The Atlantic wall in France, 1940-1944

The five-storey battery command post at Batz-sur-Mer. Loire Atlantique, was camouflaged as a villa to escape recognition. In 1997, it was transformed into a museum called « Le Grand Blockhaus »

In the spring of 1940, the German army began its offensive against northern and western Europe. In less than three months, it would conquer the entire European littoral from North Cape in Norway to the Spanish frontier. After the entry into the war of the United States in December 1941, the German high command sought to prevent at all costs the opening of a second front in the west. It decided to construct a wall of concrete and steel along more than 600 kilometres of coast line to render all landings impossible.

How and by whom was this Atlantic Wall to be constructed, organised and defended ? How did it react to the attacks carried out by the Allies in 1942 at Saint-Nazaire and Dieppe ? What role did Field Marshal Rommel play in the strengthening of this defensive line ? What strategy would the Allies adopt to penetrate it in the Normandy landings ? Why would certain ports which had been transformed into fortresses not be liberated until May 1945 ? It is to all of these questions that this book, illustrated by 200 exceptional, informatively captioned photographs replies...