German+Defenses+at+Normandy

To repel the allied forces from invading France, Germany built a defensive wall of obstacles on the western beaches of Europe. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel oversaw these defenses. He placed big sharp wooden poles, as well as steel, in the ground to restrict movement at the beach, also know as Rommel's asparagus. If the allied soldiers got stuck on the sharp poles, the Germans at the higher ground would launch mortars at them, use their machine guns to mow them down, or just use their Mauser Gewehr 98, a bolt action rifle with a slow fire rate and reload time, but strong and durable.

Before the landings at Normandy, Rommel suspected the allies were going to land around the beaches on the north west side of Europe. In an effort to slow the allied invasion, Rommel ordered his army to plant land mines all around the beaches. Rommel knew the allies would come through the beaches, but didn't know when or where they would strike. Rommel's army planted over 20 million mines around all around the landing sites. In total, the Germans planted over 200 million mines from Denmark to Spain. Rommel also had miles of concrete walls built on the beaches in order to stop tanks from moving inland which would give the Germans a slight advantage over the invading forces. The Germans also placed miles of barbed wire on the beachfront to slow the allies from advancing. If one were to try to tangle with the mess of barbed wire, they would be severely cut up, slowed down, and left open for further attack.

However, this was only the beginning of the defenses the cautious Rommel put into place. Rommel's defense required the Germans to build hundreds of bunkers. They were in the ground a few feet under, and the tops of the bunkers were peaking out, but covered with vegetation making them difficult to see. The bunkers most likely had machine guns in them, mortars, and a few snipers. The bunkers were very well protected because the openings people shot at wasn't that big. The bunker walls and roof was made of concrete many feet thick, so if one soldier tried to blow it up, it would only leave a dent to the bunker. Rommel didn't want the allies to break through at all costs, so he ordered the use of many anti-tank traps, along with the firing of mortars onto the beach. The main thought was that if they can trap the allies on the beach, they could slow down and effectively halt the invasion. Even with these defenses the invasion failed and the allied forces took the beaches.