PhD student secures research grant for World War II project

A PhD student from Glasgow Caledonian will spend four months examining World War II archives in Germany after securing a coveted research grant.

Logan Kaine is in the second year of his PhD on Germany’s efforts to prevent the D-Day landings in June 1944.

His thesis focuses on the Atlantic Wall, a coastal fortification constructed in France to defend against an Allied invasion.

Logan will now spend months researching the German Military Archives in Freiburg im Breisgau, after securing a grant from The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

He said: “This research will be vital in completing my PhD research on the Atlantic Wall, the German coastal fortifications built in France during the Second World War. I am very grateful for the funding from the DAAD.

“This work has reinforced my belief that even though the story of D-Day has been told many times, the story of the Atlantic Wall still has much to offer.”

The DAAD promotes transnational cooperation and university partnerships, and is the German national agency for EU higher education cooperation.

Dr Ben Shepherd, Reader in History at Glasgow Caledonian, said: “The Atlantic Wall is a big part of the story of D-Day.

“It failed to stop the Allies, of course, and in doing so helped to determine the course of a military campaign that changed the course of history.

“But even now, there remains much to uncover about the reasons for this failure, and about what the story of the Wall reveals concerning the Germans’ defensive military thinking across the course of the whole war.

“The grant that Logan has been awarded will enable him to make a deep dive into the German archives and thus make a new and valuable contribution to knowledge about the Atlantic Wall.”