Hitler’s Atlantic Wall
59The Atlantic Wall: Hitler’s Failed Defence Against the Allies
Imagine a 2000-mile-long line of concrete fortifications, gun batteries, tank traps and barbed wire stretching from Norway to Spain. This was the Atlantic Wall, Nazi Germany’s ambitious but doomed attempt to prevent an Allied invasion of Western Europe during World War II.
The Atlantic Wall was ordered by Hitler in 1942, after he realized that he could not defeat Britain by air or sea, and that the US had joined the war. He hoped that the wall would deter the Allies from landing on the coast, or at least slow them down enough for his troops to counterattack.
However, the Atlantic Wall was far from complete when the Allies launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, on June 6, 1944. The wall had many weak points, and the Allies had superior air and naval power. The German defenders were outnumbered and outgunned, and soon the wall was breached.
Today, you can still see the remains of the Atlantic Wall along the coast of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Some of the bunkers and gun emplacements are now museums, while others are crumbling into the sea. They are a reminder of the futility of Hitler’s vision and the courage of those who fought to liberate Europe.
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