The FReeper Foxhole Studies the Maginot Line - December 26th, 2003

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.

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"Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man."
~
George S. Patton


The Maginot Line


The extended defences carried on North above the Maginot Line into Belgium

The Maginot Line was built between 1929 and 1940. It was built to protect france from her longtime enemy, Germany, and to defend the traditional invasion routes across her eastern frontier. The Maginot Line was built to provide time for the french army to mobilize and to make up for a potentially disastrous shortfall of manpower predicted for the late 1930s. Most of all, it was built to provide a place behind which the french army could hide, a so-called "Great Wall" of france where the nation could feel secure in its doctrine which would become known as the "Maginot" mentality.

The line was named in honor of André Maginot, war hero, beloved Minister of Veteran's Affairs, and Minister of War from 1928 to 1932. It could just as easily have been called the "Painlevé Line" after the Minister of War who was responsible for introducing debate on the line in Parliament, or the "Pétain Line," after the man who thought of the concept. But it was named after Maginot, whose contribution was his gift of oration which persuaded parliament, both the right and the left, to allocate the money for the project.


André Maginot

The Maginot Line was a powerful line of defense which stretched from Switzerland to the Ardennes in the North, and from the Alps to the Mediterranean in the South. It was a vast, dynamic, state-of-the-art, ultra-modern defensive system. Most of its components were underground, where interconnecting tunnels stretched for kilometers, and where, beneath the earth, thousands of men slept, trained, watched, and waited for a war that never came.




In the end, the Maginot Line was considered by many to be a failure. It was powerful and supposedly impregnable, yet it failed to save france from a humiliating defeat in 1940. But was it truly a failure? The truth is that the Maginot Line served the exact purpose for which it was built. It dissuaded the Germans from attacking across france's eastern frontier; it gave the french Army time to fully mobilize and deploy; and, if properly used, it could have made up for france's anticipated manpower shortage. The greatest defect of the line itself was that it was too short. In May 1940 Hitler simply chose to ignore it.

The Maginot Line did not fail france, but the "Maginot mentality" did cause her defeat, as did the refusal of her leaders to acknowledge the coming of modern warfare ~ mobile battles that would be fought with tanks and aircraft. Thus, while france built a modern version of the First World War's Hindenburg Line, Hitler built Panzers and Stuka dive bombers.

The idea behind the construction of the Maginot Line came from france's success in holding a trench line along 400 miles of territory against a powerful German army, and the failure of her pre-war doctrine of "the offensive." If france could hold off the Kaiser's armies for four years with barbed wire and ditches, why not adapt that theory in a permanent system of defenses along the border?



When World War I ended and the Versailles Treaty began its devestation of Germany, the debate on the future of france's defenses began in earnest, for no one believed that Germany would stay down for long. Verdun was the heroic symbol of powerful fortifications. Joffre, its spokesman, favored a line of fortifications along france's eastern frontier with Germany, a series of defended concentration areas from which troops could counter any attack which attempted to penetrate between the defenses.

Opposing him was Pétain, the hero of Verdun, who argued for defense in depth (like the Hindenburg Line). A third school, joined by the likes of Paul Reynaud and Charles de Gaulle, argued for a buildup of tanks and planes. But this meant mobility and attack, and france had no stomach for that.

However, the first war was a defensive war, and the hero of the defensive was Pétain. He believed that all new military inventions had been of greater benefit to the defense, and his words and beliefs were accepted as gospel. Plus, the french High Command was sickened by the bloodshed of 1914-1918 and another loss of manpower such as this would mean the end for france.

Verdun

General Falkenhayn decided that at Verdun he would wage a battle of attrition against the french Army that would bleed it dry and drive france from the war. The longest battle of the Great War, The Battle of Verdun raged for 10 months, from February to December, 1916, and cost nearly a million casualties on both sides (but no one will ever know for sure the exact total).



The old fortress city of Verdun was ringed by strongholds and forts, the largest and most important of these being Fort Douaumont — called by one writer "the most shelled spot on earth." The Germans captured Fort Douaumont in February, 1916; the french finally retook it in October. It is said that retaking Fort Douaumont alone cost the lives of 100,000 frenchmen.

After the war, the french closed some 16 million acres northeast of Verdun due to unexploded ordnance and uninterred human remains. Much of this area is "off limits" to this day, as it is estimated that 12 million unexploded shells still lie in the soil around Verdun.

Fortifications would compensate for numerical weakness, the eventual loss of the Rhineland buffer zone, and the absolute imperativeness of holding the northern industrial regions. They would also provide at least two weeks "couverture" - time to mobilize and deploy reserves. Since Belgium was an ally, forts could not be built along the Belgian border. Pétain insisted instead of "[going] into Belgium." The Ardennes, he claimed, were not considered to be a problem since they could be rendered "impenetrable."

In January 1930, André Maginot convinced the french parliament to fund the massive project. Construction began and the Maginot mentality of false security set in. Construction continued in five phases throughout the 1930s. After Belgium revoked the Franco-Belgian alliance of 1920 and declared neutrality, the Maginot Line was extended along the Belgian frontier, but nowhere was it as strong as the original line. In northwest france, the "line" was simply a series of poured concrete blockhouses and pillboxes with little, if any depth.



