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Remains of the Atlantic Wall in Harlingen

Harlingen

The bunkers at Harlingen were part of the Atlantic Wall: the more than 6,000-kilometer-long German defense line from Norway to Spain. The Atlantic Wall is one of the largest structures of the 20th century.

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The bunkers at Harlingen were part of the Atlantic Wall: the more than 6,000-kilometer-long German defense line from Norway to Spain. The Atlantic Wall is one of the largest structures of the 20th century.

The line was built during the Second World War between 1942 and 1945 to prevent an Allied invasion of the Western European mainland from the sea. The Atlantic Wall was a series of separate smaller and larger support points that could give each other fire support.

In many cases they consisted of bombproof bunkers, sometimes with a wall and roof thickness of at least two meters of reinforced concrete. Due to a lack of labour, equipment and fuel, only 510 bunkers of the planned 2000 had been built in the Netherlands. In the English Garden in Harlingen is a German bunker that was part of the Atlantic Wall. It concerns a Communications Command Post with which the Germans coordinated the Frisian coastal defences.