Figure 1.-- |
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NAZI propaganda trumpeted Festug Europa--Fortress Europa. This was the Atlantic Wall that the NAZIs bragged could necer be breached. The German focus in 1941 was on Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Whermacht was shifted east. Despite failing to achieve victory in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe was also shifted east, reloeving pressure on hard-pressed Britain. At first during 1941-42 the NAZIs concentrated on protecting the harbors. German artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and armor were positioned beginning in 1942 along the French coast. German armored divisions are transferred to France. Only in late 1943, however, with defeats in Russia and North Africa and the increasing build up of Allied forces in Europe did Hitler give real priority to the Atlantic defenses. Hitler's Atlantic Wall is perhaps the most massive fortified position in history. more extensive even than France's Maginot Line. It was a formidable obstacle that Allied planners had to confront. Construction was ordered by Hitler in Führer Directive No. 405. The French rail system plyed an important role in both the consruction of the Atlantic Wall and in plans to defend it against invasion.
The Atlantic Wall was the largest defebnsive most heavily fortified defensive line ever built. Massive resources were diverted yo building it. NAZI propaganda trumpeted Festug Europa--Fortress Europa. This was the Atlantic Wall that the NAZIs bragged could necer be breached. The German focus in 1941 was on Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Whermacht was shifted east. Despite failing to achieve victory in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe was also shifted east, reloeving pressure on hard-pressed Britain. Only after Barbarosa failed and America rntered the War did the Germns begin to conceive of constructing the Atlantic Wall. Abd large-scale construction projects did nor begin until 1943 when Rommel arrived.
At first during 1941-42 the NAZIs concentrated on protecting the harbors. Armies require massive amounts of supplies. Moving in the supplies needed required a deep-water port. Thus the ports were afforded the greatest priority. Many were already guarded with pre-War French fortifications. German artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and armor were positioned beginning in 1942 along the French coast. German armored divisions are transferred to France.
The German forces many the Atlantic Wall were divided into four army groups of uneven strength. The 15th Army guarded the Lowlandsand the Pas de Calais. This was the most strongly defended area, especially the Pas de Calais as it offered the shortest Channel crossing and the most direct route into Germany. Allied deception efforts (Operation Fortitude) succeed in convincing the Germans what they had already suspected that the invasion would come here. The 7th army was the next strogest force. It guarded the coast from the Seine/Caen south to the Louarve River. As this included Normandy, it would prove to be the German units the Allied invasion force would confront on the beaches. The 18th Army covered the Louarve to the Pyranees. The 19th Army Guarded the Frence southern or Mediterranean coast. The German High Command had not seriously considered an invasion through 1943 and the increasingly critical situation on the Eastern Front caused them to redeploy forces in France. The High Command, however, knew that the Allies would strike in 1944, although they were unsure where and when. Hitler issued Führer Directive 51 in which he he announced that German forces in France would have to be reinforced (November 1943). The demands of the Eastern Front and the Allied invasion of Italy (September 1943), however, limited the forces which could be deployed.
As work on coastal defenses had not had a high oriority, work would have to be rushed to prepare for the invasion. The Germans by June 1944 had deployed 56 Divisions in the West. The strength of these divisions, however, varied greatkly The strongest units were the Waffen S.S. These units were armored divisions equipped with the newest and best equipment. The Waffen SS included Paratroop Divisions and Six Panzer Divisions. The Germans no longer had the capability of making paratroop drops, but the paratroop units were highly trained and motivated. The German tanks were supperior to the American tanks, although the Americans tanks far exceeded the number of German tanks. The Wafen S.S. also were manned by men highly committed to the NAZI cause. One of the Waffen SS units was the 21st Hitler Youth Division. Many were below strength, manned by men who had been battered in the Eastrn Front. Some of thge German units were manned with foreign soldiers from Eastern Europe. (The Germans were afraid to use soldiers recruited in Western Europe, they were deployed in the east.) The Eastern Europeans constituted about 10 percent of the German forces, a not inconsiderable component. Some of these men were committed Fascists. Others had been drafted from from the slave labor camps and had joined only to escape from the dreadful conditions in the camp. Many of these men would surrender at the first available opportunity.
