The Atlantic Wall, Revised and Updated Edition: Hitler's Defenses for D-Day

By Alan F. Witt and Alan F. Wilt

A study of the planning and thinking that went into the creation of Hitler's 'Atlantic Wall,' which was intended to prevent the D-Day invasion and throw Allied soldiers back into the sea. The book... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1929631197
• ISBN13: 9781929631193
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Enigma Books
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A very good overview of Germany's strategy in the West

I decided to buy this book despite the bad critics it received and I was not disappointed. The author has a clear argument regarding the construction of the Atlantic Wall, the strategic and operational reasons behind this decision and the German command arrangements and frictions in the West. The books does not go in great lengths regarding the details but it uses the kind of first hand information that applies to me: the microfilmed archives of the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) and a welth of other German sources. The writing style is very good albeit with a few mistakes due to bad editing and the information is presented in a very clear chronological way which captivates the reader. I had never before pay attention, for example, to von Rundsetdt's 50 pages report of October 23, 1944 and the consequences of his estimations, nor had I read in such a clear form about the German plans and moves regarding the possible Allied attacks in Portugal, Spain and Southern France. Although very few pages are devoted to the actual operations of the D-Day landings, the subsquent Normandy campaign and the 15 August landings in the French Mediterranean coast, and almost none to the Allied planning and intentions, I think that Alan Wilt has made clear his point that Atlantic Wall did achieve a part of his objective by keeping the Allies out of the important Atlantic ports and thus causing the great logistics crisis of September 1944. "The Atlantic Wall" is a very good book which will be useful as a quick reference to anyone interested in the German strategy in the West during the 1940-44 period. The reader must be warned though that the subtitle "Rommel's plans to thwart the Allied Invasion" is rather deceptive, as Rommel is not the central figure of this study nor the only one. The book is easy to read and contains some good general maps, among them a precise map of the German order of battle in June 1944 and although it does not avoid a few reptitions along the way, it is worth the money.