The high ground of Mont de Couple between the villages of Audembert and Saint-Inglevert was an important strategic position for occupying German forces during the Second World War offering long-range views over this area to the south west of Calais.
There were three strongpoints built here, all benefitting from its lofty 160m above sea level location.
At the centre of the high ground was Luftwaffe station Stp140 Osnabruck, a site which started life as a bomber guidance radio site with a large antenna supporting the X-Great system in 1940.
This system was used to direct bombers to their targets over England during the Blitz but by early 1941 the British had developed measures to counteract the radio beams and disrupt them, rendering the guidance system useless.
Stp140 was also the location for the German’s Nachtfalter radio jamming station which was built to combat the large Chain Home devices located on the south coast of England. In 1942 this system was used to jam England radars as part of Operation Donnerkeil, a mission to help three German battlecruisers to travel through the English Channel back up the coast north and return to German ports.
Today the site is surrounded by farmland and is overgrown, but you can still see several machinery and generator bunkers along with the remains of the building which supported the radio antenna.
The other two sites on the top of Mount de Couple were Stp139 Hamm, a large artillery HQ position, and Wn141 Magdeburg, an anti-aircraft gun site with three open emplacements.