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Maginot Line
| France suffered tremendously even in victory after World War I. They lost two generations of men and as they looked at protecting themselves with minimal manpower a defensive line seemed the best option. The project was championed by Andre Maginot who died before it was built. The purpose of the line was to provide a defensible line with minimal manpower, prevent a sneak attack and force any attack through neutral Belgium and the impassable Ardennes forest. History generally records this effort as a failure but the French honor it as a triumph (more on that later). The tour begins at this entrance. The tour was 2 1/2 hours and covered 3 km of the 400 km of the line. |
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The line is not visible from the surface other than the occasional pillbox. The line is actually 22-30 meters underground. It was all dug by hand. There is a railroad that runs through most of the tunnels. This was so they could efficiently move materials and munitions along the line. |
| Some of the side tunnels were just brick lined and had no rail. Most of the main tunnels were made of reinforced concrete to survive bomb attacks. The exposed concrete such as the entrance bunker was 3.5 meters thick. |
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Looking down the line you can see what seems like forever. The walls have 22,000 volt wires and redundant telephone lines that run on thin shelves in the wall. |
| The power came in from the surrounding cities during peacetime. Four generators like this could provide all the power the line would need if the outside source failed. The planning accounted for dealing with all the exhaust generated. They had huge filters that could filter all the air free of exhaust gases or even poison gases if the intakes were gassed. |
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The tour director referred to those that manned the line as a crew since they were more like a submarine crew than an infantry. The line could be self-sufficient for extended periods in the case of a seige. |
| The kitchens efficiently fed over 600 men with good quality meals. |
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This is one of the sleeping areas. Like a submarine, the men slept in three shifts. |
| The pharmacy. |
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They were prepared for war with an operating room and even a morgue. |
| This is the list of officers of Fort Shoenenbourg during the brief May-June 1940 war that resulted in defeat for France. We noted with interest that the commander of the infantry was named Kieffer (French spelling). |
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The map shows how the Maginot Line was surrounded by Germans after they ran an end run through Belgium and the Ardennes. The line held out as the rest of France was defeated. They continued to fight after the armistice was signed on June 25th. Only after receiving orders from the free French command in unoccupied France did they surrender. The French hold that the Maginot Line met its mandate: it bought time to call up reserves; it defended a long line of France's border with Germany (and Italy) from a surprise attack; it did so with a minimum of men. An honest assessment says they won the battle but lost the war. |