In May 1940, Hitler attacked through the "impenetrable" Ardennes Forest in neutral Belgium. By mid-June, the Wehrmacht had completely surrounded the french army in Alsace, yet, only one Maginot fort, Villy la Ferté, had fallen and the line was still intact, and still lethal. Many fortress commanders wanted to hold out in a fortified redoubt, but the french army's impotent leadership, led by Maxime Weygand, called for an armistice. Some of the forts fought on, but by the end of June it was over and the proud fortress garrisons marched into captivity.



The line saw little action until 1944, although the Germans used it for storage and spare parts. The Allies fought through a small portion of the line around Metz in the fall of 1944 and in northern Alsace in December.

After the war ended, the line was manned once again by the french army. Several of the forts were modernized throughout the 50s and 60s, but when De Gaulle pulled france out of NATO, all but a few forts were abandoned. france subsequently relied on her nuclear forces for protection. In the 1970s, many of the Maginot Line forts and casemates were auctioned off to the public. Some were used for mushroom farming, a handful opened for tourists, and the rest lapsed into decay and disappeared into the french countryside.



The Maginot Line ran along the border between france and Germany and before WW2 ended at Sedan, near Luxemburg. Britain and france considered the french-Belgium border safe from invasion, as the Germans would have to push through Belgium to get to france. An extension of the Magnot Line to the sea was to consist of three distinct lines of defence, the battalion took up positions on the most forward of these the Ligne de Contact, behind them was the Ligne de Receuil and the third the Ligne de Resistance.



If the Germans were to invade Belgium the line was to push forward to the Belgium-German border as far as Liege to stop the Germans getting behind the troops defending the Maginot Line. The battalion were at the extreme southern end of the new line and had a wide area to patrol with many small woods, these duties were given to `D´ Company under Capt J.C.C. Richardson on the right, `B´ Company under Capt. G.M. Allen in the centre and `A´ Company under Capt. F.P. Barclay on the left. The Dorsetshire Company was held in reserve under Maj. Goff. Battalion H.Q. were a mile behind the front at the small village of Walweisstroff.



Although minor skirmishes took place the majority of the time was spent wiring defensive positions and patrolling. On January 3rd a night time reconnoitre into enemy positions proved successful and Capt. Barclay and Lt. C.R. Murray-Brown were awarded the Military Cross and Military Medal for their bravery in exposing enemy positions.

The Battalion had its first casualty, on the 9th when Lt. Everitt was seriously injured by machine gun fire and captured by the Germans while on a forward patrol. It was later announced on German radio that he died from his wounds in a German hospital.


Anti-Tank Defences on the Maginot Line

On January 16th the battalion was relieved and began its long cold journey back to Rumigies.

The Maginot Line did not see much action, the Germans attacked and swept through the hinge with the new Belgium defence line at Sedan, once through they pushed on to the coast and encircled the troops defending the Maginot Line.

Aftermath and Conclusions

When france looked for explanations in the aftermath of World War 2, the Maginot Line must have seemed an obvious target: its sole purpose had been to stop another invasion. Unsurprisingly, the Line received severe criticism, ultimately becoming an object of international derision. There had been vocal opposition before the war - including that of De Gaulle, who stressed that the french would be able to do nothing but hide behind their forts and watch Europe tear itself apart - but this was scant compared to the condemnation that followed. Modern commentators tend to focus on the question of failure, and although opinions vary enormously, the conclusions are generally negative.



Ian Ousby sums up one extreme perfectly:
"Time treats few things more cruelly than the futuristic fantasies of past generations, particularly when they are actually realised in concrete and steel. Hindsight makes it abundantly clear that the Maginot Line was a foolish misdirection of energy when it was conceived, a dangerous distraction of time and money when it was built, and a pitiful irrelevance when the German invasion did come in 1940. Most glaringly, it concentrated on the Rhineland and left france's 400-kilometer border with Belgium unfortified." (Ousby, Occupation: The Ordeal of france, Pimlico, 1997, p. 14)



Opposing arguments usually reinterpret this last point, claiming that the Line itself was wholly successful: it was either another part of the plan (for instance, fighting in Belgium), or its execution that failed. For many, this is too fine a distinction, and a tacit omission that the real fortifications differed too much from the original ideals, making them a failure in practice. Indeed, the Maginot Line was, and continues to be, portrayed in many different ways.

Was it intended to be an utterly impenetrable barrier, or did people just begin to think that? Was the Line's purpose to direct an attacking army round through Belgium, or was the length just a terrible mistake? And if it was meant to guide an army, did somebody forget? Equally, was the security of the Line itself flawed and never fully completed? There is little chance of any agreement, but what is certain is that the Line never faced a direct attack, and it was too short to be anything other than a diversion.



Discussions of the Maginot Line have to cover more than just the defences, because the project had other ramifications. It was costly and time-consuming, requiring billions of francs and a mass of raw materials; however, this expenditure was reinvested into the french economy, perhaps contributing as much as it removed. Equally, military spending and planning was focused around the Line, encouraging a defensive attitude that slowed the development of new weapons and tactics.

Had the rest of Europe followed suite the Maginot Line may have been vindicated, but countries like Germany followed very different paths, investing in tanks and planes. Commentators claim that this 'Maginot mentality' spread across the french nation as a whole, encouraging defensive, non-progressive thinking in government and elsewhere. Diplomacy also suffered - how can you ally with other nations if all you are planning to do is resist your own invasion? Ultimately, the Maginot Line probably did more to harm france than it ever did to aid it.

