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The Maginot Line: The History of the Fortifications that Failed to Protect France from Nazi Germany During World War II, by Charles River
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*Includes pictures
*Explains the origins of the Maginot Line, its construction, and the World War II fighting around it
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
*Includes a table of contents
“We could hardly dream of building a kind of Great Wall of France, which would in any case be far too costly. Instead we have foreseen powerful but flexible means of organizing defense, based on the dual principle of taking full advantage of the terrain and establishing a continuous line of fire everywhere.” – Andre Maginot
As the power of Nazi Germany grew alarmingly during the 1930s, the French sought means to defend their territory against the rising menace of the Thousand-Year Reich. As architects of the most punitive measures in the Treaty of Versailles following World War I, the French government made natural targets for Teutonic retribution, so the Maginot Line, a series of interconnected strongpoints and fortifications running along much of France's eastern border, helped allay French fears of invasion.
The popular legend of the Maginot Line portrays the frontier defenses as a useless “white elephant” project that was prompted by a gross misapprehension of warfare's new realities in the mid-20th century and quickly overwhelmed by the forceful advance of the German blitzkrieg. English idiom today invokes this vision of the Maginot Line as a metaphor for any defensive measure strongly believed in but actually useless.
Indeed, usages such as “Maginot Line mentality,” describing an overly defensive, reactive mindset, perpetuate the legend. As a French author and military liaison with the British, Andre Maurois, wrote about his disillusionment with the defensive line he originally enthusiastically supported: “We know now that the Maginot line-complex was a dangerous disease of the mind; but I publish this as it was written in January, 1940.”
In reality, however, the actual Maginot Line proved considerably more functional than memory has served. The true flaw in French military strategy during the opening days of World War II lay not in reliance on the Maginot fortifications but in the army's neglect to exploit the military opportunities the Line created. In other words, the border defense performed as envisioned, but the other military arms supported it insufficiently to halt the Germans. The French Army squandered the opportunity not because the Maginot Line existed but because they failed to utilize their own defensive plan properly. Some French commentary contributed to the legend, but the bloviating of politicians altered nothing regarding the Maginot Line's actual purpose or history: “General Maurin, defended the status quo in these words: ‘[H]ow could one think that we are still thinking about an offensive when we have spent billions to establish a fortified barrier? Would we be mad enough to advance beyond this barrier to undertake some adventure?’ [...] but the Maginot Line had never been conceived as a sort of Great Wall of China sealing France off from the outside world. Its purpose was to free manpower for offensive operations elsewhere.” (Jackson, 2004, 27).
In fact, a forgotten battle in the southeast of France, where four French divisions (later reduced to three by the redeployment of one northwards in a futile effort to stem the German tide) held off 32 Italian divisions thanks to the defensive power of the so-called “Little Maginot Line of the Alps,” proved the soundness of both the concept and engineering. Though the Italians suffered from poor equipment and the meddling incompetence of Mussolini's personal “leadership,” the fighting on the Alpine front brilliantly highlighted the Maginot Line's success as a “force multiplier.” French soldiers held off brave but futile Italian attacks at odds of 8:1 or 10:1 in favor of the Italians for five days until an armistice with the Axis put an end to this undeniable display of the Maginot Line's effectiveness.
- Sales Rank: #347438 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-06-15
- Released on: 2015-06-15
- Format: Kindle eBook
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Nice Photos (poorly labeled), but not much else. Should change the subtitle of the book to "A Poor Description"
By Te Bada
T’s Rating System
0 to 5 with 0 the lowest score and 5 the highest and NA for not applicable:
Books (nonfiction)
Content 3
Coverage of topic 1
Adequacy of descriptions 0
Detail 0
Accuracy 1
References 1
Illustrations 3
Size 4
Detail 2
Captions 0
Sufficient Maps 0
Sufficient Drawings 3
Sufficient Photos 4
Product worth the price - Yes, if free.
It is not surprising the Charles River company does not put the name of an author to this work since it seems to be a cut and paste job put together the impress those who know little to nothing about the subject. Reading the samples should be enough the convince anyone there are better books on the topic. Here are some examples of many flaws in the text:
The section "World War I and the Origins of the Maginot Line" implies by only mentioning an Allied offensive in the Argonne region and massive casualties, that this led to the creation of the Maginot Line. The author(s) are two years off and have misconstrued why and what the Maginot Line was based on. They go on to comment that “...as the power of Nazi Germany grew alarmingly during the 1930s, the French sought means to defend their territory against the rising menace of the Thousand-Year Reich.” The construction of the Maginot Line began in late 1929 after many years of planning and arguing on what the military should do against a resurgent Germany many years before the Nazis took power. By the time Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, a large amount of the work on the Maginot Line was already started and nearing completion in many sectors. The only country that would match this description of responding to the rising Nazi threat was Czechoslovakia where work did not begin until the Nazis were in power and began to present a threat.
“The French Army squandered the opportunity not because the Maginot Line existed but because they failed to utilize their own defensive plan properly.” Does this mean they had a defensive plan that would have been successful and they did not use it? Or was the plan they had inadequate to meet the threat? This is just one example how comments are made in a nonsensical manner.
