Book Description
The West Wall (or the Siegfried Line as the Allies called it) played a crucial role in the bitter fighting of 1944 and 1945 in North-West Europe. Constructed in the period immediately after the remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936, the Wall stretched for 300 miles from Cleve in the north to the Swiss Border and consisted of some 14,000 pillboxes. The Wall initially blunted the US attack, and Hitler used it as a foundation from which to launch the Ardennes Offensive. This title takes a detailed look at the development and form of this key fortification, examining the principles of its defence in visual depth, and discussing its fate in the wake of the Allied onslaught.
Excerpted from Germany's West Wall: The Siegfried Line (Fortress, 15) by Neil Short, Chris Taylor. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Although the enormous effort invested in the West Wall as a result of the Limesprogramm undoubtedly increased the strength of Hitler’s border defences they still suffered from a number of shortcomings. One of the main criticisms was that for a system of defences designed to delay an enemy attack relatively little space had been provided for the storage of ammunition or provisions that might allow the defenders to fight an extended campaign. A further criticism was that the main fighting compartment often doubled up as the garrison’s accommodation, or was separate to the main bunker.
The Aachen-Saar Programm sought to rectify these problem and more. The bunkers were strengthened with thicker walls and ceilings. The new designs were also far roomier and new storage areas for food and ammunition were introduced, as was a special room for an observer equipped with either a periscope or observation cupola.
