The Atlantic Wall
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Ré and Oléron, islands in the Charentais straits, formed part of the military posture conceived by the Germans of an “Atlantic Wall” that would run from Norway to Spain to prevent an eventual Allied landing from the west. Thirty or so sites were constructed on Oléron from 1942 by workers, both employees or requisitioned, from Oléron, the Charentes, the Vendée and by prisoners of war, notably Russians. The Todt Organisation standardised the layout of the bunkers and planned their construction. Local businesses in need of work also participated.
Close defence of the major works of the Atlantic Wall were provided by small structures, ideally of concrete, but which could be just a containment or even a dune, protected by wooden logs.
Close defence of the sites was two-dimensional.
Horizontally, to defend against an eventual landing, shelters were constructed where two soldiers could operate machineguns, mortars or antitank weapons. The entire site was surrounded by anti-landing obstacles on the beach and by mined barbed wire.
The sites’ vertical defences protected the major works against low-flying aircraft. Thus, anti-aircraft guns supported by searchlights were distributed across several shelters.
In the logic of multi-level networks, the smaller works protected the bigger which themselves had a secondary role: preventing naval access to the submarine base at La Pallice near La Rochelle to the north and the Gironde estuary to the south.
Crédits
©Archives CCLSO
©EPCAD/Défense / Auteur inconnu
©Service Historique de la Défense
https://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/
https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr
©Archives CCLSO ©Stéphane Calonnec
©Fonds Boyer/Musée de l’île d’Oléron/CDCIO
©BAMA Bundesarchiv Militararchiv
©Thierry Richard/Oléron production
