Atlantic fortress
The Atlantic fortresses were important coastal cities on the Atlantic in France and the Netherlands, which were occupied by Germany in World War II . As part of the Atlantic Wall , they were particularly strongly fortified by the Wehrmacht and should be defended as long as possible in the event of an invasion by the Western Allies on the European mainland. On January 19, 1944, by order of Adolf Hitler, the ports of IJmuiden , Hoek van Holland , Dunkirk , Boulogne , Le Havre , Cherbourg , Saint-Malo , Brest , Lorient , Saint-Nazaire as well as "Gironde Nord" ( Royan ) and "Gironde Süd" were opened “( Le Verdon ) declared a fortress. The peninsula Walcheren , Calais , La Rochelle and the British Channel Islands , which were also occupied by the Germans , were later added to this list . The port cities of Toulon and Marseille on the Mediterranean Sea were also given fortress status. In a narrower sense, the Atlantic fortresses only include the French Atlantic ports from Brittany to the Gironde estuary .
Hitler had the “obsession” that one could stop or slow down the advance of an enemy by declaring a traffic junction to be a “fortress” or a “ fixed place ”. On the one hand, the Atlantic fortresses were intended to ensure that the submarines deployed in the Atlantic were free to operate for as long as possible and, on the other, to prevent the Allies from using the often well-developed ports for their supplies . In addition, it was hoped for propaganda advantages and a strengthening of morale . In orders of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) from February 1944 to defend the fortresses, it was ordered to fight “to the last man” or “to the last cartridge” and not to surrender under any circumstances .
Some Atlantic fortresses were captured by Allied troops after the Normandy landings in the summer of 1944; others only surrendered when the Wehrmacht surrendered unconditionally in May 1945.
Belgium and the Netherlands
After the Allied breakout from Normandy at the end of July 1944, British troops advanced rapidly towards Belgium and occupied Antwerp at the beginning of September almost without a fight. After the battle of the Scheldt estuary , numerous sea mines were cleared from the Scheldt estuary ; on November 28, the first ship (a Canadian freighter named Fort Cataraqui ) docked in the port of Antwerp ; this was expanded to become the Allied main supply base for the western front .
Since the Dutch North Sea coast north of the Rhine-Meuse delta was not directly attacked by the Allies (details here ), the fortresses Hoek van Holland and IJmuiden remained occupied by Wehrmacht troops until the end of the war .
French Atlantic ports
| Surname | surface | garrison | Fortress commander | surrender |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunkirk | 10,000 men | Vice Admiral Friedrich Frisius | May 9, 1945 | |
| Calais | 7,500 men | Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig Schroeder | September 30, 1944 | |
| Boulogne | 10,000 men | Lieutenant General Ferdinand Heim | September 23, 1944 | |
| Le Havre | 14,000 men | Colonel Eberhard Wildermuth | September 12, 1944 | |
| Cherbourg | 15,000 men | Lieutenant General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben | June 27, 1944 | |
| Channel Islands | 198 km² | 28,500 men | Lieutenant General Rudolf Graf von Schmettow , later Vice Admiral Friedrich Hüffmeier | May 9, 1945 |
| Saint Malo | 12,000 men | Colonel Andreas von Aulock | August 17, 1944 | |
| Brest | 37,000 men | General of the parachute force Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke | September 19, 1944 | |
| Lorient | 24,500 men | General of the artillery Wilhelm Fahrmbacher | May 10, 1945 | |
| Saint-Nazaire | 1,500 km² | 30,000 men | Lieutenant General Hans Junck | May 11, 1945 |
| La Rochelle | 400 km² | 11,500 men | Vice Admiral Ernst Schirlitz | May 9, 1945 |
| Gironde North ( Royan ) | 5,000 men | Rear Admiral Hans Michahelles | April 17, 1945 | |
| Gironde South ( Le Verdon ) | 170 km² | 3,500 men | Colonel Christian Sonntag, later Colonel Otto Prahl | April 20, 1945 |
Mediterranean Sea
The fortresses of Toulon and Marseille, largely stripped of combat-ready troops, were taken within a few weeks of the Allied landing in southern France in August 1944.