Maginot+Line

Maginot Line was a vast fort that spread along the French/German border constructed of concrete fortifications, obstacles and storage for weapons and weapons installations. WWI caused so much damage to France, it was decided that France would not suffer such damage in the years to come. The French military Marshal, Ferdinand Foch, believed France should seek revenge and believed the best was to accomplish this was by the power of defense. The head of the armed force, Marshal Henri Philipe Petain, put together some of the best military minds to come up with a plan for how France could best defend itself against the Germans and teamed up with Andre Maginot. The idea grew to that of a long and deep defensive barrier being constructed.

Funding was granted to build three sections of an experimental defense line – based on what Petain had recommended – which was to develop into the Maginot Line. Maginot worked in the government office which gave him access to raise additional funding to continue the construction of the Maginot Line. He had solid argument to continue the construction of the wall due to the fact that the Nazi Party and Hitler were making advances in Germany. The solid construction of the wall began in 1930. Ten years later, Andre Maginot died. To honor him and his strong belief that this wall would save France many casualties, he was honored by the the naming of the construction after him.

Maginot Line consists of a continuous line of forts, made of 500 different buildings. The large forts (known as ouvrages) dominate the line. Each ouvrage housed around 1000 men, and were located about nine miles from each other. Between the ouvrages, within nine mile gap smaller forts were built to hold 200 to 500 men. There were 50 ouvrages in total along the German border. Each one had the necessary firepower to cover the two nearest ouvrages to the north and south. They were protected by reinforced steel that was inches deep and capable of taking a direct hit. In front of the forts, there were large ditches to stop the advance of tanks, along with mine fields which served as an advance warning of a pending attack. It is said that some of the forts were supposedly made nuclear war proof.

It sits along the French border with Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. It was very sophisticated for its time, providing back-up underground railways, state of the art living conditions and even supplied air conditioning and eating areas. However, Maginot Line proved ineffective, as the Germans bypassed the line and attacked from the north in the spring of 1940.