Mont Canisy battery, Artillery battery in Benerville-sur-Mer, France

Mont Canisy battery is a German World War II artillery complex on the highest ground in Normandy at 110 metres, built 1941–1944. It holds six captured French 155 mm cannons, two protected by casemates added in January 1944, plus 25 ammunition bunkers, 25 barracks, mortar pits, Tobruks and a fire-control post linked by 250 metres of tunnels. A squat green metal cupola tops one concrete structure.

A French naval coastal battery occupied the site from 1935, with four 138mm cannons installed in late 1938 and three 75mm guns added in January 1940. The battery was evacuated on 14 June 1940 and German troops took the position. From 1942 the Germans built a 25-hectare bunker complex, Widerstandsnest WN Vill 013, for six captured French 155mm guns; two casemates were added in January 1944. The garrison was the 2nd Company of the 1255 Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung, and the site was evacuated on 21 August 1944.

The site's name comes from the hill of Mont Canisy, where a French naval battery stood from 1935 and was evacuated on 14 June 1940. German troops then built the Widerstandsnest WN Vill 013 complex in 1942, garrisoned by the 2nd Company of the 1255 Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung. Visitors today see the concrete remains among trees, including a green-painted metal cupola above a weathered wall.

The surface grounds are open year-round as a nature reserve where you can walk freely. To explore the underground sections, you need to join a guided tour organized by local groups.

The fortification sits at an elevation that allows sweeping views across the Seine estuary and far along the coast toward the port of Le Havre. This high vantage point was strategically valuable for monitoring the approaches to the river.