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The Atlantic Wall Open Air Museum (Dutch: Openluchtmuseum Atlantikwall) is a military museum near Ostend in Belgium which preserves fortifications of the Atlantic Wall dating to the First and Second World Wars. The section of fortifications owned by the museum - over 60 bunkers and two miles of trenches - is among the best preserved sections of ...
The actual museum of the bunker village is located in the Sonderkonstruktion 1 (SK1) bunker also the main command bunker of the Atlantic Wall in Belgium. In this museum are numerous archaeological pieces on display from several fortifications, a lot of documentation relating to the Atlantic; Air War and Antwerp itself during the war.
The hidden structures were abandoned after the war and eventually forgotten, archaeologists said.
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 Scandinavia as a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during World War II.
The line itself consisted of bunkers, anti-tank ditches, and barricades including so-called Cointet-elements and played a key role in Allied strategy during the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940. However, its role in the actual fighting was ultimately minimal. In 2009 an inventory of surviving emplacements was begun. [2]
During the 1930s, Belgium was still recovering from the destruction of World War I.Economically, Belgium was experiencing high unemployment in the aftermath of the Great Depression of 1929, and by 1932 unemployment stood at 23.5 percent [3] though under the "New Deal-style" Plan de Man [4] this had been reduced to around 15 percent by 1937.
Fort Breendonk (Dutch: Fort van Breendonk, French: Fort de Breendonk) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, Belgium, which served as a Nazi prison camp (Auffanglager) during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II.
During the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany, the facility was called "St. Trond" [2] and became a major Luftwaffe air base during the Battle of France.Within a few days of its capture by German forces, the Luftwaffe moved in Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (SKG 77), a Junkers Ju 87B Stuka dive bomber unit; Zerstörergeschwader 26 (ZG 26), a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter (Zerstörer - German ...