250 mm long range German guns mounted on railway flats at Vire station, Normandy, 1944

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944.

The bombing of the railway sidings by the Royal Air Force (RAF) prevented the guns from being moved into areas where they could threaten Allied formations in Normandy. The Allies enjoyed almost complete air superiority over northern France before and immediately after the D-Day landings.

From an album of 211 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).