Comments on: CAN THIS WAR BE WON?

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:51:27 +0000

Apart from the pretty obvious “just-bypass-it-then”-strategy,Maginot-style fortifications have also been defeated by direct assault. In 1940,a German paratrooper commando took out the Eben Emael fort guarding the Albert Canal, an underground fort with cupolas not unlike those of the Maginot Line. They landed on top of the glacis with gliders, then destroyed the cupolas with hollow charges. And if I remember correctly,the Allies blasted through every German fortification they had to face on their advance through northwestern Europe, just as the Red Army did with the fortifications of the Oder-Warthe Area (now Western Poland).

By: mickey

mickey — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:12:19 +0000

the lines where an attempt to create permanent, unbreakable trench lines. this was at a time when tanks where weak and underarmored, and planes where considered so minor of a threat that they where not even considered. advances in tank and plane design caused the lines to become obsolete before WWII even started. in fact, not even the defensive artillery installed was even useful, as the artillery of WWII outranged and outgunned that of the line.

By: Neil Russell

Neil Russell — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:19:21 +0000

I guess the money had been spent on Maginot before someone pointed out to the French about the whole “just walk around it” offensive that the Germans were perfecting

By: jayessell

jayessell — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:36:47 +0000

Torgo…
Had the money been spent on Ninja/SEAL/Saboteur/Mercenaries
the war would have been much different.

By: Torgo

Torgo — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:03:42 +0000

Politics stopped the building of the Maginot Line during the 30’s. Had it been completed, WWII would have been much different.

By: jayessell

jayessell — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:49:07 +0000

Wasn’t there a WWI instance of tunnelers digging UNDER No-Man’s-Land
and detonating a large quanity of explosives behind and under
Enemy lines?
That iconic newsreel of a large black debis explosion?

******

About the mole bomb….
Would the blast wave kill the operators at the other end of the tunnel?
Would the mole drag its power cable through hundreds of feet of collapsed tunnel?
What a drag! (The reel should be on the mole!)

By: StanFlouride

StanFlouride — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:56:27 +0000

And, in 1945, the Allies made pretty short work of the Siegfried Line, bypassing its strong points and storming through into Germany. After the failure of these in WW2 defenses during the Cold War were designed to be more fluid.

By: scud

scud — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:46:28 +0000

I heard they do…

The defences were prepared for the last war… and even then the Germans did swing by way of Belgium – why shouldn’t they in ‘40? And they did go around Maginot. Fortifications played no role in Blitzkrieg…

By: NefariousWheel

NefariousWheel — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:45:30 +0000

I wonder if they give tours today…