German pillbox
The concrete bunkers of the German defenses were also referred as pillboxes or точка, Tochka in Russian. The Germans were infamous for making strong steel bar reinforced concrete bunker pillboxes since World War I.
The Germans would construct various anti-tank obstacles, anti-tank trenches along with lines of barbed wires and mine fields to prevent enemy advances along with these structures.
The German pillboxes were also linked with one another with tunnels and trenches which enabled an active and collaborative defensive flexibility for these static structures.
88mm Flak 18/36/37/41
The German Eighty-Eight or the Acht-Acht(eigh-eight in German) was a versatile gun that was originally designed as an heavy anti-aircraft gun but also famous as a all purpose anti-tank and artillery weapon as well.
The Germans would refer it as the 8.8 cm gun by their military metric system. The term Flak in German Flugabwhrkanone meant an anti-aircraft defense gun but it became a military term in general to refer anti-aircraft guns on ground.
Although the German 88 Flak was a versatile gun, there were artillery field guns and anti-tank guns as well as 88 gun variants that were designed for such specialized purposes. There weren’t as many 88mm guns than the ordinary perception of a trooper.
However, as the 88mm Flak was notorious among the Allied forces, many of the Allied forces would refer heavy guns of the German as the 88mm gun. Yet, the 88mm Flak was a very dangerous and versatile gun imposing a threat to the Allied Forces.
Todt Organisation
The civil military engineering and construction company founded by Fritz Todt, Todt Organisation was responsible for the construction of the Atlantic Wall and various other construction and engineering projects for the German Nazi regime.
Fritz Todt and the Todt Organisation was infamous for its force labor from the concentration camps but it was also internataionally recognized for the company that led the construction of the Autobahn or the Bundesautobahn.
The Bundesautobahn or the Autobahn(internationally) was a famous government controlled highway in response of the Great Repression for employment and economy flow but also as preparation for war.
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Atlantic Wall
After driving out the Allied ground Forces of Europe at Dunkirk, Nazi Germany started to focus on the war against the Soviet Union. However, the Nazi Germany military was aware of the possible landings of the Allied Forces on Europe and planed on building the Atlantic Wall.
The Atlantic Wall was a plan to fortify the coasts of the North Sea to the borders of Spain that would stretch over 5,000km which is about 3,100 miles by the Todt Organisation.
The Atlantic Wall was planned to have fortresses, bunkers, trenches, mine fields, anti-air bases, fortified artillery positions etc to defend the coasts of the west flank of Germany. After being pulled back from the African front,
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took command of the newly assembled Army Group B of the western German forces occupying Europe and became the inspector of the Atlantic Wall for the French coasts. The Atlantic wall of France was initially planned to extend from 3,100km’s which is about 1,800 miles but construction failed to finish before the Allied Forces landed on Normandy.
Hemmbalken – The pole like structures to disrupt landings
Hemmbalken was the wooden structures were stakes that were placed askew that was designed to block landing crafts to enter the beach. There were teller mines originally designed as anti-tank mines on the tip of the stake like structure of the Hemmbalken to explode the landing crafts if they’ve made contact with the hemmbalken.
Hitlerjugend, Hitler Youth
A Hitlerjugend or Hitler Youth knife was found on the beaches of Normandy. The Hitlerjugent was an important organization that would recruit over 7 million Germans from the age 10 ~ 18 to support the Nazi party from a young age.
The Hitler jugend was more of a paramilitary group for the underaged that would teach wrestling, combat skills and even marksmanship as the Nazi regime emphasized aggressive masculinity as well as the ideology of the ‘idea German’ by the Nazi regime.
Hitlerjugend, the Hitler Youth would gift knives of the Hitlerjugend as part of their propaganda and raise aggressiveness of the members. From the members of the Hitlerjugend, one of the most combat aggressive Waffen-SS unit the 12th SS Hitlerjugend panzergrenadier division was born.
The 12th SS Hitlerjugend panzergrenadier division inflicted heavy damage on the Allied at Normandy.
To be more historically accurate, the SS division that Captain John H. Miller would have faced at the factionary place Ramelle would have been the 12th SS Hitlerjugend division but possibly the young combatants would have imposed a different message to the audience so the 2nd SS Das Reich panzer division would have been introduced for the film
The Czech Hedgehog
The iron x shaped spikes on the beach landing sites were called the Czech hedgehog. The Czech hedgehog was an anti-tank obstacle to halt tanks from advancing or even possibly rip through their weak bottom armor.
However, the Czech hedgehogs were also placed on the beaches of the coasts to prevent naval landing crafts from entering the beaches and possibly block tank advances if they’ve landed. However, there were also used as very useful cover for the Allied forces during their landings.
The Czech soldiers surrendering at Normandy
There were two troopers that were speaking in Czech not in German crying “Please don’t shoot me! I am not German, I am Czech, I didn’t kill anyone! I am Czech!" The American soldiers that shot them would reply "Look! I washed for supper!".
After the German occupation, ethnic Cezchs, Normans, Danish, French, Belgian and other various countries would be conscripted or even voluntarily join the German military. Also, there were captured war prisoners that were forced to serve in the German military at the beaches of Normandy as they were mobilized for the construction of the Atlantic Wall.
MG42
The high rate of fire of the MG 42 that was capable of shooting 1,200 bullets per a minute made a distinctive chain saw like sound.
The Americans nicknamed the MG 42 as Hitler’s buzz saw due to the terrors it caused and the destructive power of the machine gun. The versatile machine gun MG42, maschinegewehr 42 in German literally meant a machinegun model 1942 after the year it was invented.
German infantry squads depended and relied on the firepower of the MG42 as the rest of the crew would usually the Kar 98 K bo
lt action rifle so many German infantry tactics were based on the MG 42. The high rate of fire was both a strength and weakness of the MG-42 because it would overheat the barrel easily and spend too much ammunition at once.
Yet its innovative easy barrel change mechanism and easy maintenance as well as its versatility made it one of the most feared weapons of the German military. T
he beaches depicted in Saving Private Ryan was shorter than the actual Omaha Beach where troopers had to run through the open 250 yards about 220 meters in the bullet shower of the MG-42, mortars and artillery.
The MG-42’s were responsible for the mass slaughters during the Normandy landings and the 82nd Airborne Division troopers at the radar station by the German soldier ‘Steamboat Willy’ and his crew.
German mines
The schuh mine 42 was anti-personnel mine that was mostly made of wood and cardboard. Mines that were made from glass or wood are very difficult to detect as they aren’t detected by mine detectors or metal detectors.
The schuh mine 42 was much more dangerous at it wouldn’t rather kill the person who steps on it but rather only blow off the leg or foot. Making an injured person would significantly stall the advance so this was designed like this on purpose.
The glasmine 43 was a similar mine that was made by glass, thus difficult to detect.
The S-mine or the schrapnellmine was the standard mine of the German. These would spring up to the air when the are triggered spraying shattered shrapnel in all directions.
The Teller mine was an anti-taank mine that could blow up a tank. Only a pressure of the weight of a vehicle would trigger the Teller mine.
German Divisions at Omaha Beach
The 352nd Infantry Division was the most combat experienced unit from the German forces that were defending the coasts of Normandy. Thus, Omaha Beach was not only the most fortified defense of the Germans but it was also occupied by the most combat effective units as well.
The 716th Infantry Division with conscripts from the Eastern front and old men were also supporting. More inland, the 346th Infantry Division would resist against captain John H. Miller’s rangers which John H. Miller successfully took down and handed over the prisoners to the 116th Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division.
