|
|
Maginot
Line
The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications,
tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defences
which France constructed along her borders with Germany
and with Italy in the wake of World War I. Generally the
Maginot Line refers to either the entire system or just
the defences facing Germany while the Alpine Line is used
for the Franco-Italian defences. The French believed the
fortification would provide time for their army to
mobilise in the event of attack and also compensate for
numerical weakness. The success of static, defensive
combat in World War I was a key influence on French
thinking.
The defenses were first proposed by Marshal Joffre, he
was opposed by modernists such as Paul Reynaud and
Charles de Gaulle who favoured investment in armour and
aircraft. Joffre had support from Pétain and there were
a number of reports and commissions organised by the
government. But it was André Maginot who convinced the
government to invest in the scheme. Maginot was another
veteran of World War I who became France's Minister of
Veteran Affairs and then Minister of War (1928-1932).
The line was built in a number of
phases from 1930 by the STG (Section Technique du Génie)
overseen by CORF (Commission d'Organization des Régions
Fortifiées). The main construction was largely completed
by 1935 at a cost of around 3 billion francs. The
specification of the defenses was very high, with
extensive and interconnected bunker complexes for
thousands of men, there were 108 main forts (ouvrages) at
15 Kilometer intervals, smaller ouvrages and casements
between with over 100 Kilometers of tunnels.
The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes
Forest ("impenetrable" and
"impassable") or along the border with Belgium
because the countries had signed an alliance in 1920, by
which the French army would operate in Belgium if the
German forces invaded. When Belgium abrogated the treaty
in 1936 and declared neutrality, the Maginot Line was
quickly extended along the Franco-Belgian border, but not
to the standard of the rest of the Line. There was a
final flurry of construction in 1939-40 with general
improvements all along the Line. The final Line was
strongest around the industrial regions of Metz, Lauter
and Alsace, while other areas were in comparison only
weakly guarded.
The German invasion plan of 1940 (Sichelschnitt) was
designed to deal with the Line. A decoy force sat
opposite the Line while a second Army Group cut through
the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well
as through the Ardennes Forest which lay north of the
main French defenses. Thus the Germans were able to avoid
assaulting the Maginot Line directly. Attacking from May
10, the German forces were well into France within five
days and they continued to advance until May 24, when
they stopped near Dunkirk. By early June the German
forces had cut the Line off from the rest of France and
the French government was making overtures for an
armistice. But the Line was still intact and manned with
a number of commanders wanting to hold out; and the
Italian advance had been successfully contained. Still
Maxime Weygand signed the surrender and the army was
ordered into captivity.
When the Allied forces invaded in June 1944 the Line was
again largely bypassed, with fighting only touching a
part of the fortifications near Metz and in northern
Alsace towards the end of 1944.
After the war the Line was re-manned by the French and
underwent some modifications. However when France
withdrew from NATO much of the Line was abandoned. With
the rise of the French independent nuclear deterrent by
1969 the Line was largely given up by the government,
with sections auctioned off to the public and the rest
left to decay.
The term "Maginot Line" has been used as a
metaphor for something that is confidently relied upon
despite being ineffectual. In fact, it did exactly what
it was intended to do, sealing off a section of France,
and forcing an aggressor around it. As originally
envisioned, the Maginot Line was part of a larger defense
plan, in which the attackers would meet with resistance
from the French Army, but the French did not implement
the latter part, leading to the loss of effectiveness of
the Line.
Text is available
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
|
