Text/Lonely Red Wine
When it comes to the Maginot Line, people tend to scoff at it as a flashy decoration. The Maginot Line was a strong line of defense built by the French on the Franco-German border during World War II. The defensive line was costly and unusually strong, and the French boasted of being "impregnable." But in the Battle of France, the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line directly and easily defeated the French. The Maginot Line, painstakingly run by the French, became a joke. So is the Maginot Line really a flashy decoration? Suffice it to say, please do not underestimate the wisdom of the French.
First of all, the defensiveness of the Maginot Line, designed by the French, is unquestionable. Located on the northeastern border of France, the Maginot Line is more than 400 kilometers long and costs about 5 billion francs, making it the strongest military defense line in the world! The Maginot Line was built of reinforced concrete and contained more than 5,800 fortifications, with the thickest wall of 3.5 meters, which was very strong. The internal structure of the Maginot Line is complex, with command posts, lounges, food pantries, ammunition depots, ambulance stations, power stations, filter ventilation rooms, etc. The French deployed 500,000 elite troops along with millions of auxiliary troops on the Maginot Line. If it is hard, it is estimated that no country can bite it down in a short period of time. Even the mighty Germans had to choose a detour.
In fact, the main purpose of the French Revision Maginot Line is also one, that is, to save money. In World War I, France suffered heavy losses and was badly wounded in the war. Not only did the war hollow out the pockets of the French, but many parts of France, especially the industrial areas in the north, were severely damaged. France not only needs large sums of money to rebuild and revive its economy, but it also has to repay its huge external debt. So post-war France faced a serious financial crisis. The cost of building the Maginot Line was far less than the cost of supporting the army, which was very cost-effective and helpless for France, which was financially strapped. It can be said that the Maginot Line is the embodiment of France's national conditions at that time.
Of course, the French did not pin all their hopes on the Maginot Line. In the French plan, the greatest role of the Maginot Line was not to block the German attack, but to delay the German action and buy time for the French to mobilize for war and industrial transfer. France's territory is relatively small, lacks strategic depth, and most of the country is flat, which is very unfavorable for defense, and once it encounters a sudden and fierce attack, there is no room for maneuver. Therefore, for the French, it was necessary to build a strong Maginot Line. The Maginot Line could buy France at least two weeks or more. If it weren't for the Germans accidentally crossing the Ardennes, the French wouldn't have been so passive. The Maginot line was unusually strong, and even the mighty Germans could not move. To break through the Maginot line, the Germans not only had to pay a huge price, but also a long time. If the French were given two weeks to wait until britain and france had completed their mobilization and deployment, the Germans might not have been able to win the war against britain and france.
Many may think that the French were stupid enough not to build the Maginot Line into Belgium and Luxembourg and the Netherlands, leaving the Germans to exploit the loophole. In fact, it is not that the French do not want to repair it, but that the French cannot fix it. Because the Dutch, Belgium, and Luxembourg feared provoking the Germans, they did not agree at all to the French building a defensive line in their own territory. And if the French build their own side of the Franco-Belgian border, there is no doubt that Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are blocked out, not only the three Benelux countries do not agree, the British will not agree, so the French have to repair the defensive line to the edge of Luxembourg and Belgium, and did not continue to the territory of the three countries.
Of course, the French did not intend to stick to their ideas, because the defensive line did not have the benefit of repairing it in the territory of the three countries. The French were just in a position to pull the British down. France has not eased up after experiencing the heavy damage of the First World War, and the British as a senior churning stick are naturally unbelievable, France is not defended on the Dutch and Belgian sides, and heavily guarded on the other side, the Germans want to attack France will inevitably bypass Belgium, the Netherlands and other lowland countries. And when Germany attacked the Low Countries, the British naturally did not sit idly by, so that the French succeeded in dragging Britain into the war and tying Britain to themselves. So the French built the Maginot Line in fact very wisely and deliberately.
Of course, the French did not sit still, and they also built some fortifications in their own country to prepare for the unexpected. Later, with the tension, the French realized the danger, so they ignored the opposition of Benelux and other countries and began to build a defensive line in their own country, that is, an extension of the Maginot Line. But unfortunately, before the French could finish it, the Germans called. What the French did not expect was that the German armored troops actually flew from the Ardennes and caught the French off guard. The British, who were attacked on their backs, saw that the situation was not good, and left their allies France and Benelux and other little brothers and ran away. When the French saw that the British had run away, they raised their flags and surrendered. In this way, the Germans succeeded in defeating France, and the Maginot Line, which had been given high hopes, became a decoration.
In fact, it is not the French who can't do it, nor is it the French who are stupid, it's just that the French are beaten by the Germans, and the powerful French are beaten down by the Germans with a stick, so they helplessly hit the soy sauce. It can only be said that the French lost very depressed, calculated the result or lost. If the allies are united, the French plan is likely to succeed and the Maginot Line can play its part. It can only be said that the French teammates are too bad. Of course, Germany is also too strong. Realistically speaking, at that time, any country could not stop Germany's blitzkrieg. Even the Soviet Union, with its vast strategic depth, would probably not have been able to hold back if it were not for the timely assistance of Britain and the United States. The Frenchman's Humaginot Line was undoubtedly very wise and the best option at the time. Without the Maginot Line, the French might have fallen faster and the British would have run more crisply.