Maginot Line: History and Guide

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		Maginot Line: History and Guide
		Maginot Line: History and Guide

The Maginot Line, the complex system of strongpoints constructed between the world wars by the French to protect against attack from Germany, is one of the most famous, extensive and controversial defensive schemes in all military history. It stretched from Belgium to Switzerland, and from Switzerland to the Mediterranean, and it represented the most advanced and ambitious system of static defenses of its time. Yet it failed to deter German aggression or to halt the invasion of France in May 1940.

Much of this historic line - with its fortresses, artillery positions, tank traps, blockhouses, concrete bunkers - has survived and can be visited today. This invaluable handbook, which has been written and compiled by the foremost experts in the field, is a guide to the history of the line and all the major sites concerned.

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This is a fine history and guide to a legendary--and controversial--fortification system. Designed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, then built during the Depression (thus providing work, though at a massive overall cost), the largely underground border forts (ouvrage) faced both Germany and Italy. Behind their seeming impregnability the French military dozed, sadly convinced they merely had to occupy the gros (large) and petite (small) ouvrage to hold off any fascist invasion. Indeed, we speak of the "Maginot mentality" to this day to denote something providing false security.

All of this is discussed and assessed here, but the real appeal of this book is just how much detailed information is provided. I especially like the 3-D diagrams of the various Maginot ouvrage, as they offer a solid sense of each underground fort layout and its relationship to local terrain. I began with those ouvrage that I've seen in the south of France---and they bring back that visit of 15 years ago with their clarity. Furthermore, they make clear just how much variance there was in this massive construction project--all of it designed and built with nary a computer in sight.

The literature on Maginot's line is substantial---but much of it is quite understandably written in French. Works by Mary and Truttman, to name two of the best French authorities, are invaluable and offer excellent illustrations. But if you can't read the French captions and text, naturally much is lost. The Kaufmann's book provides a concise history as well as the all the context that anyone could need to visit the sites today (more of them are opening all the time). At the same time, it provides something of an English "key" to all those French volumes. I know that I will use both together from now on.

I strongly recommend this well-conceived and illustrated book. For the price, you will not find a better guide to and history of a fascinating fortification.

In the Kindle version the pictures are too small to see clearly, but the written commentary is interesting. The history behind the Maginot Line gave me a much better understanding of why the French made the mistake of relying on it so heavily, which I've never understood.

My only problem with the book, and the reason for only 3 stars instead of 4, is that the author tends to assume the reader's familiar with some of the terms used in describing the forts, so if you're not a military buff you need to have a dictionary available. (The Kindle dictionary is usually no help.)

I really enjoyed this book, and the effectiveness of the ML was an eye-opener to me after all the "negatives" I've read over the years.

The last 1/3 or so of the book covers the Line today, a tourist guide, and if i ever get to France, I assure you I'll bring this along.

The only down-check I can think of is that some of the maps are rather hard to read.

We visited The Maginot Line eight years ago with our two sons. We bought the book to give to one of them for Christmas, and he has started to read it. He said that it's very hard for him to stop. reading. My husband and I looked it over before we sent it and were thrilled to see it. It brought back memories of our trip and the little train ride we took underground in the Maginot Line.

The book is an excellant modern study to the complete Maginot Line. Besides the main fortifications between France and Germany, it covers the minor fortifications between France and Beligum that were ultimately exploited by the Nazis and the fortifications between France and Italy, that were successful in stopping the Italion thrust into southern France. Also included are modern addresses and contacts for the fortifications that are open to the public.

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