Hitler's Atlantic Wall

Hitler conceived the Atlantic Wall during World War II as a line of impregnable fortifications along the western coast of Europe to protect his newly conquered empire from seaborne invasion. From 1942 until the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, millions of tons of steel-reinforced concrete were poured into the construction of gun emplacements, bunkers, flak batteries, radar stations, command and observation posts, as well as ammunition dumps and U-boat pens. This huge project stretched from the Franco-Spanish border in the south, following the French Atlantic coast north for 1500 miles passing through Brittany, around the Cherbourg peninsula, along the coast of Normandy and extending right to the North Sea coasts of Belgium and Holland. More than 12,000 concrete structures were built, many of them so massive that they survive today despite being shelled by battleships, and resisting most post-war attempts by Allied army engineers to demolish them. They are now tourist attractions. This title examines the reasons behind Hitler Directive 51 in building the Atlantic Wall, the slaves and generals who built and designed these immense structures, and explains the strategic importance behind them.