This continues from the first edition on French fortifications to continue towards the east and to the north with those emplacements in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Aside from those in Denmark, these other countries did have assaults on their Atlantic Wall fortifications, particularly those in the Netherlands and some in Norway as well.

This was all part of the most ambitious military fortification program of WWII. Germany literally poured millions of dollars into millions of pounds of concrete and steel to try to build up an impenetrable barrier against Allied invasion. This fortress was to extend from Norway to the Mediterranean and would have been a Herculean feat to complete in anything short of several decades.

This book looks at those defenses built to the east and north of France, defenses that were by no means seamless, but enough to provide protection for specific areas. The truth is that there was quite a considerable amount of debate as the best way to do things. The German Navy was basically in charge of defending the shores, but put their efforts into dealing with shipping and warships, while the Army was more intent on destroying invading troops on the beaches. Each method required very different structures with the Navy's plan needing large guns aimed to the sea, while the Army needed many smaller ones protecting the beaches and being able to fire to the side and even behind. While both were given some sort of treatment in the build-up, the truth is that there were huge gaps in the defense and those gaps were sought by the Allies in their planning. The end result was a series of structures that took months to build and a few days (at most) to overcome when they were assaulted.

Author Steven J. Zaloga takes us through the planning, design and implementation of these defenses while giving us a look at what it was like to live with these structures. The illustrations of Adam Hook allow us to have a look inside many of the different defenses and see how they were designed to work and complement each other. I found the emplacements that used the turrets of the Gneisenau to be some of the more intriguing as those using obsolete tank turrets.

Thankfully, many of the massive and even smaller defense positions are still extant and the book has a considerable number of period and current photos of these sites. There is even a section on visiting these places, many of which are easily accessible and part of museums and memorials.

In all a fascinating look at some of the more interesting defensive structures of WWII. A book that you are sure to enjoy.

December 2009

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