Atlantic Wall

Atlantic Wall This term, an anglicization of the German “Atlantikwall” (which actually means ‘dam’ rather than ‘wall’), is collectively applied to all those coastal fortifications and gun emplacement that the Nazis constructed from 1942 in the Western and Northern European countries occupied by them (and to smaller degree within Germany itself) during WWII in the hope of fending off Allied attacks/landings. It worked fairly well – until D-Day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. This string of fortifications reaches from the French coast on the Bay of Biscay all along to Dunkirk and onwards along the Belgian and Dutch coasts and continuing up on the west coast of Denmark along the North Sea (so “Atlantic” Wall is a bit of a simplification), and finally along the coast of Norway up and beyond the Arctic Circle. The latter two, as well as France , have the best preserved elements of the Atlantic Wall that have become veritable tourist attractions today. Here only a brief overview can be given, as there are far too many to be covered in any detail, though a few get mentioned in the Norway and Denmark chapters; the Channel Islands are also a special case in point. Arguably the Bunker Valentin in Germany could be considered part of the system too. But because the sections of the Atlantic Wall in France , in particular Normandy and Pas de Calais, were historically the most significant (actually used in battle), I’ll cover only a selection of those, going south-west to north-east: There are several fairly well-preserved Atlantic Wall fortifications at Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the French Basque country, close to the border with Spain , e.g. those at Pointe Sainte Barbe.