The Defensive Atlantikwall

The Atlantikwall is also referred as the Atlantic wall in English. The Atlantikwall was a widespread arrangement of coastal defenses. Also it was built by the German Third Reich. The construction of the wall started in the year 1942 and was continued up to the year 1944. It was constructed during World War II at the length of the western coast of Europe. The major reason for the construction of the wall was to protect against a likely Allied attack of the mainland from Great Britain.

On March 23 in the year 1942, Führer Directive Number 40 ordered for the official construction of the Atlantic Wall. When St. Nazaire Raid, in 1942 on April 13, Adolf Hitler controlled submarine and naval bases to be protected with the great deal. Protection walls stayed intense around the various ports till the late 1943 when military protection were amplified in the various other areas.

Siegfried Line also Westwall was designed by Organisation Todt. It was constructed along the Franco-German border. Also it was the head of the engineering group who was responsible for the construction as well as the design of the wall’s main protection. A huge number of the forced laborers were brought for the construct these enduring walls along the Belgian and the French coasts and also Dutch coasts and facing towards the English Channel.

The responsibilities of improving the wall’s defenses were assigned to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the year 1944. Rommel was of the opinion that the all the coastal wall which were constructed for the protection of the coast were not adequate and would require more and immediate strengthening. Under the supervision of Rommel a huge wall was built along the beaches with the help of toughened pillboxes of concrete. Obstacles were created along the beaches using the antitank as well as mines. The main reason behind this was to destroy the invaders before they unload themselves.

Around the same time, when the invaders were trying to attack Germans were successful in laying around six million mines in north side of the France. The minefields as well as the guns emplacements did extend the inland in the directions near the roads that leads away from the various beaches in the France. Probably the landing spots of the parachutists as well as for the gliders and parachutists were emplaced with the one-sided poles with sharpened ends, which was known as called  Rommelspargel and also the “Rommel’s asparagus” by the troops. The Low-lying river areas as well as the estuarine areas were always flooded.

Even though the protection wall was by no means completed the Wall’s survival has hand ousted to give details away to the anxiety of the Soviet Union as they wanted to know why the Second Front was pending till June 6 of the year 1944 which was almost a year less than the end of the war. Basically the Wall was filled with the bunkers, minefields as well as batteries which was stretched during 1942–1944, from the French-Spanish border up to Norway. Bunkers near Scheveningen, as well as Den Haag, Katwijk and also in Normandy still exist.

Rommel had a firm belief that the Germany would unavoidably be beaten if not the attack could be congested at the beach.

Among the various defenses created by Nazis the Walcheren Island is supposed to be the “strongest concentration of defenses”

The best time to visit the city is from May to mid-July and later in the month of September as well as October. The visit to the wall is closed in December. You will easily find out numerous tour guides who will not just show you the place but will surely help you to get good quality food as well as comfortable accommodation. The opening hours of the visit to the wall is from 9am – 7pm from 1st of June till 1st of October and rest of the year it is opened for public 9 to 12am and later from 14 to 18pm. The entrance costs keeps on changing so do confirm it before entering the site.

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