Water, the best defensive weapon in the Netherlands, FORTRESS EUROPE Pt 3, captured Normandy footage
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This outstanding footage showing the Normandy invasion on June 6th, 1944 was captured by the Germans. It wouldn’t be added to the Allied national archives until after the war.
In part 3 of the series covering the preparation and defense of the Atlantic Wall we’re focusing on the Dutch coastline using an article from this Signal periodical from May of 1944 as a framework. As usual, I’ll use rare film clips to tie it all together. A link to this original and others can be found in the comment section below. At the end of the video I’ll add some beautiful Dutch footage showing the workings of the massive gun emplacement Skagerrak so stick around, it’s worth it.
Over the last few months water, Holland’s dependable ally, has been integrated into the European Wall defense system. The Netherland’s Atlantic coast stretches for 320 kilometers. Behind mostly relatively low lying dunes the land opens up lying to a large extent just above sea level and in some cases, below.
Over the centuries, what is known as modern day Holland was wrestled from the sea, polderd on a large scale and cultivated. This was done using an intricate system of dykes and drainage which controlled the flow of water in the flood lands. Once reclaimed, this fertile polderd land was then opened up for agriculture. But it was the system of dykes and the controlled flow of water that the Germans would turn into a weapon.
This nice Dutch film reel from March of 1944 shows the process of land reclamation. But it was the system of Dikes and the controlled flow of water that the Germans would develop into an effective defensive weapon.
Through a series of floodgates, massive quantities of water surge over the land. Slowly the water level rises and eventually climbs up the front doors of the houses in the village. The owners have long been evacuated to higher areas.
The Polderd land is flooded and swampy. At this point the ditches and canals are still visible however with the water level rising just one additional centimeter then the water will be at a uniform level covering the land. Any attacker that tries to wade, or drive through this area will have tremendous difficulty.
The flooding of the land is controlled with the use of sea locks which control the flow of water into and out of the dyke system. The key points of the system are occupied by trained German soldiers who are capable of quickly converting the landscape into its defensive posture. The photo shows a double guard post positioned on a sea lock.
Erwin Rommel
Before a new lock can be opened, damns are placed to control the area that is to be flooded. Hundreds of local laborers work under German direction to build these damns. Here we see a traditional yet still effective method being used as heavy horses are led to stamp down the soil of the barriers.
In these two photographs we see obstacles being placed on a Dutch beach. Their installation is really quite simple. With the use of a high pressure firehose a deep hole is bore into the sand. We can see a simple pole obstacle being worked into the sand. After it is in place the coming of the tide will make sure that it is tightly secure by itself.
An artificial street network managed by the controlled flow of water can create traffic jams and bottle necks at desired moments. In the Netherlands history of warfare, water obstacles, including canals, rivers and swamps, have always been widely used, especially when defending against maritime landings.
Also in 1940 during the German attack extensive flooding had been planned which was expected to bring the advance to a halt, but the advance had been too quick and within 5 days, the battle in the Netherlands had been decided. Since then German soldiers have stood on the Atlantic coast and the defensive ring has been built up and grown stronger by the year.
Experience from all the theaters of war has been gathered and evaluated. Concrete and steel has been used to build the obstacles which severely complicate the landing of foot soldiers or vehicles. The invisible ditches and canals in the flooded land areas just below the level of the water are dangerous to traverse. Boats and the like can not be used correctly because of the shallow water and the layers of barbed wire make the use of inflatable dinghies impractical. Of course German forces know the lay of the land and know how best to maneuver.
Traveling on the dikes and damns with tanks and such heavy vehicles is almost impossible. The presence of ground water everywhere also makes it impossible for the foot soldier to dig in. Any attacker will find that all large unit movement is highly complicated at best.
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