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The Maginot Line (French: Ligne Maginot, [lˈiɲ maʒinˈo]), [a] [1] named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Nazi Germany and force them to move around the fortifications.
A change in the design philosophy was noticeable in the "pillboxes" and larger blockhouses similar to the French Maginot line when the massive construction program began in 1936. The original plan was to have the first stage of construction finished in 1941–1942, whilst the full system should have been completed by the early 1950s.
The Little Maginot Line (click to enlarge). Numbers on the map correspond with the list below. This is the list of all ouvrages of the Alpine Line or Little Maginot Line along the Franco-Italian border, organized by sector and type of fortification.
The Haguenau sector was part of the larger Fortified Region of the Lauter, a strongly defended area between the Sarre to the west and the Rhine Valley to the east. The Lauter region was more important during the planning and construction phase of the Maginot Line than it was in the operational phase of the Line, when the sectors assumed prominence.
The sector roughly follows the valley of the Crusnes river. Crucially, the trace of the Maginot Line in the Crusnes sector is about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) behind the industrial city of Longwy which sits directly against the French borders with Belgium and Luxembourg. The Crusnes sector was one of the strongest Maginot Line sectors.
The Alpine Line mounted few anti-tank weapons, since the terrain was mostly unsuitable for the use of tanks. Ouvrage Rimplas was the first Maginot fortification to be completed on any portion of the Maginot Line, in 1928. The Alpine Line was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian forces during the Italian invasion of France in 1940.
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Following World War II, the French military reclaimed the Maginot Line with the aim of renovating and improving it against a possible attack by Warsaw Pact forces. The strongest positions, Rochonvillers, Molvange and Bréhain of the neighbouring former SF Crusnes were designated the môle de Rochonvillers ("breakwater") in 1951 and were placed ...