Rommel's Campaign Against The Atlantic Wall

24. Rommel’s recommendations consisted of massive minefields, foreshore obstacles such as concrete bunkers and underwater devices, and air landing obstacles. The use of minefields as a means of defence for the Atlantic Wall was influenced by Rommel’s campaign against the British in North Africa, which “made the maximum possible use of mines in constructing their new line” for the defence of Tobruk, which cost the Afrika Korps many men but taught Rommel “the value of the British large scale mining.” The extensive use of minefields coupled with tanks, machine guns, and artillery meant the US and British forces would have to “attack through the minefields against the defence works sited within them fight his way through the zone of death in the

The carrying out of freezer and air landing obstacles were the only defensive measures that were not determined by his prior experiences but rather improvising. Rommel ordered the foreshore obstacles to be placed in belts along the coast at the four different tidal zones in order to stop the enemy’s approach to the beaches but also to destroy his landing equipment and military personnel. They consisted of a broad assortment of obstacles armed with mines or shells. However, on June 6 the obstacles for both levels of Normandy’s low tide had not been filled in. The aviation–landing obstacles to be employed against the airborne invasion consisted of ten feet high stakes stuck in the ground topped with mines and strung together with wire in order to rip apart and explode landing gliders and parachutists. Rommel also flooded low -lying areas behind the coastal fortifications to drown falling

Rommel’s recommendations consisted of massive minefields, foreshore obstacles such as concrete bunkers and underwater devices, and air landing obstacles. The use of minefields as a means of defence for the Atlantic Wall was influenced by Rommel’s campaign against the British in North Africa, which “made the maximum possible use of mines in constructing their new line” for the defence of Tobruk, which cost the Afrika Korps many men but taught Rommel “the value of the British large scale mining.” The extensive use of minefields coupled with tanks, machine guns, and artillery meant the US and British forces would have to “attack through the minefields against the defence works sited within them fight his way through the zone of death in the defensive fire of the whole of our