Schwerste deutsche Küstenbatterie in Bereitschaft.
Aufnahme: OT-Kriegsberichter Maier
In June 1944, the Western-Allies had a tough test to pass. They had to breach the formidable Atlantic Wall, defended by the mighty German army.
Even though it was just a mere shadow of its former self – the Russians had seen to that – it was still one of the best-trained armies in the world and the success of the Allied landings was by no means a sure thing.
In this article, we are going to take a closer look at the German side of D-Day. Not many pictures were taken by the Germans on June 6th, so we had to use images from the period before and after the landings.
It will give a good idea of the strength of the enemy that the Allies faced in their struggle to retake Normandy and then the rest of Western Europe from Nazi German occupation.
The Atlantic Wall
Aerial view of German beach defenses. Normandy, summer, 1944.Beach fortifications with barbed wire and tank traps. Northern France, 1944. Photo Credit.Rommel observes the fall of shot at Riva-Bella, just north of Caen in the area that would become Sword Beach in Normandy. Photo Credit.Czech hedgehogs on the beach near Calais, Northern France. Photo Credit.Such anti-tank obstacles were all over shores in France and Belgium. Photo Credit.A German Soldier on a watch. A common sight on beaches of the Atlantic Wall, 1944. Photo Credit.One of the many propaganda photographs of Rommel on inspection tours of the Atlantic wall. Photo Credit.German soldiers in northern France, 1944. Photo Credit.
Bunkers and Radars
German MG42 machine gun bunker at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France – 1944.The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 A soldier poses next to one of the German coastal guns captured by the Canadians at Cap Gris Nez, 1 October 1944.Part of the Atlantic Wall. Battery gun during setup, June 1943, Northern France. Photo Credit.A part of the Atlantic Wall in Northern France, 1944. Photo Credit.A German MG34 medium machine gun emplacement. Photo Credit.Allied Soldiers Doing the Laundry in a Captured German Pillbox.Damaged German radar near the beach in Normandy.
Infantry Inland
Fearsome Fallschirmjager, considered elite soldiers. Photo Credit.Heavy gunner with MG42, Caen, France, 1944. Photo Credit.German soldiers on the lookout in Normandy, 1944. Photo Credit.21 June 1944. Photo Credit.During their first week of action in Normandy, these three soldiers of the Hitlerjugend Division earned the Iron Cross. Photo Credit.Soldier of Wehrmacht with Karabiner 98k. 21 June 1944. Photo Credit.German infantrymen scan the skies for Allied aircraft in Normandy, 1944. Photo Credit.An abandoned Waco CG-4 glider is examined by German troops. Photo Credit.Rommel inspecting 21st Panzer Division in May, 1944. Photo Credit.German Fallschirmjager Trüppen in Normandy, the German Parachute forces fighting in an infantry role were very effective in the Normandy campaign. These machine guns would cause most of the casualties on D-Day and were one of the most feared weapons on the battlefields of World War Two. June 1944. Photo Credit.
Sounds of the destroyers of men -the murderous German MG34 and MG42 machine guns.