At the Maginot Line, everyone could expect that the German army would detour to the rear, but why didn’t France think of it?

World War II was the largest war in human history. Although the Allies won this war, they also paid a huge price. The Axis powers, led by Germany, Japan, and Italy, They also achieved a high degree of initiative. From 1940 to 1941, Nazi Germany's steel torrent could be said to flow unimpeded on the European continent. The reason why they were able to do this was naturally inseparable from another country.

France has always had the reputation of being the largest land power in Europe. Therefore, after Hitler's Nazi regime came to power, it was also regarded as a solid bridgehead against the Nazis. However, what is surprising is that , from the time when the Nazi Germans invaded France on May 10, 1940, to when the French government announced its surrender on June 22, it only took about two months.

There are various reasons for France’s surrender. For example, after the First World War, the French completely hated the war and their morale was low. However, Germany has been subject to the extremely harsh sanctions of the Versailles Peace Treaty for many years, and the morale of the entire team was high, etc., and From a tactical analysis, the British and French coalition's tactical prediction of Germany was completely wrong, which led to the collapse of the entire war situation. The famous Maginot Line must be mentioned here.

During the war, the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line stationed by the French army and led their troops straight into Paris, forcing them to surrender. This also made people curious. Everyone knows that they avoided their edge. Everyone can think of a way around it, so why hasn’t France thought of it? Let us analyze it carefully.

Although the tank had been invented during World War I, the traditional French army still regarded "cannons and giant ships" as the core standard of the army.

The French artillery force has a long history and is large in scale. Napoleon was born in the artillery, so he relied on various cannons. They also adopted a strategy of replacing offense with defense. During World War I, France Several active offensives paid an extremely heavy price. On the contrary, several defensive battles based on the fortress, such as the Battle of Verdun, dealt a heavy blow to the Germans. Therefore, the French army also relied on the experience gained in World War I. The strategy of uninterrupted linear defense reinforced by fortresses under the cover of field artillery was firmly established.

In Thionville, in eastern France, this became the most likely place for the Germans to break into. At the suggestion of the French Minister of War, Maginot, a cannon with various cannons was built on this theme. A huge defensive front of trenches and fortresses.

As for the purpose of the French building a defensive line, it is far more than just military significance. It also has obvious political intentions. It shows its non-offensive but peaceful military posture, and in the case of Germany's invasion of Belgium Under this situation, Britain was forced to help France, and it was also able to push Belgium to join the war (Belgium was on the German side of the Maginot Line) after blocking Germany's early attack.

The French did not set up defenses in the Ardennes Highlands on the Franco-Belgian border. The reason is very simple. It is not suitable for mobile warfare, and Belgium also clearly opposed the construction of a defense line on the Franco-Belgian border. This matter was decided by This is put on hold.

However, the breakthrough of the Maginot Line was beyond the French's expectations. Even if the Germans were too smart, in 1940, the German army concentrated its forces and pretended to attack the Netherlands. This move also successfully caused the main force of the French army and the British Expeditionary Force to be stationed in the Netherlands. However, the Franco-Belgian border was very empty. In the end, the German armored forces took the opportunity to sneak into the Ardennes and broke through in one fell swoop with their powerful transportation capabilities, so that France did not react at all. Not as good as.

When the German army appeared behind the Maginot Line, the cannons and machine guns that needed to be towed within the defense line became a pile of scrap metal. Therefore, the reason that ended France's indifference to Germany's detour was nothing more than two points. First, the smoke bombs released by the German army confused Britain and France. The second point was that the Ardennes Mountains made France more reassured. They did not know how powerful the German army's mobile operations were.

From today's perspective, France naturally made a very serious mistake, but it is still within the scope of understanding. The failure of the Maginot Line is also a transition of the modern war system. , and as of now, the military significance of the Maginot Line has been completely lost. The French government has handed over the defense line to the people through auctions, and some fortifications have become tourist attractions, telling tourists about the past history.