# Underground Nazi Bunker Discovered....



## lesofprimus (Jan 5, 2008)

Amateur historian unearths Nazi battery

*Wilbur tried to post this, but was unsuccessful....*

By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 2:28am GMT 05/01/2008

An amateur British military historian has unearthed a vast underground Nazi gun battery complex thought to have caused carnage during the D-Day landings.

Gary Sterne, 43, discovered the huge "Maisy Battery" after he found a crinkled map which fell out of an old pair of US serviceman's trousers at a military memorabilia fair in Stockport.

Gary Sterne discovered the Maisy Battery, an extensive installation "the size of four football pitches"

It turned out to be an invasion map for Omaha Beach, which included an area marked "area of high resistance". Mr Sterne, a publisher and collector, believed that this could show the "lost" Nazi gun emplacements, which became buried by nature after the war and could not be located.

Experts were divided about the battery's location and most believed that the area where Mr Sterne was looking was nothing but fields. But after travelling to Normandy to search for himself he stumbled across an entrance to the complex in undergrowth.

He said: "It sparked my curiosity, because that area was previously thought to be just fields."

He discovered an extensive installation "the size of four football pitches", including bunkers, offices, a sizeable field hospital - minus its roof - and housing for 155mm cannon. Trenches surrounding the buildings stretched for a mile and a half.

Within hours of the landings on Jun 6, 1944, at least 2,000 Allied troops are thought to have died. In the days that followed, until the Maisy Battery was captured on Jun 9, hundreds more lost their lives. Mr Sterne said he thought shelling from the battery contributed heavily to Allied losses. It was finally captured following aerial bombardment with 2,000lb bombs.

The Omaha landings and the loss of life that resulted was dramatised in Steven Spielberg's 1998 blockbuster Saving Private Ryan.

The infrastructure of Maisy Battery remained largely intact

Despite being bombed heavily itself, the infrastructure of Maisy Battery - or Grandcamp Maisy, as it was also known - remained largely intact. However, over the years it was lost as nature took hold, and it remained buried in French soil for more than 60 years.

The Germans had built a decoy gun emplacement overlooking the area and the location of the real guns which blasted the beach remained unclear until Mr Sterne's find.

The father-of-two from Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, has bought a house close to the battery and subsequently spent thousands of pounds buying the 40 acres covering the site from 32 different landowners. He then spent two years excavating the site.

Mr Sterne has also contacted veterans of the US 5th Ranger Battalion, who confirmed that they took Maisy Battery from the Germans. They also revealed that they found $4.2?million worth of French francs, which was shared among the men.

Mr Sterne now plans to open a museum on the site.

The battery will be featured in a documentary for a BBC Timewatch programme, Bloody Omaha, which will be presented by Richard Hammond and broadcast on BBC2 tomorrow at 9pm.


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## evangilder (Jan 5, 2008)

Wow, what a discovery!


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## Gnomey (Jan 5, 2008)

Yeah, really cool!


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## seesul (Jan 5, 2008)

that´s great, how many bunkers and wrecks not discovered yet...


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## Erich (Jan 5, 2008)

yes this is being chatted about on 2 other forums that I know of......

Roman if we could clear out all of the Ardenne forest the treasures that could be found plus many MIA a/c and crews that need to be accounted for from both sides for proper internment ~

good job Les !


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## lesofprimus (Jan 5, 2008)

Wilbur found it, I posted it cause he couldnt, for some reason..


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## ToughOmbre (Jan 5, 2008)

Very cool  

Love it when they find stuff like that.

TO


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 5, 2008)

Very cool. Me and a friend of mine are going to start travelling around to old Third Reich sites here in Germany to see what kind of things we can dig up. We are going to try and go atleast once or twice a month.

The first place we are hitting is a bunker complex about 10 km from my house in the forest. We tried to find it a few weeks ago but I had to turn back due to prior engagments before we found it.


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## Henk (Jan 5, 2008)

Would love to see some more pics.


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## wilbur1 (Jan 5, 2008)

Les its because im too dumb on the comp. guys read the story, that thing is huge


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## wilbur1 (Jan 5, 2008)

Dan thank you again...!


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## Njaco (Jan 6, 2008)

My first two thoughts are: 1) its amazing how something so large can become so lost. and 2)


> The father-of-two from Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, has bought a house close to the battery and subsequently spent thousands of pounds buying the 40 acres covering the site from 32 different landowners. He then spent two years excavating the site.


somebody with a few dollars putting it to good use. Would love to check that out. There is a Norwegian website that keeps a record and checks out old German posts and areas like this that I go on a couple times.


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## Wayne Little (Jan 6, 2008)

WOW great find!


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## wilbur1 (Jan 6, 2008)

Adler, you better get some pics forr us on your travels  otherwise keep us posted


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 6, 2008)

I will dont worry. We have to find all of these things first. On the first trip we did not find anythign but a local man we met in the woods told us where the bunkers were, but they were flooded under the water. He said to wait a few weeks until the water is gone.


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## wilbur1 (Jan 6, 2008)

Cool cant wait to see them


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