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DESIGN OF A TYPICAL FORTRESS



A typical large fortress (gros ouvrage) consisted of: casemates, cupolas, turrets, underground rail, power plants, munitions storage, and barracks. Casemates contained loopholes for infantry arms, or embrasures for artillery. Where artillery fired out of an embrasure, rather than from a roof turret, it was said to be "in casemate." Casemates provided mainly flanking fire in a 45-degree horizontal arc. The façade was protected against artillery shots by an orillon, or overhang, on the enemy side. A deep ditch protected the embrasures and loopholes from explosive attacks and assured that the debris from the shelling did not obstruct the field of fire. There were machine-gun casemates, 75mm casemates with 2 to 3 guns each, and, more rarely, casemates for 135mm bomb throwers and 81mm mortars.

Fixed cupolas were domes made of molded steel, pierced by loopholes and sealed in the concrete roof of the casemate. The majority were used for signalling, or for riflemen and were known as GFM cupolas for Guetteur-Fusil-Mitrailleur (spotter-automatic rifleman). They permitted surveillance and observation with periscopes and diascopes, the defense of the top of casemates and the rear area, and to fire flare guns. It was customary for each block to have an observation cupola. Finally, there were small ventilation cupolas called mushrooms.



Turrets revolved 360 degrees and rose up or down to a height of about 1 foot above the roof surface of the block. A steel collar surrounded the turret and provided further protection. The armament itself was encased in a special steel dome to protect the gunners (2-4) and the guns underneath. Artillery turrets were built in one piece and were extremely elaborate. Each turret structure was about three stories high. Protruding from the roof of the concrete block was a round, low-angled dome about 4 feet in diameter. This was surrounded by a steel collar, which was fixed into the concrete. If the turret were raised, an observer could see two horizontal holes, about 2 feet apart, half-way up the outer surface. These were the gun barrels and there were two guns per turret. Underneath the steel dome was the firing chamber.

A 75mm firing chamber was just barely high enough for a man to stand and wide enough to reach out and touch both sides of the circular walls. Most of the space was taken up by the two guns, which sat on carriages. Shells were sent up to the guns from below by hoist. The shell was then be loaded into the breech and fired. Once it was fired, the shell was ejected from the breech and fell into a container connected to a tube where it was finally ejected onto the floor at the bottom of the block, at the tunnel level.



The machinery that operated the turret was below the firing chamber. The turret was controlled either electrically, or manually using a series of wheels and levers. From this level the turret could be raised or lowered, pointed in a specific direction, or the guns could be raised or lowered to the correct firing angle. Just below the firing chamber floor, at head height and fixed to the circular outer wall, was a metal band about 3 inches wide,.and etched with numbers that indicated zero to 360 degrees. This served as the direction finder. A small pointer attached to the turret would spin on the inside of this band and would be turned until the turret was facing in the proper direction.



A typical fortress, like Simserhof, near Bitche, had two entrances, one for the troops, called the Entrée d'Hommes (Men's Entrance), and the Entrée de Munitions (Munitions Entrance). These were located to the rear of the combat blocks, deep in a wooded ravine on the reverse slope of the hill. The men's entrance was actually only used for ventilation purposes. All other movement was into the munitions entrance. Each entrance was well-protected by anti-tank weapons and anti-tank cannons pointed at the access road.



Entering through the munitions entrance, one encounters a long concrete gallery which could accomodate a truck. The exterior was protected by a ditch approximately 12 feet deep, which ran along the facade of the outer wall. A bridge ran across the ditch to the entryway. Firing chambers on the left and right of the entryway guarded the entrance and the approaches.



From the outside, the only thing that showed were gun embrasures, and the barrel of the anti-tank cannon or machine-gun. The interior entryway had several defensive features: an iron gate, a ditch covered by a rolling bridge that could be rolled away into a chamber on the other side of the interior wall, leaving a large ditch over which a vehicle could not pass, armored doors a foot thick, and interior blockhouses sited on the entrance, about 35m back. Beyond the first blockhouse the concrete is replaced with masonry, as the natural protection of the earth was sufficient at this depth.



Beyond the entrance gallery, the main gallery was equipped with a 60cm electrified train track. To the left, the main gallery branched off to the men's entrance. This part of the fort was known as the caserne and contained the infirmary with showers for poison gas decontamination, sleeping chambers, lavatories, and police station, kitchens and storerooms. This area also housed the heart of the fort, the electric powerhouse, as well as the gas neutralization chambers. All of this was 35m underground.



Electrical current from the powerhouse was needed for heating and lighting, ventilation, elevators, turrets, radio stations, electric kitchens, and munitions ramps. The current normally came from the rear of the fort, from the national grid, and was connected by underground cables to a nearby concrete-protected transformer station, then through high-tension cables to the fort. A generating station inside the fortress provided power in case of rupture from the outside, consisting of four electrogenerator groups of Sulzer diesel motors, each 290 horsepower and 250 kilowatts. They were powered by diesel fuel stored in six reservoirs which would last two to three months, plus a reservoir for lubricant. Chambers adjacent to the powerhouse held eight reservoirs which could hold a total of 400 cubic meters of fresh water, auxilliary generators to assure lighting in the powerhouse, ventilators and pumps for fresh air, transformers to power the substations in the combat blocks, and a substation to power the train tracks wth continuous current.



