File:Normandy '12 - Day 5- Ouistreham (7466259346).jpg

English: Le Grand Bunker. Musee le mur de l'Atlantique, Ouistreham. Handheld Nightshot mode

Photo taken at Le Grand Bunker - Museum of the Atlantic Wall in 6 Av. du 6 Juin, 14150 Ouistreham in Normandy region in northwestern France.

• During the Second World War, Ouistreham was occupied by German troops. From 1942, the beach area became a no man's land; 123 villas by the sea were desmolished to make way for the defenses of the Atlantic Wall: 80 concrete structures and an artillery observation post overlooking the beach “the big bunker” were built. On D-Day, the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, this surveillance post became a strategic place and its capture ensured the landing point on the beach of Sword Beach.
• The Atlantic Wall (German: Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications| built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinaviaas a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion| of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during en:World War II. The manning and operation of the Atlantic Wall was administratively overseen by the German Army|, with some support from Luftwaffe ground forces. The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) maintained a separate coastal defence network, organised into a number of sea defence zones. (...) The Vichy regime imposed a compulsory labour system, drafting some 600,000 French workers to construct these permanent fortifications along the Dutch, Belgian, and French coasts facing the English Channel.
• The Grand Bunker/The Atlantic Wall Museum is located inside the former German headquarters acting as fire control for the batteries covering the entrance of the Orne river and the canal connecting Caen to the sea. The 17-meter-high concrete tower has been fully restored to make it look like it was on 6 June 1944.

On the Grand Bunker’s six floors visitors may roam all its inner rooms, which have been recreated down to the last detail: generator room, gas filters room, casemate with machine gun protecting the entrance, dormitory, medical store, sick bay, armoury, ammunition store, radio transmission room, telephone switchboard, observation post equipped with a powerful range-finder and on the top floor a 360° view over the area of Sword Beach and the Bay of the Seine from Le Havre (northeast) to Quinéville (northwest).

Many photographs, documents and items concerning the construction of the Atlantic Wall, the artillery, the beach defences, etc. are presented. The Museum also offers an insight into the tactics of the shock troops specially trained for the D-Day operations against the Atlantic Wall defences, as well as the everyday life of the German Army soldiers.