“Fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity. If mountain ranges and oceans can be overcome, anything made by man can be overcome.”
General George S. Patton, Jr.
Tell that to the Germans at Stalingrad and Leningrad.
Sssssh.....don’t tell the President.
The Metz fortresses pushed Patton’s beliefs about fixed fortifications to the limit. He thought that Third Army would just roll over those monuments to the stupidity of man, but it took about three months of some of the worst fighting of the war to clear the city and the extensive network of forts built by both the French and Germans. Even then, the strongest forts held out until they simply ran out of ammunition.
In early 1945, the Americans actually used parts of the Maginot Line to defend against Operation Northwind, Germany’s last offensive in the west. Elements of the Seventh Army managed to stop the Germans for several days using the partially manned and equipped fortifications. They lacked the manpower to hold as long as the French had originally planned, but the delay prevented the Germans from coming anywhere near their objectives.