Siegfriedstellung

The Siegfriedstellung, also known as the Western Wall, was a German defensive line built between 1938 and 1940 along its western border with France. It was intended to protect Germany from a French invasion following the territorial gains made by Germany in the 1930s, particularly after the remilitarization of the Rhineland. The Siegfriedstellung was a complex network of concrete fortifications, trenches, pillboxes, and anti-tank obstacles stretching for over 630 kilometers.

Construction began in earnest in 1938, employing hundreds of thousands of workers. The fortifications were designed to be a formidable barrier, incorporating various types of defensive structures adapted to the local terrain. While often compared to the French Maginot Line, the Siegfriedstellung was generally less heavily fortified in terms of depth and the size of individual bunkers. Its primary purpose was to channel an attacking enemy into heavily defended killing zones and to impede their advance, buying time for German forces to mobilize and counter-attack.

By the outbreak of World War II, the Siegfriedstellung was considered a significant defensive achievement. However, it saw limited action during the Phoney War period. When the German offensive began in May 1940, the Allied forces bypassed large sections of the Siegfriedstellung by invading through the Ardennes, rendering much of the line irrelevant. Later in the war, as Allied forces pushed into Germany from the west, the Siegfriedstellung saw intense fighting, with German troops making a determined stand in some sectors, though ultimately it could not halt the Allied advance. Today, remnants of the Siegfriedstellung can still be found along the German-French border.