1938: Maginot Line

As part of a large scale defensive program, France has undertaken the construction of a line of fortifications to extend the entire length of her eastern border, known as the Maginot Line. It is named after a former French war minister, André Maginot, who suggested the plan shortly after the Battle of Verdun in 1916. When completed the Maginot Line will form an unbroken chain of fortifications 943 miles long extending from the Alps to the Channel. The 280-mile stretch along the Franco-German border was completed between 1929 and 1936 and represents the most formidable military works ever constructed. The line is being extended north behind the Belgium border and south behind the Swiss border.

The completed portion of the Maginot Line consists of a series of fortifications entirely interconnected by underground tunnels. Massive strongholds are located at regular intervals along the line. These principal forts have been built almost entirely underground and are further protected by at least twenty feet of solid concrete. They are designed to be habitable by garrisons of a thousand men for months at a time and contain barracks, electricity, running water, telephone exchanges, recreation rooms, a hospital and large supplies of food and ammunition. 'Subways' with small electric flat-car trains provide quick transportation of troops. To protect the garrisons of these subterranean fortresses from poison gas, machinery has been installed to keep the inside air at a slightly higher pressure than normal atmosphere. The entrance tunnels leading to the rear are protected by air locks. Heavy guns mounted in turrets similar to those on battleships are operated entirely from within, the crews receiving instructions from artillery officers who make observations from heavily armored observation chambers by means of steel-protected panoramic periscopes.

Smaller strongholds garrisoned by a dozen men are strategically placed forward of the line of the large forts and connected by tunnels. These defenses are also supplied with food and ammunition. Between the main and secondary fortifications, along the entire line from Verdun to Belfort, is an unbroken chain of machine gun pillboxes of concrete and steel, cleverly concealed in outcrops of native rock, in peasant cottages, and in thickets. These outposts are accessible from any of the main forts by a labyrinth of tunnels. The line is further protected by miles of barbed wire entanglements and steel rails driven into the ground as a barrier to tank attacks.

Opposite the Maginot Line on the east side of the Rhine river, the Germans are building the Limes or Siegfried Line, a similar chain of fortifications. During the summer and fall of 1938 an estimated number of 185,000 men were at work on this line so that it might be completed from the Netherlands to the Swiss frontier by the winter of 1938.