The Maginot Line

One of the biggest blunders in history. It did its job alright the Germans did not attack it they just went around it occupied France and came back and finished off the cut off defenders. Talk about being behind the times, if it had been a line of clothing it would have probably been a big success.

Brilliant work. Lets fight a war like we did twenty some years ago and hope our opponent didn't get any smarter.

Actually the Maginot line was a brilliant tool and did it's job. The Germans never attacked the line. The French Army was able to concentrate along the Belgian and Luxembourg border as the German attack was channelled that direction by the Maginot Line. To build the line to the coast would have been self-defeating for the French Army. A Maginot Line from the coast to Switzerland would have taken all the manpower of the French Army and would leave nothing for offense. The fatal defect of the French Army was the use of armor. France actually had more numerous and better armor than Germany, but the French scattered the armor in infantry support. The Germans concentrated the armor in Panzer divisions. The French had nothing to counter the Panzer forces and, well, you know the rest. The only reason the Maginot Line fell was because of the French surrender. A good work of reference is The Conduct of War, 1789-1961, by Maj. Gen. J. F. C. Fuller. (Fuller and two or three others, inc... Read more

At least the French had enough foresight to build a system of fortifications along the eastern frontier of the country. The problem was that it was begun in 1929 and was not completed at the beginning at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939. The strength of the defenses itself was untested and the line was completely flanked by Germany in 1940. The Germans took Paris in no time flat. The Belgian border also remained unguarded, the French believed that the primary threat to Germany would come at their Eastern border. They didn't anticipate that Germany would take Belgium first before going to France. The Maginot Line didn't eliminate the need for mobile warfare, in a sense, it gave France a false sense of security. They simply weren't prepared for the rapid onslaught of Hitler's Armies.

The French were still fighting the last war, which is a common mistake among military establishments. When the German assault came in in 1940, it went around this so quickly most of its troops were captured in place.

We're building one right now--it's called space-based missile defense. When that bomb comes, it ain't comin' on no damn ICBM. Think hard. Hint: their last weapon was BOX CUTTERS.

Actually, the idea of the Maginot Line showed that the French were not stupid and knew of a possible future war with Germany. The stupidity comes from the engineering of the line. Leaving a complete border with Belgium unprotected was one of the dumbest things they did! Having little anti-aircraft weapons was stupid. Maginot was a man that needed more money to have the full scale defense sufficient to that of the French needs. In reality, the political and financial aspect of the line was the stupidity! The French Army felt as if they had a sufficient defense and cared little about funding for new tactics and mobile weapons (tanks, armored vehicles, etc.). The French Air Force had just begun to re-build itself when WW2 broke out. The Dewoitine D520 was a superior aircraft to the Me-109 but the French didnt have enough of them. In all, the idea of the Maginot Line wasnt stupid. The stupidity came in the engineering and financial aspect of the project. But most of all, the stu... Read more