The fort was provided with a ventilation and gas protection system in case of a World War I-style gas attack. In case of such an attack, ventilators would cause air overpressure to blow the air out of the fort. Ventilators also cleaned the air of gunpowder smoke and exhaust from the diesel engines. To prevent the total depletion of the air supply, air would be pumped from the outside, through round air filters about the size of a washing machine.



After the left branch to the caserne, the gallery continued to the combat blocks and the command post, the brain of the fortress. The gallery widened at certain places to permit two trains to pass each other. The front part of the fort was protected by a second armored door and by mines on each side of the gallery which could be detonated to close off the tunnel. In this manner, if the enemy were to penetrate past the entrance defenses into the galleries, the tunnel leading to the combat blocks could be destroyed, preventing the enemy from reaching the nerve center of the fort, and at the same time, allowing the combat blocks to continue fighting. Past the second armored door, the gallery branches off to the different combat blocks. The length of the gallery from Simserhof's entrance to the furthest combat blocks was 2.2km.



Simserhof could fire three tons of shells per minute. An elaborate transportation system was necessary to keep the guns replenished. Because of the destruction of the magazine of Liege's Fort Loncin in August 1914, the designers decided to maintain three types of munitions storage areas rather than one central magazine. By the munitions entrance was the main storage area between the outside and the blocks, known as M1. It had seven chambers, each 5 by 25 meters, which were isolated from the men's entrance and the caserne area. At the foot of each combat block, 20m below ground, was M2, with stores enough for two days of battle. In the block itself, near the weapons, was M3. For one 75mm cannon, M1 held 3,000 shells, M2 2,800, and M3 600. They were transported by locomotives of 5.5 tons along the 600-volt railways. Simserhof had four Vetra locomotives and 57 wagonettes, commonly called the "metro."

Shells were transported in containers called chassis from the munitions depots on 60cm railway systems. A chassis was a metal box that held around 100 75mm shells in racks and was the size of a small refrigerator. The train from the depot entered the munitions entrance and travelled along the gallery to a location known as the gare, or train station. The chassis was moved to another wagonette pulled by a small locomotive and transported to M1 or to the combat block's M2 magazine. Chains connected to pulleys on overhead rails were hooked to the top of the chassis, which was hoisted out of the wagonette, and pushed by hand along the rails into M2. To replenish the gun, the chassis was again pushed along a rail and transferred to a rail in the roof of the elevator leading up to the combat block. The elevator rose to the gun level, the door was opened, and the chassis moved onto rails in the ceiling of the surface block to the M3 storage area near the base of the gun.

Telephone communications throughout the fort were handled by a telephone switchboard located in the command post near the combat blocks. This switchboard was connected to the outside system by underground cable. All the combat blocks were connected to each other and to the command post, storage depots behind the lines, and to reinforcements, as well as to all observation posts. This system allowed the guns to fire just three minutes after spotting a target by an observer. The fort was equipped with a transmitter-receiver and an outside antenna if the telephone service was cut.



In time of war, the garrison was manned by 812 men: 27 officers, 97 NCOs, 107 Corporals, and 587 soldiers, plus 161 engineers. Beds were available for those who were off duty. The fortress was set up like a ship, where the number of beds was less than the number of occupants. In Simserhof there were 509 beds for 812 men. There was plenty of water and chemicals for the toilets. Although conditions were not great, they were better than the trenches, or the forts of Verdun and Liège.

Operations inside the forts were an exact science. Three fortresses were linked to form an artillery group under the control of a sub-sector artillery commander. This would enable one fort to support the other and for massed battery fire to be easily coordinated.

DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION

The Maginot Line evolved over five periods. The first period, which began in 1919, involved a study requested by Georges Clemenceau to examine the problems and the contradictory ideas on fortifications. Two commissions, the Commission Alheilig in 1920 and the Comité Technique du Génie (Committee of Engineering Techniques) in 1922 studied the forts of Verdun and the new techniques of fortification.

The second period began in August 1922 when General Guillaumat was appointed to lead the Commision de Défense des Territoires (Committee of Territorial Defense). The committee's report, which recommended a series of non-continuous fortified regions, was concluded in 1925. A new committee, the Commission de Défense des Frontieres (Committee of Frontier Defense - CDF), was created , with Guillaumat once again as president. This committee decided to construct three fortified regions - Metz, Lauter, and Belfort, and gave its preference to ultramodern, permanent fortifications.



The third period consisted of the actual construction of the fortifications, which was placed in the hands of the Commission d'Organization des Régions Fortifiées (Committe for the Organization of the Fortified Regions - CORF. The role of the CORF was to determine the location for and role of each of the works, known as ouvrages. The execution of the construction would be left to the Engineering Department, specifically the Section Technique du Génie (Technical Engineering Section -STG). The design of armaments and their construction would be handled by the Director of Artillery.

