During World War II, the bay of Veys and Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue were riddled with nests of German machine guns as well as heavy batteries. Concrete bunkers known as Type H casemates each sheltered a 1,85 to 3,47 inches cannon (47mm to 88mm) and were sometimes equipped with anti-machine gun armor plates on the outside. A 2,62 ft (80 cm) opening, or Tobruk, on the top allowed placing a man and his MG 42 machine gun with its ammunition. Some were devastating on the morning of June 6, 1944.