“The Maginot Line will permit calm French mobilization, experts say, in the event of a crisis. It may be noted, from a study of these forts on a map, that the chief point of concentration is approximately opposite the reoccupied Rhine zone… The French believe that the Maginot Line will prevent any possibility of invasion. Military authorities admit that enemy aircraft may wreck French cities and other industrial centers, but they maintain that no hostile force can occupy their territory until the Maginot Line is destroyed. They believe this line to be inviolable, but if they are perchance mistaken, they still have another device which is prevent its capture.”
The fortress was named after a French civil servant, André Maginot (1877 – 1932), who died before he could witness the disaster that bore his name. At the time the plan was conceived, tanks were unable to trek through the damp hill country outside of the range of French guns – but this was not the case in 1940 when the German attacked. The Maginot Line cost three billion francs.
Click here to read an article about French confidence in the Maginot Line.
Click here to read about General Charles de Gaulle.