“..a forgotten battle in the southeast of France, where four Frnech Divisions…held off 32 Italian divisions thanks to the defensive power of the so-called “Little Maginot Line of the Alps,” proved the soundness of both the concept and engineering.” Only forgotten by those who know nothing about the campaign of 1940. The author(s) imply the Little Maginot Line of the Alps was basically the same as the Maginot Line Proper that ran from Hagnenau to Longuyon in the Northeast. Although many elements of the designs were similar, there were modifications and terrain played a major role in forming a defensive position which only in one part of the Southeast Front was anywhere near being a continuous line.
The author(s) give a brief description of the 101st Fortress Division defending section of the Maginot Line based on inaccurate information and in one sentence make it appear its supporting artillery was equal to the Germans and then try to leave the impression it was not. They describe the defences of the Maubeuge area but emphasize their weaknesses while leaving the impression they were built according to designs of the Maginot Line Proper, although they were not on a similar scale and lacked the defensive ability of the forts of the Maginot Line. The author describes these as if they were part of the Maginot Line and the how the Germans were able to overwhelm these lesser works because they were poorly armed without making it clear this was not part of the so-called Maginot Line except on propaganda maps.
The bibliography for this book is made of nothing but a small number of secondary sources and only a few of them are significant works in English. None of the important French sources are included and that explains why this project amounts to little more than an undergraduate research project with many pitfalls. If a student produced a similar work, he probably would have been accused of plagiarism based on some of the material that used expressions and descriptions taken from the books in the bibliography without foot noting.
A second look through this "book" also reveals that the photos are poorly labeled so you do not know what you are actually looking at such as photos of entrance blocks he (whoever wrote the book since no one is mentioned) which he simply identifies as the "ouvrage of..." and sometimes a "bunker". The reader has no idea what they are actually looking at. No distinction is made between the the Alpine ouvrages and those of the main line in the northeast so the reader assumes all ouvrages are the same. For that matter, ouvrages are not even described properly since those that wrote this claim the ouvrage was divided into two parts and if one fell the other could continue to resist. Only some gros ouvrages were divided into two sections of combat blocks, most of the gros ouvrages had two section that were separated (the groups of combat blocks and the entrance blocks with the underground service areas - the latter had little to resist with). Even the source of external electrical power is not correct. There is no description of even identification of what the combat blocks were, much less a description of the types, or the entrance blocks. A person who knows nothing about these forts could not even describe what one of these ouvrages actually looked like after reading this booklet. Even worse, they do not provide a single plan of an ouvrage (and all were different, but they had many basic features). THe one map comes with no explanation and only shows the sectors (if you can actually read them).
There are other examples, but the buyer should beware that this is a poorly done secondary source. Other books are available that are much better, including Kindle editions. For a few dollars more there is an Osprey book titled the Maginot Line by William Alcorn which provides better information and detail.
http://www.amazon.com/Maginot-Line-1928-45-William-Allcorn/dp/1841766461/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443971707&sr=8-2&keywords=maginot+LIne
You get what you pay for and with this cheap little booklet you are getting cheated. For those that think they learned something from the book, can you answer this questions:
1. What were the two types of entrance blocks almost all gros ouvrages (except in the Alps) had?
2. What was the difference between an artillery block and an infantry block? What were the two types (actually 3) of artillery block and how many of each type weapon did they have (except in the Alps)?
3. How were the gros ouvrages of the Alps different from those of the Northeast?
4. What were the main components found in service and support areas of a gros ouvrage?
5. How was the Maginot Line organized into two major sections in the main line and why were these sections divide by the Sarre Gap? What was the original intention of the Sarre Gap?
6. How were several old forts incorporated into the Maginot LIne?
7. What was the difference between the gros ouvrages of the Maginot Extension, those of Maubeuge, and the ouvrages of the main line?
8. What role did Petain play in the creation of the Maginot Line and what defensive problem was he responsible for?
9. Who did the Rhine defenses (those on the Upper Rhine) differ from the remainder of the Maginot LIne.
10. What was the failure in French strategy that cause defeat (and it was not the Maginot Line) in 1940?
11. What disadvantages did the Germans have when they tried to use some parts of the Maginot LIne in 1944?
12. What happened to the Maginot Line ouvrages after World War II?
If you can not find the correct answers to these questions in the booklet (which you can read for free on Kindle), you may realize why this works amounts to a poor cut and paste job using the references in its bibliography (only 4 of which are relative to the Maginot Line for a history and desription).
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Great book for students
By Samantha Withee
This book is easy to follow great for students
Loved how the author used pictures, and kept each chapter on topic. Book isn't too text book style so it rather interesting.
I would recommend the author, makes the chapters shorter. So the reader can take more in.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Description of numerous strategic errors and successes of the various armies that attempted to use the Maginot Line
By Modupe Hendricks
This book is like many of the other books by Charles River’s Editors, it is concise and brief. What I found to be most interesting was a discussion about the Alpine Line or Little Maginot Line along the Franco-Italian border. Little Maginot Line demonstrated that the defense concept of Maginot Line should have been effect if the line had been built to the Atlantic Ocean on French land. The book also discusses numerous strategic errors and successes of the various armies that attempted to use the Maginot Line for either defense or offense. I really like this book.
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