morning from naval artillery. The defenders bricked up the windows and left a small slits to fire machine guns and rifles through.

Wn 26 poses major problems for the 400 commandos who will lose 160 (40%) of their strength during the fighting in Langrune.

Wn26 Langrune-sur-Mer the 1694-type ringstand just after the war.

They were reinforced by Company B of the North Shore Regiment (8th Brigade) as well as by 41 Royal Marine Commando (3rd British Infantry Division) which landed on Sword.

When the Commando arrived at Wn26 and started their attacke, they came to a halt very quickly. Then a Centaur 95mm gunned tanks of the 2nd. Royal Marines Support Group arrived and fired all its ammunition at the ten foot high, four feet thick. Their 90mm guns were only short range high explosives and did very little damage. The second Centaur ran over a mine and was disabled.

The 1694-type ringstand at Wn27 Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer with the gun still in place showing what the 5cm KwK L/60 would have looked here at Langrune.

The Commando found they were too weak to take Wn26 (they had lost a lot of men on landing) that day and were ordered to move back and turn around and start to defend the area against an expected attack by Von Luck's Panzer's. Intelligence had informed them that a counter attack was likely to come in from the south at any time.

The Commando moved south to a defence line covering any counter attack.

The M10 Wolverine with Col. Moulton CO. of 48 RM Commando watching it moving forward. It fired all its solid shot and started to put holes through the A/T wall. A Sherman command tank arrived and fired H/E shells and blew the rest of the wall apart. The Sherman tried to negotiate around the damaged wall and dropped into a trench but still managed to fire along the promenade. The defenders started to surrender.

Next morning D+1 48 Commando turned around and started the attack on Wn26 again. This time with an M10 Wolverine tank destroyer.

The tank attack in support of 48 RM Commando's.

The attack started but the mined Centaur was in the way, a minefield was breached and that allowed the M10 to go forward forward.

The German counter-attack launched by Panzergrenadier-Regiment 192 of the 21. Panzer-Division prevents the English from Sword to launch a sufficient number of units in the battle to capture Langrune.

The Germans leave the city on the evening of D-Day, snipers will resist during the day of June 7 before being definitively pushed away.

https://www.atlantikwall.co.uk/atlantikwall/fn_gr_wn26_langrune_sur_mer.php