iconic Fortress Pointe du HocPart atlantic wallsdesigned and built by the Nazi war machine on its banks NormandyThere have been three landslides this spring.

The fortifications on top of the 30-meter cliff were captured at the cost of their lives on June 6, 1944 by American infantrymen. Recent examinations have found a significant new collapse in the rocks below the fort, which again threatens its survival.

OUR changing of the climate And corrosion are swallowing up more and more of the French coastlines, raising questions about land ownership, public safety and sustainability. On the beaches of Normandy, where 150,000 Allied soldiers landed in the face of Nazi machine guns, history and memory itself are in danger of disappearing.

“If this place is lost, then the story of what happened here will also disappear,” says Scott Desjardins, director of the Pointe du Hoc American War Memorial, which welcomes 900,000 visitors annually. The competent French agency has registered more than 90 historical landing sites, including 44 museums, which are visited by more than 5 million people every year.

But two-thirds of Normandy’s coastline is at risk of erosion, and experts predict the situation will worsen with rising sea levels, more severe storms and dangerous tides. “The beach will move inland. We are sure of it,” says Stéphane Costa, a professor of geography at the University of Cannes and an expert on climate change in Normandy.

The French government has already admitted defeat. After centuries of building dykes and stone walls, the respective services have now adopted a philosophy of symbiosis and adaptation with the sea. The communities on the landing beaches are now working on plans that even include moving them to safer places.

However, for many, the rejection of such a historic place is unthinkable. “The beaches of Normandy are not just symbols. This is part of the myth. Everyone should be here at least once in their life to understand what happened in this place,” says Charles de Valavage, mayor of the town of Saintes-Maries-de-Monts, where Utah Beach is located.

The personal history of the mayor is inextricably linked with the landing. American paratroopers, who landed in the center of the village a few hours before the landing, severely wounded the father of the current mayor. The paratroopers provided first aid to the victim, who transported him to a hospital ship. After five operations in London, the wounded man returned to his now liberated village.

But even if the French government backs down, the cost of saving Normandy’s beaches is prohibitive. In 2010, the US Army Corps of Engineers spent $6 million just building a new foundation for the Pointe du Hoc bunkers by driving concrete blocks into the rock.