Extended Maginot Line

Lateknight

Banned
Right. The single attack occured on... the last of the last blockhouse on the west, the only one without artillery support. Men stayed in the blockhouse and died there. Nobody dared attack the forts themselves.

No they just when around the forts then destroyed Frances army so that's not really a example of the line being a success.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
No they just when around the forts then destroyed Frances army so that's not really a example of the line being a success.

The whole point of the forts as constructed was to make sure the fighting happened in Belgium rather than France. The forts did exactly as planned... just a bit TOO well.
 
Please remember that the purpose of the Maginot line was not to stop the German Army from invading France on its own but instead to act as a Force Multiplier and prevent a rapid advance across the border and allow time for Mobile reserves to react to any point of attack and then prevent the Germans from attacking at another point while this counter attack is going in.

A similiar or even lesser set of Fortifications along the Belgium Border might not look to good diplomatically but actually makes Belgium safer - I mean why would Germany attack through Belgium if you simply end up against the Maginot Line?
 
Simply not true, the lines held until AFTER the armistice. It was also shown the bigger forts could have withstand an atomic blast, those were amazing examples of architecture.

The problem, as far as I remember, was that building a line of forts alongside the Belgium frontier would have been interpreted as a belligerant move by the Belgians. The Belgians then said they would build a line of forts in case but were too trusting in their neutrality and botched the job.

Concerning the price, the Maginot line was only a tiny part of the French military budget, the problem was political and diplomatic


EDIT: I found a figure, Maginot line was (supposedly) 5.5% of French military budget every year of its construction. So, an effort yes, but nothing that bad it will bleed out the militaries.
At what distance?
 
The entire point of the Maginot Line wasn't some big wall that the Germans would ignorantly throw themselves at.
It was to block off the easiest routes of German attack and ensure if they did want to invade France that:
1; The fighting would take place in a very narrow area
2: That fighting would be in Belgium. Not France.

That the Germans would attack through Belgium was fully expected and planned for. What was not planned for was that armoured columns could pass through the Ardennes at such speed.
 
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