In this April 5, 2009 photo, a couple walks along an armored turret at the Hackenberg fortress, in Eastern France. In the 1930s the Maginot Line was viewed as a military marvel, an impregnable network of underground fortifications stretching along France's border with Germany, from Belgium to Switzerland, designed to stop the Nazi onslaught and prevent a repeat of the bloody trench warfare of World War I. (AP Photo/Slobodan Lekic) (AP)
The fortifications of the Maginot Line stretching across the old French German border provide a wealth of opportunities to visit the many preserved and restored bunkers and fortifications. Often situated in unspoiled and breath taking county side. For any one interested in fortifications of the period they present many opportunities for visits that can take in the Maginot Line, its sister fortifications along the French Italian boarder and the German Siegfried Line.
“Unfortunately, the Maginot Line failed to prevent France’s crushing defeat in May 1940, when the invading Nazis simply bypassed it by breaking through Belgian defenses in the north and trapping the hapless French, British and Belgian armies. The Germans later turned on the line and captured it from the rear, taking more than 500,000 prisoners.”
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