From 1930 to 1934, construction was completed as follows:

1930 - construction of the smaller casemates and shelters
1931 - construction of the underground portions of the large works (gros ouvrages)
1932 - construction of concrete blocks of the gros ouvrages and fabrication of armaments and armor plating.
1933 - placement of infantry armaments and some artillery
1934 - construction of power plants, elevators, ventilation; construction of the outer camps and casernes; study of a "new front" construction to the northwest.
1935 - installation of the interior equipment; placement of anti-tank obstacles; beginning of work in the northwest
1936 - after the Rhineland occupation by the Germans - improvement of drainage and alleviation of damp conditions; placement of anti-tank weapons





The results were impressive:

58 ouvrages in the North - 22 of the large variety
50 ouvrages in the alps, 23 with artillery
410 infantry casemates, shelters for reserves, and isolated observation posts
152 revolving turrets and 1,536 fixed cupolas (the total weight of the steel was equivalent to six Eiffel towers)
339 artillery pieces of three different calibers
1.5 million cubic meters of concrete, 3/4 of the volume of the Great Pyramid, for the combat blocs
100 kilometers of underground galleries, comparable to the length of the Paris metro of the time
an immense project to reattach Alsace-Lorraine to the national electrical grid, to include
-- 464 km of high-tension lines and transformer stations to connect with the interior
-- 318 km of medium-tension lines, of which 137 km were underground for the junction of the powerhouses of the large works

The fourth period involved extension of the pillboxes to the northwest, on the so-called "new fronts" - the Saar gap, the High Vosges, and the invasion routes through Belgium, and selection and training of the troops who would man the fortifications.

The forts not only needed good soldiers, but good technicians. Elite units, known as "Fortress Troops," consisting of infantry, artillery, and a corps of NCOs to run the electromechanics, communications, and artillery equipment were created. The fortress garrison was referred to as l'équipage, underlining the cohesion which existed between the infantry, artillery, technicians, and engineers of each ouvrage. The highest priority was given by the High Command to assigning the best officers to command the ouvrage.



The fifth and final period, from 1939 to 1940, consisted of continued construction, strengthening the anti-tank obstacles on the first position, construction of a second position 25 kilometers behind the first, improvements to Paris defenses, and refinement of all aspects of the fortifications.

Thus, by the time Hitler invaded Poland, the Maginot Line was a reality. It consisted of two fortified regions directed towards the most menacing invasion axis. The first was the Lauter Fortified Region (RF Lauter). RF Lauter began in the east at the Rhine, traversed the Plain of Alsace and High Vosges, past the Army garrison at Bitche, to the plateau of Lorraine by the Simserhof works, and anchoring on the Saar River. RF Metz formed the main part of the defenses of the northeast industrial regions.

It covered the railroads used to transport the armies into Lorraine, depots in Metz, the Briey-Thionville iron works, the coal mines of Faulquemont, and the mining basin of Forbach. The industrial installations of Longwy were considered too close to the border and were left in front of the line. East of Faulquemont, the line crossed the top of the cliffs which dominate St. Avold, followed the heights of the Nied region, passed by the Hackenberg ridge, across the Moselle valley to the north of Thionville, through the Cattenom Forest, to the plateau of Rochonvillers and Aumetz, and termiated at Longuyon's Fermont works.

FUNCTION It could take as little as three minutes from the time the enemy was spotted by the observers until they were fired upon. There were three types of observations posts. Each block, or casemate, had two observation domes, one the surveillance position, manned by an officer equipped with binoculars with which to constantly scan the ground. The dome on the opposite end of the block was manned by an NCO, whose mission was to register any targets spotted by the officer. The NCO used a powerful 21cm periscope in the roof of the turret.



Closer to the frontier were auxiliary observation posts manned by one person with a periscope. The third type of observation post was located at the entrance of the block or casemate and protected the casemate itself from attacking infantry. Each observation dome had three openings, called embrasures, which held periscopes, automatic rifles, or 50mm mortars.

Each observation dome was reached by a ladder and the floor could be raised or lowered to suit the height of the observer. They were connected by telephone to the artillery or infantry command post.



In case of attack, the officer would identify the target and, using a panoramic photograph, notify the command post of its bearing and elevation. The NCO, listening through an acoustic tube would pinpoint the exact coordinates and pass this on to the command post. A telephone operator would receive the message and write the information on a blackboard. The command post staff passed on the information to the artillery commander, who decided whether or not to fire, and if so, which block would be detailed to fire. Information was then relayed to the chosen block's commander, who was in the same room as the artillery commander.



The block commander gave the order for the number of rounds, type of shell, and fusing. This was passed to the gunlayer by means of a pointing mechanism revolving around a dial, like on a ship's bridge. When the "ALERT" signal was given, the gun crew would go to their positions, the airlock door leading from the main gallery to the base of the combat block was closed (each block had its own airlock system, consisting of two sets of doors), the interior air pressure mounted to keep fumes from reaching the galleries, and the turret was raised into the firing position. Shells were taken from the racks in the lower level of the turret, placed into the hoists, and lifted to the firing chamber. There, four men, two layers, and two loaders, cramped under the cupola roof, manned the guns. The turret was turned to face the target and the gun elevated. The shells were placed in the breeches, the gun was fired, the breeches were opened, and shells ejected. Once finished, the observers reported the results.



Gun crews were on a three-watch system - duty, stand-by, and rest. Combat personnel were kept in the first two statuses. Those on stand-by joined those on duty when the alert sounded. The garrison found that it was best to stay at the blocks rather than trudge sometimes long distances back to the barracks, although the barracks were the only place to get uninterrupted sleep during the constant firing. The officers had no relief as they were on duty day and night.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/Royal_Norfolks_in_france/html/body_maginot_line.htm
www.lib.byu.edu/~english/WWI/historical/Verdun.html
http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa072001c.htm

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Good Morning and thank you Sam for the idea of threads on fortifications. I'll be covering the Atlantic Wall soon.

