Pendine's Atlantic Wall, D-Day wall breaching trials at Ragwen Point

In 1944 a replica section of the Atlantic Wall was built at Ragwen Point near Pendine, Wales. The wall was built to develop methods of breaching sea walls in such a manner that they may be climbed by tanks for the D-Day landings and the planned invasion of Normandy.

Two methods were trialled on the wall, the first was a Churchill Goat Mk III with 1600 ib of explosive 852 mounted to it in the shape of an inverted U. The tank placed the charge before withdrawing and remotely detonating the charge successfully breaching an 18-foot wide gap in the wall in under 4 minutes without the exposure of any personnel.

The second was 1764 ib of Staggered Charges placed by hand. This was carried out by the crews of 2 A.V.R.Es in 7 minutes and successfully created a diagonal ramp with a breach ranging from 21 - 27 foot wide.

The transcript of the official report "BREACHING SEA WALLS IN THE ASSAULT TRIALS CARRIED OUT AT PENDINE - MAY 10TH 1944." can be found in our archives.

Pendine wall after the successful trial of the 1600 ib Goat Charge

There is a second larger wall slightly inland with damage which appears to be from some sort of artillery.

The beach in front of the sea wall also contains anti-tank devices referred to as dragons teeth and the remains of further metal barriers.

Today the site is owned by the National Trust and freely accessible by the public along the coast from Pendine sands.

Location

The wall is located on the beach at Ragwen Point near Pendine, Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Latitude: 51.738581, Longitude: -4.571793