Did you know?

 That Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was put in charge of German defences in Normandy and he believed that any invasion would come at high tide, when troops would be at risk from German fire for the shortest period of time. He devised a series of beach obstacles for underwater defences that could be completely hidden during mid and high tides. The jagged edges of iron Czech “hedgehogs” could tear through the bottom of the landing craft. Some were rigged with explosives that would detonate on impact. Round, flat land mines (also called ‘teller mines’ after the German word for ‘plate’) were attached to wooden posts wedged into the sand and would explode when they came into contact with the landing craft.

Inland, Rommel also designed a network of large poles (made from trees the slave labor had trimmed off the branches) fixed vertically into the ground that prevented gliders from landing in open areas or for paratroopers to drop into.

These defences were nicknamed ‘Rommel’s Asparagus’.