Much debate and speculation surround the buildings at Mont Etolan to the east of Cherbourg with mixed opinions on the function of this site. Some historians believe it was a radar position, others a radio jamming site, and others a practice bombing range.
The two-storey buildings here resemble houses rather than bunkers. Similar style buildings exist on the cliffs east of Fecamp in upper Normandy and, again, this has led to some questioning whether those buildings were part of the huge radar complex which stands on the cliffs, or that it hosted a radio guidance or a radio jamming system, or the area was used for target practice for training Luftwaffe bomber crews.
From images obtained from aerial reconnaissance in early 1944, Allied intelligence believed the Fecamp site was a jamming station with a large aerial positioned on the roof of each building.
Those who believe both Fecamp and Mont Etolan to be target ranges think the buildings would have been used as observation posts to check on the accuracy of the ‘bomb’ drops. The bombs in this case would have been training bombs made of concrete dropped onto markers in the open fields nearby.
Whichever of the theories are true, the site today is still there for all to see, although the remains – which also include several shelters and an anti-aircraft gun tower - don’t provide any solid evidence to its wartime function.