343. Infanteriedivision
Brest, September 1944
Rudolf Kogard, Oberst i. G. a. D.
A. From the Installation of the Atlantic Wall to the Beginning of the Invasion
- 1. Occupation in General
In the world, there was talk of a strong German Atlantic Wall already at the time when same did not yet exist. It is true, the Atlantic Coast had constantly been occupied since the termination of the German-French war in 1940, but the fortifications were limited to merely a few important points. In Brittany, the occupation forces were constantly changed; units which were intact were – at the middle of 1941 – sent to the East and replaced by troops from there, which were in need of freshening up. Their chief aim was the restoration of their full fighting strength, because they expected to be committed again in the East. Therefore, aside from training and recreation, they were – as may be easily understood – not very much interested in the development of the Atlantic Wall, especially since the majority of the troops did not expect an Allied invasion before the Fall of 1942. Since, at that time, the German High Command had given up hope for a quick termination of the Russian Campaign and hence, had to reckon with an Allied invasion in the West in due course, orders were issued in 1942 for the following essential changes in the defense system of the Atlantic Wall :
a. A permanent occupation of the Atlantic Coast by units which were especially organized for this purpose (so called “garrison divisions”)
b. a systematic improvement of the coast carried out by the garrisons
c. increased effectiveness of operations on the part of the garrisons, by means of allotting supplementary weapons, according to the importance of the respective sectors. These weapons were manned by permanently stationed fortress cadre troops, who had to remain in the same localities, even when the security divisions were changed.
These measures brought it about that the garrison troops gained a good knowledge of the surroundings and became convinced that each improvement of the fortifications would result in a betterment of their own combat conditions.
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