I had no idea that Belgian Gates were from....

Belgium! During 1941 through to 1944, the beautiful Normandy coastline was gradually fortified by German forces in creating what they called the Atlantic Wall. With the appointment of Erwin Rommel as the officer responsible for these fortifications in late 1943, the tempo of the work increased dramatically but there were still three main types of beach defence (as opposed to shore defences and bunkers etc). Photographs of the actual defences are very rare as it was impossible for the French Resistance to get close enough with a camera, while reconnaissance aircraft could not always pick up the detail so this photograph is particularly helpful. Taken only a few days after the liberation of Dieppe, it shows a) the angled telegraph poles which had Teller Mines attached to the top b) cross welded steel tank traps to entangle tank traps and then the c) Belgian Gates. I have often wondered why they were called this (I don't get out much) but recently discovered that they had once been part of the defences along the Belgian-German Border and were designed to prevent assault boats from crossing rivers and canals.

So the Germans simply pulled thousands of these out of the ground and moved them to Normandy to rip the bottoms of the hulls of landing craft to pieces. This picture taken when the tide was out, hence the density of the defences can be seen - at high tide they would have been invisible. So do you land closer to the beach at high tide and risk the obstacles or further out at low tide and risk being under fire for longer?!