Maginot Line - Historum

Stuart · March 8th, 2011, 10:05 AM

Of the parts of the Maginot Line that were attacked by German forces in World War 2, how well did they stand up to attack? Were they able to repulse attacks or were they easily overrun? Thanks

Tuor · March 8th, 2011, 03:27 PM

Maginot Line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pancho35 · March 9th, 2011, 04:37 AM

Nah it was in fact, a very good defensive line, the French were just stupid for not going all the way up to the north coast.

Eumenes · March 9th, 2011, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pancho35

Nah it was in fact, a very good defensive line, the French were just stupid for not going all the way up to the north coast.

This is a gross oversimplification.

**Son of Cathal** · March 9th, 2011, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pancho35

Nah it was in fact, a very good defensive line, the French were just stupid for not going all the way up to the north coast.

The Belgians wouldn't let them go all the way to the coast

**OpanaPointer** · March 10th, 2011, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Son of Cathal

The Belgians wouldn't let them go all the way to the coast

The Belgians couldn't actually stop them, but it was considered unfriendly to build fortification opposite a country that wasn't likely to attack you. The problem was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Proven invasion path through currently non-hostile territory. If you don't extend the line your open. If you do, you may alienate the other country to the point where they would change sides.

We see how that worked out for the French.

pugsville · March 10th, 2011, 03:34 AM

NQR - the problem was that building fortifications on the Belgian border was seen as "abandoning" their ally. The plan was the french army would advance into Belgium and with the various channels and Belgian forts would be well sited to defend against German invasion.

However when the war started the Belgians clung to their neutrality and would not let French and British forces into Belgium. Even after German plans were captured after a plan crashed in Belgium.

The French were (defensively) allied with Belgium so the French refrained from building forts behind Belgium. BUt the plan defense fell down Belgians didnt let the allied forces in to defend the country until the Germans were actually attacking.

1940 could have been very different if the Belgians had been more realistic and less with putting their hands in theirs ears and going lalala about the Nazi regime. (of course they were hardly the only ones)

**arras** · March 10th, 2011, 07:34 AM

If Belgians would let French in, it would only play in to the German hands. Provided they would attack France the way they did. Germans in fact needed French army to enter Belgium in order to be able to cut it off. As they did.

France was not conquered via Belgium, it was conquered via Ardennes.

In this regard Maginot line extending to the coast would not help. French would not fortify Ardennes as they considered them safe.

sylla1 · March 10th, 2011, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pancho35

Nah it was in fact, a very good defensive line, the French were just stupid for not going all the way up to the north coast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eumenes

This is a gross oversimplification.

Indeed (from the same wiki article linked above)

Quote:

On 19 May, the German 16th Army successfully captured petit ouvrage La Ferte (southeast of Sedan) after conducting a deliberate assault by combat engineers backed up by heavy artillery. The entire French crew of 107 soldiers was killed during the action.
On 14 June 1940, the day Paris fell, the German 1st Army went over to the offensive in "Operation Tiger" and attacked the Maginot Line between St. Avold and Saarbrücken.
The Germans then broke through the fortification line as defending French forces retreated southward.
In the following days, infantry divisions of the 1st Army attacked fortifications on each side of the penetration; successfully capturing four petits ouvrages.
The 1st Army also conducted two attacks against the Maginot Line further to the east in northern Alsace.
One attack successfully broke through a weak section of the Line in the Vosges Mountains, but a second attack was stopped by the French defenders near Wissembourg.
On 15 June, infantry divisions of the German 7th Army attacked across the Rhine River in Operation "Small Bear", penetrating the defences and capturing the cities of Colmar and Strasbourg.
By early June the German forces had cut off the Line from the rest of France ...
As the Line was surrounded, the German Army attacked a few ouvrages from the rear, but were unsuccessful in capturing any significant fortifications.
But the main fortifications of the Line were still mostly intact and manned with a number of commanders wanting to hold out ...

pugsville · March 10th, 2011, 10:16 AM

The German main force passed through the Belgian Ardennes which were not overly good terrain with many narrow roads and bridges.

If the french and British armies had been allowed to advance in 39, taken up their positions it would have been a different proposition from being caught on the move as they were in 1940.

They had plans to demolish many bridges the Germans used but were caught out by the speed of the German advance.