# Hitler's Atlantic Wall in Surrey - March 2010



## professor frink (Mar 16, 2010)

*History;*

*Hitler's Atlantic Wall*

With most of the German troops fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front the Western Front was left vulnerable to invasion by the allied forces.
Rommel firmly believed that Germany would inevitably be defeated unless the invasion could be stopped at the beach.
On March 23rd 1942 Fuhrer Directive Number 40 called for the official creation of the Atlantic Wall, one of the last major defence lines of this century. 
It was built by the German occupation forces along the coasts of France, Channel Islands, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Denmark. The main goal was to prevent allied landings on the shores of these countries.

If you want to know more [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1mPKsTo8hk[/nomedia]



*Hitler's Atlantic Wall in Surrey*

D-Day training sites were created in Britain in order to practice for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Northern France by allied forces in 1944.
Based on intelligence and air reconnaissance, the British created a mock-up of Hitler’s wall, so they could practice attacking it and breaching the obstacles.
In 1943, in an area of Hankley Common known as the Lion's Mouth, Canadian troops constructed a replica of a section of the Atlantic Wall. 

The wall is about 100 m long, 3m high by 3.5m wide. It was divided into two sections between which there were originally huge steel gates. Nearby are other obstacles such as dragon's teeth, huge reinforced concrete blocks and lengths of railway track set in concrete and wire entanglements. Much of the relics show clear signs of live weapons training and the main wall has two huge breaches caused by a variety of demolition devices including the Double Onion: a specialised demolition vehicle, one of Hobart's Funnies, based on the Churchill tank.







Most of the obstacles were to be attacked with rockets hauling lengths of explosive filled tube and 'carpet laying devices' for the barbed wire. The modified Churchill tank, however, was designed to deal with the wall itself and the steel gates. It was equipped with a steel frame measuring some 10 feet wide by six feet. On this framework hung boxes containing 1000 lbs of explosive.

The tank was driven towards the wall, the framework was lowered to the ground, then the tank was backed off to a distance of some 100 feet, paying out an electric detonating cable as it went. The explosives were then detonated by the driver and the resulting effect can still be seen in the remains of the wall to this day, each of the two gaps created measuring some 3.5m in width.

The Churchill tank fitted with Double Onion 





1. The Atlantic wall.






2. Conventional shells had little effect on the wall.






3.





4.





5. Wall breach by the 'Double Onion'. 





6. Force of explosions caused damage to local houses.






7. Secondary breach.






8.






9. Gateway.






10.






11.






12. Defensive block before.






13. and after.






14. Secondary defensive wall.






15.






16.






17.






18. Defensive blocks






19. Dragons teeth.






20.





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## Labb (Mar 16, 2010)

Nice shots. Good to see some pictures from the other side of the world.


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## swanseamale47 (Mar 16, 2010)

Interesting explore, I didn't know they had built anything like this in this country to practice on. Makes me wonder what else is out there waiting to be found.


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## night crawler (Mar 16, 2010)

Most interesting, an excillent explore


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## Foxylady (Mar 16, 2010)

swanseamale47 said:


> ...I didn't know they had built anything like this in this country to practice on...



Me neither. That's a great find, and all the more so seeing the effects of their practice attack. Fabulous explore.


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## cptpies (Mar 16, 2010)

Excellent report Foxy. IIRC there are also some practice pillboxes in Devon that were used for assault training too.


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## Dieter_Schmidt (Mar 16, 2010)

There's also an Atlantik Wall just north of Stirling.


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## Foxylady (Mar 16, 2010)

It wasn't me that posted the report, cptpies...but thanks anyway!  I am very interested in learning about the Devon practice pillboxes, mind. Cheers.


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## chris (Mar 16, 2010)

> There's also an Atlantik Wall just north of Stirling.



And a section in Essex on Foulness Island


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## cptpies (Mar 17, 2010)

Foxylady said:


> It wasn't me that posted the report, cptpies...but thanks anyway!  I am very interested in learning about the Devon practice pillboxes, mind. Cheers.



Oops, Sorry professor frink great report anyway. Foxy those Pillboxes are at Croyde bay. One on the cliff to the south of the beach and the other up on Baggy Point north of the beach. There are also four on the South Downs just to the south of Storrington. I'll try and get a look at them one day as I'm only a few miles away.

There is also an ambiguous one in Surrey near Farnham. Listed as an OP for the mortar ranges it is damaged so has been interpreted as an training pillbox. It probably has just been used for demo practice after the war.


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## night crawler (Mar 17, 2010)

Makes me wonderif that is what happened to the ones I saw in the Sulham valley


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## Seahorse (Mar 17, 2010)

night crawler said:


> Makes me wonderif that is what happened to the ones I saw in the Sulham valley



Ah, yes. I wondered about the amount of damage there in your report.


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## Engineer (Mar 17, 2010)

*Atlanticwall.*

Interesting and unusual.


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## cptpies (Mar 17, 2010)

night crawler said:


> Makes me wonderif that is what happened to the ones I saw in the Sulham valley



Almost certainly. Landowners who had pillboxes on their land were given money to demolish them after the war. Some tried and failed, damaging them in the process, whilst most just pocketed the cash and let them be. But a fair few were used for demolition practice by the Royal Engineers.


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## daddybear (Mar 23, 2010)

nice iteresting report and pics there


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