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Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Foxhole. My sister and her family are coming down from the city to visit us today. The weather's nice and warm and forecast to hit tthe low 60's.

How's everything where you are?

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Good morning EGC.

It will only be 40 here today. It's 20 now. We should reach a whopping 57 on Sunday and then back down.

Enjoy your company!

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I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. Anyone braving the masses to take advantage of those after-Christmas sales.......GOOD LUCK! You're a lot braver than I am! LOL!!

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Good morning radu!

Up kinda late aren't you??

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Good morning radu.

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[radu]

Mornin' ms. feather.

I'm up VERY late. LOL!! I'm sooooo far behind on pings and trying to catch up as best I can. Won't make it much farther, though. The ol' eyelids are at half-mast right now. LOL!

[radu]

Mornin' snippy.

This is pretty much the shape I'm in right now. LOL!!

[Iris7]

Looks to me that the real French error was not in underestimating motor transport, tanks, and aircraft, but instead the revolution modern radio communication brought. The massive fast moving Panzer blow of the Guderian type was as much a product of radio communication as it was of tanks, trucks, and Stukas.

I read somewhere that a French Corps commander had a radio staff of only about ten operators. German Corps radio was something like three hundred operators. Late war American Corps radio was bigger yet, maybe five hundred operators, and using teletype instead of morse code. (Please don't hold me to these numbers, memory is hazy!) The French could not adapt to changing situations because they couldn't move the information from the line of battle to command, sift, plan, and move troops, material, and supplies in response to enemy action as fast as the Germans could, and so were playing chess about three moves behind, as it were!!

[Valin]

On this Day In history


Birthdates which occurred on December 26:
1194 Frederick II, Iesi Italy, German Emperor (1212-1250)/King of Sicily
1716 Thomas Gray (poet: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: "The paths of glory lead but to the grave."; also: "...where ignorance is bliss/'Tis folly to be wise.")
1716 Thomas Gray, English poet ("Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard")
1738 Thomas Nelson merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence
1792 Charles Babbage, English inventor (calculating machine)
1809 William Nelson Pendleton Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1883
1837 George Dewey (Admiral of the Navy: Spanish-American War: hero of Manila: "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.")
1861 Friedrich Engel, German mathematician (group theory)
1891 Henry Miller (author:Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer)
1893 Mao Tse-Tung (communist-revolutionist: founding father of the People's Republic of China) (mass murder)
1914 Richard Widmark (actor)
1917 Rosemary Woods, Nixon's secretary
1921 Steve Allen (comedian, author, musician, composer, TV host: The Tonight Show, The Steve Allen Show)
1927 Alan King (Irwin Kniberg) (comedian)
1936 Kitty Dukakis 1st lady of Massachusetts/wife of Michael (Governor-MA)
1940 Phil Spector (record company producer: originator of Wall of Sound)
1947 Carlton Fisk (baseball: Boston Red Sox catcher: American League Rookie of the Year [1972])
1954 Ozzie Smith Mobile AL, infielder (St Louis Cardinals)

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Deaths which occurred on December 26:
0267 Dionysius, bishop of Rome/saint, dies
1476 Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Il Sforza del Destino), duke of Milan, murdered
1530 Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder Mogols dynasty, dies at 47
1771 Claude A Helvetius, French encyclopedist (L'esprit), dies at 56
1776 Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel/mercenary, dies in battle of Trenton
1797 John Wilkes, English journalist/politician/Lower house leader, dies at 72
1861 Philip St George Cocke Confederate Brigadier-General, commits suicide at 52
1862 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato
1890 Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (Seven Cities of Troy), dies at 86
1963 "Gorgeous George" Wagner, perfumed and pampered wrestler, dies
1972 Harry Truman, 33rd US Pres (1945-53), dies in KC Mo at 88
1974 Jack Benny, comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 80. He was 39 years old.
1977 Howard Hawks director (Rio Lobo, Hatari!), dies at 81
1985 Dian Fossey, zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist), murdered at 53

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1961 FRYETT GEORGE FREDRICK---LONG BEACH CA.
[06/24/62 RELEASED, ALIVE 98]
1969 TROWBRIDGE DUSTIN C.---WAYNE IL.
1971 GUENTHER LYNN---THE DALLAS OR.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED, ALIVE IN 98]
1971 KOONS DALE F.---EATON OH.
["DEAD, PHOTO OF ID", REMAINS RET 1/03/90]
1971 STOLZ LAWRENCE G.---HAUBSTADT IN.
["DEAD, PHOTO OF ID", REMAINS RETURNED 1/03/90]
1972 COOK JAMES R.---WILMINGTON NC.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 HUDSON ROBERT M.---SHAWNEE MISSION KS.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 LABEAU MICHAEL M.---LINCOLN PARK MI.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV,ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 MORRIS ROBERT J. JR.---ST CHARLES MO.
[09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV]
1972 VAVROCH DUANE P.---TAMA IA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 WIMBROW NUTTER J.---WHALEYSVILLE MD.
[09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0268 St Dionysius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0418 St Zosimus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0795 St Leo III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1198 French bishop Odo van Sully condemns Zottenfeest
1481 Battle at Westbroek: Dutch army beats Utrecht
1492 1st Spanish settlement in New World founded, by Columbus
1620 Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth MA
1659 Long Parliament reforms in Westminster
1748 France & Austria signs treaty about Southern Netherlands
1773 Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia
1776 Battle of Trenton-major British defeat
1776 George Washington defeats Hessians at Trenton
1799 George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as "1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in the hearts of his countrymen"
1805 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts established, Philadelphia
1805 France & Austria sign Peace of Pressburg
1825 Erie Canal opens
1848 1st gold seekers arrive in Panamá en route to San Francisco
1848 William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia
1854 Wood-pulp paper 1st exhibited, Buffalo
1860 Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt)
1860 Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrated his small force at Fort Sumter
1862 1st US navy hospital ship enters service
1862 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato MN, due to their uprising

