Hitlers wall

jonniebgood1

An interesting bit of WWII heritage from BBC today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10632543

Sections of Hitler's Atlantic Wall are being restored by French enthusiasts. But should the Nazi fortification be fully embraced as part of the country's heritage?

Along 800 miles (1,287km) of French coast lie some of the most substantial and evocative vestiges of war-time Europe.

The so-called Atlantic Wall - Hitler's defensive system against an expected Allied attack - stretched all the way from the Spanish border to Scandinavia.

Inevitably, it was in France that the most extensive building took place. Today there are still thousands of blockhouses, barracks and gun emplacements visible along the French shore.

But in France there has been no effort up until now to preserve this extraordinary historical landmark.

Elsewhere, World War II bunkers have been renovated as tourist attractions or for educational visits. The internet boasts Atlantic Wall fan sites in Germany and the Netherlands - and strong interest in the UK - but nothing in France.

Rene-Georges Lubat, 91, is one of the few Frenchmen who worked on the Wall who is still alive. In 1942 he was "volunteered" by his village mayor and sent to work on defences in the Arcachon sector.

"There was no choice about it. We had to go," he said. "Naturally we weren't enthusiastic, but it is not as if we had any choice.

"The conditions were not terrible. We weren't beaten or anything and we got a basic wage. At the start we could go home on Sundays, but after Stalingrad they put up barbed wire and we were stuck inside the work camp.

"Of course we knew we were building defences for the Germans, and it felt bad. I remember at the end of the war, my two brothers came home. One had been a prisoner, the other a deportee. I felt so bad I did not want to go to the party celebrating their return.

"But I do think the wall should be preserved now. It is important to remember what happened - the ignominy of it all, the cataclysm that we had to endure."

'One section of the wall has even been turned into part of a house.'

There are some who believe France should declare the Atlantic Wall to be a historic monument, thus ensuring its preservation - or at least of parts of it.

That will never happen. No French government would elevate a symbol of national dishonour.

But what is intriguing is how the French people have themselves now taken the initiative, safeguarding what for them is less a mark of shame, more part of the collective memory.

jonniebgood1

From the same story is the cost and material data table above. Maybe a wall along our west coast might help the economy?

marcsignal

:eek: I WANT IT !!

ejmaztec

marcsignal wrote: »

:eek: I WANT IT !!

I bet no postman dares drop a bill through the letter-box in case he never makes it back to his van.

marcsignal

The wine cellar must be absolutely fckn gynormous

snafuk35

One of the greatest of a litany of follies by Hitler's Germany.

Once the Americans and British Commonwealth forces landed in Normandy, the entire Atlantic Wall was rendered useless.

marcsignal

snafuk35 wrote: »

One of the greatest of a litany of follies by Hitler's Germany.

Once the Americans and British Commonwealth forces landed in Normandy, the entire Atlantic Wall was rendered useless.

Quite true, and Hitler must have known this.
It was his Blitzkrieg through France in 1940, that rendered the Maginot Line useless for exactly the same reason.

The Atlantic wall was a huge drain on labour resources, as indicated on the chart posted by jonniebgood1 above. There was also an ongoing attempt to sabatogue this project. The company supplying the concrete had been infiltrated by resistance operatives at a very high level, and quite often concrete was mixed incorrectly, making it weak and unsafe. These things were covered up as 'accidents' at the time, but it was a quite deliberate attempt to ensure the whole job moved at a snails pace, and tied up huge amounts of labour and material in the process.

Tony EH

Yeh, but something had to be done. It may look like folly now, but the view at the time may have been very different, especially at the beginning of its construction.

This is also the case with the Maginot line, which was sound enough in principle. The only problem was that it wasn't finished (a la the Atlantic Wall). The Gerries simply went around it.

snafuk35

Tony EH wrote: »

Yeh, but something had to be done. It may look like folly now, but the view at the time may have been very different, especially at the beginning of its construction.

This is also the case with the Maginot line, which was sound enough in principle. The only problem was that it wasn't finished (a la the Atlantic Wall). The Gerries simply went around it.

The Germans had to cover a coast line all the way from Scandinavia as far as the Bay of Biscay.



All the Allies had to do was make on breach in that wall of continuous defenses at Normandy and flood their troops in through the gap.
That left troops all along those coasts hanging in the air manning very expensive complex defenses that were practically useless.



Once the Allies had established a bridgehead in Normandy and then landed in Southern France two months later and Germans in France had no option but to pull back behind the Siegfried Line and the River Rhine.