#Maginot line series#

Rather than hurling forces against the massive defensive line, German military might poured through the least fortified section of the line ' through Belgium and the Ardennes Forest ' to quickly overwhelm the French military and to claim Paris in mid-June of 1940. Unfortunately, the Nazis had other plans.

#Maginot line series#

The series of underground bunkers lining the French border with Germany cost billions of French Francs ' money that might have been better spent arming the French forces with tanks, artillery and aircraft, as General Charles de Gaulle suggested during the planning stages.Д«ut after the Treaty of Versailles was negotiated in 1919 calling for Germany to return territory taken during the previous century and pay France for the destruction it had caused in the first world war, France's military planners were eager to reassure its citizens that an impenetrable line of defenses could be constructed to provide security in case Germany ever again decided to stray beyond its borders. The Ligne Maginot, as it became known to the French people and first envisioned by Marshal Joffre, took 10 years to build starting in 1929. WIESBADEN, Germany - History was not kind to the grand ideas of French Minister of War Andre Maginot.ДЄs the namesake for the massive line of fortifications intended to stop Germany from ever again overrunning France after the Franco-Prussian and First World Wars, Maginot, who died in 1932, didn't live long enough to see the completion and ultimate failure of his vision. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption вЂ“ (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption вЂ“ (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption вЂ“ (Photo Credit: U.S. 1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption вЂ“ (Photo Credit: U.S.