East Wall

East Wall (Irish: An Port Thoir) is an inner city area of the Northside of Dublin, Ireland.

Location

East Wall is bounded by the North Strand Road to the west, by North Wall and the Royal Canal to the south, and was bounded by East Wall Road, Dublin to the north until land reclamation extended that part. It is linked to Ringsend by the East-Link bridge; it is linked to Fairview by the Annesley Bridge.

East Wall is bounded by Railway lines, the Royal Canal, the River Tolka, the River Liffey and Dublin Port (the Irish Sea) resulting in a readily identifiable area geographically if somewhat separated from the large city which surrounds it.

East Wall also holds one terminus of the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Development

East Wall dates from the end of the eighteenth century from the time of the construction of the North Wall. It was originally a working class area, with many finding employment in Dublin Port, adjacent to the area. In the economic boom years from the late 1990s onwards, the area developed rapidly, with the notable addition of the International Financial Services Centre (mostly in neighbouring North Wall), and East Point Business Park on reclaimed land extending East Wall to the north. It has developed rapidly since the late 1990s to a vibrant community and in 2013 regained its status as an officially recognised Village within the framework of Dublin City Development Plan. There has been a massive increase in the population in recent years to over 5000.

Panther–Wotan line

The Panther–Wotan line (also known as the East Wall or Ostwall) was a defensive line partially built by the German Wehrmacht in 1943 on the Eastern Front. The first part of the name refers to the short northern section between Lake Peipus and the Baltic Sea at Narva. It stretched all the way south towards the Black Sea along Dnieper.

Purpose

After reverses on the eastern front in 1942, there were calls in early 1943 for the construction of fortifications and defenses in depth along the Dnieper river. After the Battle of Kursk and the invasion of Italy, there was a need to both conserve forces in the east and shift to defensive operations. Hitler ordered the construction of the defensive lines in August 1943. With the Panther–Wotan line, Hitler accepted the abandonment of any further offensive strategy in the east. The change in strategy was however adopted very late and the total length of the front made the construction of any sort of strong line very difficult.

Planning