Today’s video takes us to a forbidding section of the Atlantic Wall, Nazi Germany’s coastal defense scheme that saw artillery batteries, bunkers and other defensive fixtures dot the seaside from Norway to France to keep out any potential liberating forces. It was shot in 2014 at the Openluchtmuseum Atlantikwall (Atlantic Wall Open Air Museum) near Oostende, Belgium, where 2 km of defenses have been preserved and maintained as if the Germans and turncoat Russians manning it have just stepped away, or fled advancing Canadian forces, whichever. Canadians are scary.

It’s similar in concept to my D-Day Relics video from June, though this one is actually older. I made it in 2014 but never got around to publishing it.

This is a bit different than that one though, because this series of bunkers looks alive. Whereas Normandy’s bunkers are smashed and left like abandoned relics amid the still scarred land, this museum put out everything where it should be. The command bunker is full of communications equipment, the living quarters have chests and uniforms out (one of which belonged to the soldier who used that rack), weapons are mounted and ready for action. This beats the usual setup where the spaces are empty or have been converted into museum spaces and look nothing like they did. I wish more museums had set ups like this because it helps me better understand the location.

The music is Jeremy Soule’s “Silent Footsteps” from the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim soundtrack, which I recommend everyone go buy. Right now. Damn good adventuring music.