West Wall

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

West Wall, German fortifications which ran for 480 km. (300 mi.) opposite the French Maginot Line from Basle to Cleves. Con struction started in 1936 and accelerated in 1938 when the Todt Organization employed 500,000 workers and consumed one-third of Germany's annual output of cement to complete it. It consisted mainly of mutually supporting pillboxes, in two bands in some places, and, where geographical features provided no natural barrier, concrete anti-tank defences. It was not designed to thwart a full-scale offensive, but merely to delay it while reserves could be brought forward. It deterred the French during the phoney war that lasted over the winter of 1939–40 and was first broken by the US Army at the start of the battle for Germany in the autumn of 1944 when it was partly manned by Volksgrenadier divisions. From 1940 to 1944 the line was neglected and much of its armament removed. Both sides also called it the Siegfried Line.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "West Wall." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "West Wall." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-WestWall.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "West Wall." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-WestWall.html

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