"You started it....."

[expat]

"Yes you did, you invaded Poland".

04:45 this day in history Germany invaded Poland.

Matt

[dcunning30]

..... and less than a year later they'd gotten over France....

That would make for an interesting study of the folly of the Maginot line.  And to prove the Germans didn't learn the mistakes of the vanquished, they made the same mistake with the Atlantic wall.

[C]

That would make for an interesting study of the folly of the Maginot line.  And to prove the Germans didn't learn the mistakes of the vanquished, they made the same mistake with the Atlantic wall.

To be fair, the Maginot line was in the wrong place (or in the right place, but needed to be longer).

The Atlantic wall was in the right place, just a bit too "thin", in some places poorly defended, and with a somewhat ludicrous and fragile command structure...

[dcunning30]

How do you defeat a static defense?

1) Go around it (maginot line)
2) Attack it's weakest point while feining an attack against it's strongest point (atlantic wall)

[Boomtown Rat]

The Maginot Line was actually a strong barricade, just noone predicted the Germans to push through the Ardennes.

The Germans later did attack the Maginot line, which had French troops besieged in it (the Germans had already taken most of France), but they attacked it from the behind, so it was much harder for the defenders.

[Woodlouse2002]

The Maginot Line was actually a strong barricade, just noone predicted the Germans to push through the Ardennes.

The Germans later did attack the Maginot line, which had French troops besieged in it (the Germans had already taken most of France), but they attacked it from the behind, so it was much harder for the defenders.

Yes. No one ever expected that one. After all, they didn't do exactly the same thing in 1914.

[dcunning30]

The purpose of the strong barricade is defeated if the attacker can merely go around it and attack it from behind.  That is my point.  Static defenses are only as strong as their weakest point.  If the static defense is incomplete, then it is a failure as well.

[C]

...and to make it all the more fun, some chap invented "Air Power" to make it all the more difficult to defend...

[Woodlouse2002]

...and to make it all the more fun, some chap invented "Air Power" to make it all the more difficult to defend...

It's just not cricket is it me lad.

[C]

It's just not cricket is it me lad.

Plain rude in my book!

*pun completely unintended!

[thebrelon]

my parents live in the east of france, and we used to visit many of the maginot line buildings, either during organised visits or "free" visits in abandonned ones...

all I can say is it must have been a hell of a work to build them!! some buildings have tunels to reach others one few kilometers away, with rails and trains... you also have hospitals and everything...
it was crazy!!!

all that was crazy...

vince

[dcunning30]

I saw a documentary on the Maginot Line on history channel.  I'm not sure it it was on Modern Marvels or Engineering Disasters!  LOL!  But the Maginot line was HUGE!  I was amazed at it's scale.

[Boomtown Rat]

Yes. No one ever expected that one. After all, they didn't do exactly the same thing in 1914.

Well, the French did expect this, but they expected the Belgians to hold, who would then be reinforced by the British Expeditionary Force and the French Forces.

History tends to forget, that the Belgians had many strong forces, like Fort Eben-Emael.  The whole difference between 1914 and 1940 was that the Germans had taken advantage of the ability of air power, in this case landing gliders at the forts beforehand.


As well, most people think France was a pushover, they weren't, by the end of the Invasion of France over 125,000 French troops had died and half the entire Luftwaffe that participated in the Invasion had been destroyed.

There's many misconceptions about Poland as well.