1865 James H Mason (Massachusetts) patents 1st US coffee percolator

1872 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18")
1877 Socialist Labor Party of North America holds 1st national convention
1878 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia
1902 Most knock downs in a fight, Oscar Nelson (5) & Christy Williams (42)
1916 Joseph Joffre becomes marshal of France
1917 Federal government took over operation of American RR for duration of WWI
1917 1st NHL defensemen to score a goal: Toronto Maple Leaf Harry Cameron
1919 Yankees & Red Sox reach agreement on transfer of Babe Ruth (DON'T DO IT!!)
1924 Judy Garland, age 2½, billed as Baby Frances, show business debut
1925 1st East-West football game at Ewing Park before 25,000 fans
1925 Turkey adopts Gregorian calendar
1926 Prince-regent Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan
1928 Johnny Weissmuller announces his retirement from amateur swimming
1931 SS-Sturmbannführer Reinhard Heydrich marries Lina von Osten
1932 Earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu China
1933 US forswears armed intervention in the Western Hemisphere
1934 Yomiuri Giants, Japan's 1st professional baseball team forms
1935 Stalin views Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth"
1936 Israel Philharmonic Orchestra forms
1941 Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that the Axis would "stop at nothing"
1943 British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst
1943 Chicago Bears win NFL championship
1943 Count Claus von Stauffenberg tries in vain to plant bomb in Hitler's headquarters
1944 Budapest surrounded by soviet army
1944 Tennessee Williams' play "Glass Menagerie" premieres in Chicago
1946 Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opens (start of an era)
1947 British transfer Heard & McDonald Islands (Indian Ocean) to Australia
1947 Heavy snow blankets Northeast, buries NYC under 25.8" of snow in 16 hours; That same day, Los Angeles set a record high of 84º F(More proof of global warming)
1948 Hungarian cardinal Mindszenty arrested
1950 Gillette & Mutual buy All Star & World Series rights ($6 million for 6 years)
1954 "The Shadow" airs for last time on radio
1955 Cleveland Browns beat Los Angeles Rams 38-14 in NFL championship game
1955 RKO is 1st to announce sale of its film library to TV
1963 Beatles release "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There"
1963 US furnishes cereal to USSR
1964 Beatles' "I Feel Fine" single goes #1 & stays #1 for 3 weeks
1964 Buffalo Bills beat San Diego Chargers 20-7 in AFL championship game
1964 Moors Murderers claim last victim
1966 Maulana Karenga establishes Kwanzaa (1st fruits of harvest) holiday
1967 The BBC broadcasts "The Magical Mystery Tour"
1967 Dave Brubeck Quartet formally disbands
1968 Bruin Ted Green sets NHL penalty record of 3 minors, 2 majors & 2 game misconducts in a game against the New York Rangers in New York's Madison Square Garden
1968 Arab terrorists in Athens fire on El Al plane, kills 1
1968 Led Zeppelin's concert debut in Boston as opener for Vanilla Fudge
1973 2 Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record 7 hours
1973 Soyuz 13 returns to Earth
1973 "The Exorcist", starring Linda Blair & rated X, premieres
1975 1st supersonic transport service (USSR-Tupolev-144)
1977 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1978 India's former PM, Indira Gandhi, released from jail
1982 TIME's Man of the Year is a computer
1983 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1984 Belgian princess Astrid marries arch duke Otto L van Austrian-Este
1986 TV soap "Search for Tomorrow" ends 35 year run
1986 Doug Jarvis, 31, sets NHL record of 916 consecutive games
1986 Hijackers take over an Iraqi Airways Boeing 737 with 91 people on board during a flight from Baghdad to Amman - it lands in Arar, Saudi Arabia where it explodes, killing 62 people.
1988 Anti African student rebellion in China People's Republic
1990 Garry Kasparov beats Antatoly Karpov to retain chess championship
1990 Reggie Williams becomes 1st GM of WLAF's New York-New Jersey Knights
1991 Chuck Knolls retires as NFL coach after 23 years
1991 Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction
1991 Militant Sikhs kill 55 & wound 70 in India
1993 Comedian Rodney Dangerfield (72) weds Joan Child (41)
1994 French commando's terminate Air France hijacking in Marseille
1994 President's ½ brother Roger Clinton (37) weds 8-month pregnant Molly Nartin (25)
1996 Child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, age 6, was found slain.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Africa, US : Kwanzaa (1966)
China People's Republic : Mao Tse-Tung's Birthday
Czechoslovakia : Day of Rest
West Germany : 2nd Day of Christmas
Canada, United Kingdom (except Scotland), Australia, New Zealand : Boxing Day (Monday-Friday)
Bahamas : "Junkanoo" (carnaval)
US : God-Awful Tie Day
Read A New Book Month

