Hi all,

Just got back from my intercontinental blast to the Maginot Line in France. Took the 7 & some mates down to Verdun & the surrounding area for a few days to check out the forts of the line.

This was just one of the forts we visited, to give you an idea - a lot of the forts were constructed over a 30 year period to defend the French border & deter any invasion. This is from the rear of a fort, built into the hillside with a maze tunnels leading to different guns that retracted into the hillside:


Across a small section on top of the fort, you can see a look out post on the left & a retractable 'pill box' on the right:


The retractable 'pill box' in the above picture:


Another of the larger retractable guns:


The ground around the forts is pretty much all like this, a mass of craters left over from the German bombardment:


Cheers,

TSC.

Like stills from "The World at War" (in fact, looking at shot 4, it could be the same fort)...


Shame it was in the wrong place really (well, too short, to be fair)...

Romulus111VADT wrote on Oct 16^th, 2007 at 4:29pm:


Sadly the Maginot line seems to have survived reasonably intact - because there was no need to face it!

Charlie wrote on Oct 16^th, 2007 at 5:35pm:


Yep, your right on that point. I can't remember the exact quote or even if it was actually said by Patton or was in the movie Patton. But at any rate, Patton said something to the effect that, "(1)Man can overcome mountains by simply going around them or over them. (2)Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man. Anything built by man, can be destroyed by him." 

The 2nd part about Fixed fortifications is well known as a something said by Patton. The first part of the quote is what I'm unsure of.