InWorld War II, theAtlantic pockets were locations along the coasts of theNetherlands,Belgium andFrance chosen asstrongholds by the occupyingGerman forces, to be defended as long as possible against land attack by theAllies.

The locations are known in German asAtlantikfestungen (lit. "Atlantic strongholds") but are known in English as "Atlantic pockets".

Six of the Atlantic pockets were captured by the Allies between June and October 1944. Others were placed under siege. Three surrendered in April 1945, and the remainder in May 1945.

On 19 January 1944Adolf Hitler declared eleven places along theAtlantic Wall to befortresses (Festungen), to be held until the last man or the last round, calling themAtlantikfestungen (lit. "Atlantic strongholds").^[1]

The ports were:IJmuiden, theHoek van Holland,Dunkirk,Boulogne-sur-Mer,Le Havre,Cherbourg,Saint-Malo,Brest,Lorient,Saint-Nazaire and theGironde estuary.^[1]

In February and March 1944 three more coastal areas were declared to be fortresses: theChannel Islands,Calais andLa Rochelle.^[1]

Other fortresses were added afterD-Day on 6 June 1944 in further directives of 17 August and 4 September.^{[citation needed]}

As well as concentrating men andmatériel to control the surrounding area, the fortresses' purpose was to deny the use of port facilities to the Allies and to secure their continued use by German submarines in theBattle of the Atlantic. In addition, as long as they remained in German hands, they had propaganda value.

In France, sixpockets were captured by the Allies between the initialinvasion of Normandy in June 1944 and October 1944, and others brought under siege. Three were liberated by French forces in April 1945, while the remainder surrendered after thecapitulation of Germany in May 1945.

The Atlantic pockets, with the date any Allied assault began and date the defenders surrendered, are shown below.

• Liberation of France

• Rémy Desquesnes.Les poches de résistance allemandes sur le littoral français: août 1944 – mai 1945. Rennes: Éd. Ouest-France, 2011.ISBN 978-2-7373-4685-9;(in French).
• (fr)Stéphane Simonnet (2015),Les poches de l'Atlantique: Les batailles oubliées de la Libération Janvier 1944 - mai 1945, Tallandier,ISBN 979-10-210-0492-4
• Sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (3/5): La libération des poches de l'Atlantique (in French), France culture - La fabrique de l'histoire, 6 May 2015, retrieved14 Aug 2015
• Wilt, Alan (2004).The Atlantic Wall 1941–1944: Hitler's Defenses for D-Day. Enigma Books.

• Encirclements in World War II
• Military installations of the Wehrmacht
• Western European Campaign (1944–1945)

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