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Religious Observances
Seventh Day of Hanukkah
Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran : Feast of St Stephen, deacon, the 1st martyr
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Vicenta Maria Lopez y Vicuna, foundress

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Religious History
1531 German reformer Martin Luther declared: 'The inner man is a saint; the outer man is a sinner. That is why we confess in the Creed that the church is holy but pray for forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Prayer.'
1620 Plymouth Colony was settled by the "Mayflower" colonists. (In 1691 Plymouth joined other neighboring settlements to form the royal colony of Massachusetts.)
1830 Birth of William Caven, Scottish_born Canadian Presbyterian leader. He taught at Knox College, in Toronto, the last 39 years of his life. Though staunchly conservative, Caven was genuinely interested in social issues and thoroughly committed to missions.
1887 Birth of Charles Brandon Booth, American social reformer and head of the Volunteers of America, 1949_58. Booth was the grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth.
1970 American missionary and apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'We can fail after we are truly Christians because becoming a Christian does not rob us of our true humanity.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Statistics are often used as a drunk uses a light pole: For support rather than illumination."

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Question of the day...
If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Harvard Law)
Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, any experimental organism will do as it damn well pleases

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Astounding fact # 612,984,264,598...
The Swiss flag is square.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Iris7.

The Maginot line really did give the french a false sense of security.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Poor kitty. Get some sleep!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Valin. Welcome back.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Colorado (BB-45)

Colorado class battleship
displacement. 32,600
length. 624'6"
beam. 97'6"
draft. 30'6"
speed. 21 k.
complement. 1,080
armament 8 16", 12 5", 8 3", 2 21" tt.

The USS Colorado (BB-45) was launched 22 March 1921 by New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. M. Melville; and commissioned 30 August 1923, Captain R. R. Belknap in command.

Colorado sailed from New York 29 December 1923 on a maiden voyage that took her to Portsmouth, England; Cherbourg and Villefranche, France; Naples, Italy; and Gibraltar before returning to New York 15 February 1924. After repairs and final tests she sailed for the west coast 11 July and arrived at San Francisco 15 September 1924.

From 1924 to 1941 Colorado operated with the Battle Fleet in the Pacific, participating in fleet exercises and various ceremonies, and returning to the east coast from time to time for fleet problems in the Caribbean. She also cruised to Samoa, Australia and New Zealand (8 June-26 September 1925) to show the flag in the far Pacific. She aided in earthquake relief at Long Beach, Calif., from 10 to 11 March 1933 and during an NROTC cruise from 11 June to 22 July 1937 she assisted in the search for the missing Amelia Earhart.

Based at Pearl Harbor from 27 January 1941, Colorado operated in the Hawaiian training area in intensive exercises and war games until 25 June when she departed for the west coast and overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard which lasted until 31 March 1942.

After west coast training, Colorado returned to Pearl Harbor 14 August 1942 to complete her preparations for action. She operated in the vicinity of the Fiji Islands and New Hebrides from 8 November 1942 to 17 September 1943 to prevent further Japanese expansion. She sortied from Pearl Harbor 21 October to provide preinvasion bombardment and fire support for the invasion of Tarawa, returning to port 7 December 1943. After west coast overhaul, Colorado returned to Lahaina Roads, Hawaiian Islands, 21 January 1944 and sortied the next day for the Marshall Islands operation, providing preinvasion bombardment and fire support for the invasions of Kwajalein and Eniwetok until 23 February when she headed for Puget Sound Navy Yard and overhaul.

Joining other units bound for the Mariana Islands operation at San Francisco, Colorado sailed on 5 May 1944 by way of Pearl Harbor and Kwajalein for preinvasion bombardment and fire support duties at Saipan, Guam, and Tinian from 14 June. On 24 July during the shelling of Tinian, Colorado received 22 shell hits from shore batteries but continued to support the invading troops until 3 August. After repairs on the west coast, Colorado arrived in Leyte Gulf 20 November 1944 to support American troops fighting ashore. A week later she was hit by two kamikazes which killed 19 of her men, wounded 72, and caused moderate damage. Nevertheless as planned she bombarded Mindoro between 12 and 17 December before proceeding to Manus Island for emergency repairs. Returning to Luzon 1 January 1945, she participated in the preinvasion bombardments in Lingayen Gulf. On 9 January accidental gunfire (friendly fire) hit her superstructure killing 18 and wounding 51.

After replenishing at Ulithi, Colorado joined the preinvasion bombardment group at Kerama Retto 25 March 1945 for the invasion of Okinawa. She remained there supplying fire support until 22 May when she cleared for Leyte Gulf.

Returning to occupied Okinawa 6 August 1945, Colorado sailed from there for the occupation of Japan, covering the airborne landings at Atsugi Airfield, Tokyo, 27 August. Departing Tokyo Bay 20 September 1945 she arrived at San Francisco 15 October, then steamed to Seattle for the Navy-Day celebration 27 October. Assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty she made three runs to Pearl Harbor to transport 6,357 veterans home before reporting to Bremerton Navy Yard for inactivation. She was placed out of commission in reserve there 7 January 1947, and sold for scrapping 23 July 1959.

Colorado received seven battle stars for World War II service.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning aomagrat. Nice pic of Colorado's big guns in action. Thanks.

[Darksheare]

Morning.