Douvres-la-Delivrande
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 Douvres-la-Délivrande
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Location within Normandy region
Douvres-la-Délivrande
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| Coordinates: 49°17′39″N 0°22′42″W / 49.2942°N 0.3783°WCoordinates: 49°17′39″N 0°22′42″W / 49.2942°N 0.3783°W | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Normandy | |
| Department | Calvados | |
| Arrondissement | Caen | |
| Canton | Courseulles-sur-Mer | |
| Intercommunality | Cœur de Nacre | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Thierry Lefort | |
| Area1 | 10.71 km2 (4.14 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 4,891 | |
| • Density | 460/km2 (1,200/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 14228 /14440 | |
| Elevation | 17–58 m (56–190 ft) (avg. 19 m or 62 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Douvres-la-Délivrande is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. The name was simply Douvres until 1961, when it was expanded to refer to the basilica Notre-Dame de la Délivrande ("Our Lady of Deliverance"), located in the town, a site of pilgrimage.
During the Second World War, Douvres-la-Délivrande was the site of an important German air-detection radar installation, part of the strategic Atlantic Wall defences. Completed in the autumn of 1943, the station was split into two zones by the road from Douvres to Bény-sur-Mer; and heavily fortified with bunkers, machineguns and minefields.
The Northern zone held a large Siemens 'Wasserman' long-range radar and associated structures. The larger Southern zone had two intermediate-range Freya and two short-range Würzburg Riese radars; as well as command and infirmary bunkers, garages and artillery placements. Some 230 Luftwaffe personnel were based at the station, including electricians, engineers and 36 air controllers.
At 11 pm on the night of 5/6 June 1944, the Allies launched intensive jamming of radar frequencies which blinded the entire German radar network from Cherbourg to Le Havre. On the morning of the 6th (D-Day) the antennas at Douvres-la-Délivrande were rendered inoperative by Allied naval artillery bombardment.
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Wikipedia