Only in late 1943, however, with defeats in Russia and North Africa and the increasing build up of Allied forces in Europe did Hitler give real priority to the Atlantic defenses. Hitler's Atlantic Wall is perhaps the most massive fortified position in history. more extensive even than France's Maginot Line. It was a formidable obstacle that Allied planners had to confront.
The Atlantic Wall was largest construction project of World War II. The Germans poured 17.3 million cubic yards of concrete, strengthened with 1.5 million tons of steel. Steel was a critical war material. The use of such a large quantity mean that steel was not available for other purposes. Much of the construction was done by French wokers conscripted from local towns and villages. The concrete went into massive bunkers of up tp 3.5 feet thick which could with stand direct hits. There were also many smaller bunkers and pillboxes of varying size. Construction was ordered by Hitler in Führer Directive No. 405. It was made up of massive trench system, similar to that of World War I. German newsreels in 1943 show Albert Speer inspecting Atlantic Wall building sites. Building supplies were unloaded as the construction of heavy-gun emplacements is continued.
Fritz Todt was a friend of Hitler and an early party member. As a result from a small construction firm with 36 workers, the company became one of the largest companies in Germany. The company got the contract to build the Autobahns (1936). The OT also built the WEst Wall and was responsible for virtually all important military cinstruction projects during the War. The first major OT military project was the West Wall. It was thus to Organization Todt that Hitler turned to build the Atlantic Wall. It was not until completing the construction of defensive installations on the Channel Islands that work on the atlantic Wall could begin in ernest (late 1943).
The French rail system was important for building and once built moving the troops sand supplies needed to man the Ataltic Wall. The French rail system would also be needed to move the reinforcements and supplies needed to repel the invasion once the Allies struck. The problem for the Germans was that the Allies were destroying the Luftwaffe and by 1944 there was no longer a protctive roof over either the AStlantic Wall or the French rail system which sustained it.
The Channel Islnds during World War II became the only British territory occupied by the NAZIs. The NAZIs seized the islands immeditaely after the fall of France (1940). After Dunkirk, Churchill realized that the Channel Islands could not be defended. There were fears at the time that Britiai itself culd nt hold out. Churchill declared the islands demilitarised. Jersey islanders had to evacuate to England leaving their homes and family or remain and face the NAZIs. About 10,000 did evacuate and 40,000 stayed. After the French surrender, the Germans seized the islands. When the fortunes of war changed, Hitler unlike Churchill decided against all miltary logic to defend the Channel Islands. Hitler ordered the construction of elaborate fortifications on both Jersey and Guernsey. These military instalations were constructed by slave labor imported by the NAZIs. These workers labored under appalling conditions. The resources devoted to the Channel islands were wasted. The Allies had no intention of invading them. The construction on the islands delsyed the construction of much more important fortifications on the mailand.
German artillery emplacements include guns ranging from 150-406 mm. The giant cannons, including a railroad gun of the Dora class were mounted in concrete and steel turrets. Atlantic Wall strong-points were built and protected with massive quantities of reinforced concrete. Some of the larger gun positions were armed with accurate 66, 75, 88, 115, and 155 mm guns. The larger pieces were naval guns capable of engaing battleships were installed in reinforced concrete bunkers or other strong points (Widerstandsnester). The larger emplacements proved impervious to aerial bombardment.
Hitler appointed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to oversee the defensive preparations on the Atlantic wall. Rommel was appointed inspector of coastal defenses and subsequently commander of Army Group B which guarded the French Channel coast. As army group commander, Rommel officially reported to the overall commander in chief West, the aging Gerd von Rundstedt. German newsreals in 1944 show Field Marshal Erwin Rommel inspecting the Wall. He had in fact been apauled by what he saw when Hitler assigned him the task of improvong the defenses and set upon a massive building and mine laying program. [Ambrose]
The Wall was replete with with machine-gun nests and pillboxes for the infantry. The beaches were worked with barbed wire, mines, hedgehogs, Belgian gates, log ramps, and wooden posts. There were 0.5 million beach obstacles. Rommel was especially committed to mining the beaches. By the time the landings occurred, the Germans had laid 4.0-6.5 million mines (accounts vary) and were actively laying more to achieve Rommel's goal of 11 million mines. [Ambrose, pp. 109-111.] The Germans staged realistic combat exercises to test the defenses. These beach defenses were designed slow down the landing ships so shorte batteries could more easily engage them. Rommel's asparagus inland was to prevent glider landings.
