We Visit Hitler's "Die Atlantische Wand" (The Atlantic Wall)
March 1942: After the raid on Dieppe and the destruction of the German harbor at St. Nazaire, the German command staff realized that there must be a strong defense along the Atlantic. In March 1942, Hitler issued a Fuhrerwesen (Command) mandating that an impenetrable "wall" be erected along the Atlantic from Norway to the north of Spain.
From 1942 through 1943, the Organization Todt, a German engineering firm which built the autobahn system and other German infrastructure and armament, was taxed with the responsibility of building the "Atlantische Wand". German laborers supplemented by forced labor from "Ostarbeiters" (captives from the eastern front) and forced French labor from the STO (Travail Obligatoire) built a series of thousands of bunkers and artillery emplacements along the French coast. These were supplemented by fields and marshes that were deliberately flooded, mine fields, and anti tank emplacements such as the Rommelspargel (Rommel's Asparagus) planted along the beaches in the form of triangles made of concrete or steel.
The emplacements were concentrated around ports and estuaries, and housed artillery that included cannons including a variety of projectiles including 40cm guns that had a range of miles. In many cases the guns were WWI French cannons brought to the Atlantic from the east of France. Many of these were concentrated at the narrowest part of the English Channel (La Manche) where Hitler was convinced the eventual allied invasion would take place, the Pas de Calais. His supervisor of the Atlantic Wall, Erwin Rommel, was convinced that when the invasion came, the allies had to stopped within 48 hours or he was convinced the German armies would be faced with a withering land war.
Many of the bunkers were allowed to deteriorate because of the negative associations French people had with them. Thus, many were destroyed or collapsed into the sea or were buried. The emplacements at Longues-sur-Mer, however, have been preserved as historical monuments.
Longues-sur-Mer - Artillery emplacement bunkers
Pointe Du Hoc at Low Tide
The perils and challenges of the Pointe du Hoc would be come clear to American and British paratroopers in June 1944.
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