The Maginot Line

 

When World War I finally ended, France vowed never again to let Germany, the so-called "beast that sleeps on the other side of the Rhine," violate its territory. French politicians and generals conceived the Maginot Line, a network of forts and blockhouses, as an obstacle to any future invasion. Although it has become notorious as a universal metaphor for bungling, the Line in fact was not the blunder it has been made out to be. In many ways it was a model of clever engineering and technological accomplishment.

Extending about 150 miles from Sedan in the west to beyond Wissembourg in the east, the Line bristled with some 50 large fortifications, each within cannon range of another. Buried 100 feet and more under hills and ridges, the impregnable complexes were manned by up to 1,000 troops who were transported between their elaborate barracks and heavily armed combat bunkers by trolleys. They contained everything that was needed to support life underground and were virtually impervious to enemy infiltration.  

Germany did invade France again, of course, but it had to go around the Maginot Line to do so. The Line itself eventually surrendered, but it was never taken by force.

 

Before World War II, the layouts of the Line's ouvrages, or large underground fortifications, were a military secret. Illustrators surmised that they were compact, like battleships when in fact they were elongated and spread out. Barracks complete with a wine cellar, a chapel, a dentist's chair and a morgue could house a thousand men. Trolleys carried troops, arms and munitions to combat bunkers through tunnels often more than five miles long.