The Atlantic wall was primarily manned by immobile German Ost (East) Battalion troops. The Ost Battalion was made up of large numbers of captured Russian and Polish troops that had agreed to fight with the Germans because they either hated the Communists or wanted out of the concentration camps. Many were ready to surrender to the Americans or British at the first opportunity. Officers and non-coms were Germans. [Ambrose, p. 35.] The NAZIs generally did not equip non-German units with mobile armour.
It is interesting that thec Germans who had proved the weakness of static defensive lines woulf have built the Atlantic Wall. The Germans lost World war I when the Alies breached the Hindinburg Line (1918). And the Germans had gained their greatest victory in going around the Maginot Line. Yet it would be the Germans wjo would build the most massive defensive line in history. The weakness of the Maginot Line was that France did not have a powerful mobil reserve to attack breaches or in the case of 1940 the German offensive around the Maginot Line. The Germans did have powerful forces and their battel plan was to immediately attack the Allied landing beaches. Te purpose of the Atlantic Wall was to hold the Allies until the mobil reserve could be brought up.
The concept of the Atlantic Wall was flawed from the beginning. The central conceot in defensive warfare is he who defends everything, defends nothing. The resources devoted to the Wall were enormous and could have been utilized in more critical areas. The resources devoted to the Channel Islands in particular were a complete waist. The cchief weakness of a long defensive wall is it spread out equipment and men while the opponent is free to concentrate his resources at the point of attack. The German plan to maintain a strong mobile reserve sounded fine on paper. The Allies had, however, two key advantages. One was complete air superority. And Allied air power could be used to impede German units moving toward the invasion beaches Vom Ruenstadt had never experience Allied air power like Rommel. Which is why Rommel was committed to stopping the allies on the beach. The difference between the two German commanders was aroblem. And even more serious was that neither commander had the authority to commit the powerful Panzer divisions held in reserve far from the beaches. Hitler reserved this decesion for himself. The Allies on the other hand could focus their entire force on one small sector of the Atlantic Wall--Normandy. And inaddition to concentrating the infantry invasion here, the Allies had power air and naval forces to support the invasion. The air and naval forces could be used in the assailt and the air firces could interdict German forces moving toward the invasion beaches. The fact that the invasion was focused on one small area meant that the air and naval firces could be used to great effect. Allied air power plyed a major role in pounding the German fixed defenses, but its most important role was in attacking Germamn units moving toward the beaches. The fixed positions allowed American war ships to engage the relatively limited number in the Normandy sector. When it looked like the landings at Omaha might fail, destryers moved in close to the baech to engage the shore batteries. [Ambrose, p. 386.]
Despite the huge resources committed, the Atlantic Wall was a massive failure. The Atlantic Wall is the greates failure in the history of defensive warfare. The Maginot line at least forced the Germand to go around it. The Allies went right through it. And even on Omaha Beach, the Germans delayed the American assault only a few hours. Here disension between Rommel and Von Ruendstat (and Rommel's absence in June 6) and Hitler's control of the Panzer Divisions in reserve undermined the German defensive plan. Another key factor was the effective of the Allied Fortiude deception plan. The Allied efforts convinced the Germans even after the Normandy landings that the main invasiin would come at the Pas de Calais. One aspect of the Atlantic Wall was a success. The Germand heavily fortified the important ports. This denied the Allies landing facilities and supplying the advancing columns became a major problem as the Allies moved through France toward Germany. This of cource could have been done with out the massive construction of the Atlantic Wall.
Ambrose, Stephen E. D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II (New York: Touchstone, 1995).
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