Just seen this on pinterest. Supposedly a German position using a Churchill turret. Not sure on what mark of Churchill it's from . Not looking it up now. Could it be from one left behind at Dieppe ? Maybe one we sold to the Soviets ?
Cheers - so part of the La Havre defences. I'll have a look at my copy of ATB No. 139 . Edit. Strongpoint 2 gets mentioned on page 16.
Definitely. On page 45 discussing this emplacement, Short mentions that this is the only Churchill turret used this way "probably because of the lack of ammunition". He notes that there were few tanks landed in the the first place and the Calgary Regiment expended much of its ammunition in the raid, leaving little to equip the panzerstellung. He also mentions that 'Cougar", one of the Calgary's Churchills engaged a dug-in French tank during the raid, being the first Allied tank to engage and destroy a German panzerstellung. The Calgary Regiment later faced Panther turret emplacements in Italy.
One must remeber that Soviet Union got circa 250 Churchill IIIs and IVs plus circa 650 T48 Gun Carriers, named by them as SU-57. So Germans might well have captured some 6 pdr ammo from them.
Some limited context stuff from Regenberg on early captured Churchills : Examples of each type sent to the WaA, obviously, but usable 6pdr. examples Given to Beute Pz,Ko. 81, whch became Pz.Rgt. 100 late 1942. Two Churchill III operated before turning over to Beute Pz.Ko 205 in '43. This unit used them as hard targets as Ammunition & spares had already run out by then. I suppose... If you've got a decent turret & the ammunition from maybe 30 captured machines, it makes more sense to bung it on a quiet emplacement somewhere than try and field vehicles without spares support.