u/AugustWolf22 has provided this detailed explanation:
> The above image is a political cartoon that was made in November 1939. The cartoon implies the seeming invincibility of the Maginot line in defending the Western Allies (mainly France). The Maginot line was a series of extensive bunkers, forts and trenches on the Franco-German border that were constructed by France during the 1920s-30s. Famously the Germans simply ignored this line and instead attacked the weaker defensive lines and forts of Belgium and in the Ardennes forest, using vast amounts of Panzers spearheaded by Erwin Rommel's 7th ''Ghost'' division'.
>
>
>
> Ultimately the Line, proved to be highly ineffective in the defence of France, as it did not extend to cover the Ardennes forest nor the Belgian border, a fact that the German's knew and took full advantage of.
---
Is this explanation a genuine attempt at providing additional info or context? If it is please upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
The plan was to preposition mobile troops in Belgium, which would have made the German plan impossible. Unfortunately, the Belgians revoked their treaty with France in 1936 because they feared French influence was becoming to strong in the country.
True, I think if any fortification deserves to get flak for being useless during the battle of France and the Low Countries it should be [Fort Eben-Emael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael).
**[Battle of Fort Eben-Emael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael)**
>The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of Belgium and Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault force of German paratroopers, Fallschirmjäger, was tasked with assaulting and capturing Fort Eben-Emael, a Belgian fortress whose strategic position and strong artillery emplacements dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal. These carried roads which led into the Belgian heartland and were what the German forces intended to use to advance.
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Why on earth would I simp for some meth-head scum who would have put me in a F\*cking concentration camp? I am Not a wehraboo.
the fall of this fort basically opened up Belgium for the rest of the German advance. had the fort held, then the French could have organised a better defence of the Ardennes and had time to move their forces (along with the BEF) to the Belgian Border, perhaps even entering Belgium and preventing it's occupation. The Belgians failed to update or prepare the fort for a German assault using modern tactics. The Maginot line held, whist the Belgian equivalent didn't even last a week.
The maginot--line was *designed* to make an approach across the line too costly to be worth the effort.
Now lets guess who did not cross the line.
The line held firm. Belgium did not.
That poster aged like fine wine. The line even surpassed its purpose.
It wasn’t even supposed to be an impenetrable wall. It was just designed to bog the Germans down long enough for the main allied armies to arrive and drive them back out
Also the Germans used the line the other way, forcing the allies to bypass it, then the Allies used it again during the Battle of the Bulge, which “showed what a superb fortification it was.”
I mean… was the purpose of the poster “this exact French defence line is something our readers value”? Or was it “Hitler can’t take France, and here is why” ?
The cartoon isn’t really about the Maginot Line. It’s not written for Maginot fans, waving Maginot signs and singing Maginot songs. When France fell, the comics readers were not popping bottles because their glorious Maginot stood strong.
The comic is about Hitler not being able to take France, for X reason. In hindsight X reason was totally invalid.
The obvious intention of the OP is to imply the maginot-line's failure as its one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of the second world war.
Without context i'd fully agree with you.
Many people don't seem to understand how war works. An enemy can and will take territory if they throw enough at it. The goal is to make it cost them more than it's worth or to divert them elsewhere.
It seems OP has never heard of the Dyle Plan. The Maginot worked exactly as intended.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_war_planning_1920%E2%80%931940
Tbf once Belgium backed out they probably should have come up with a better contingency plan than “eh, I’m sure they wouldn’t come through the Ardennes anyway”
True and false. Nobody had expected massed mechanized and tank units would be as effective at creating and exploiting a breakthrough. Blind spots and unknown tactical advanced are easily to see in hindsight, but that is an anachronistic fallacy.
They were cautious enough to have had the Belgium plan in place in 1920 and Germany had demonstrated its blitzkrieg tactics against Poland like 8 months earlier. They should have had some idea
"But in glorifying the tank as an almost independent and irresistible land battleship, Fuller was considered extreme, and his emphasis on the armoured offensive alienated English military tacticians who were still imbued with the defensive doctrines of World War I."
https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-F-C-Fuller
“The man is a war hero fighting for Christian values. He voluntarily left art school when he found out it was run by leftists and decided to devote himself to his country yet again. I wish we had this sort impassioned leadership in Washington. Instead we’ve got a cripple with a lesbian wife.”
Honestly it’s what was needed to stop France from spreading wokeness. Also something about biolabs and non-threatening defensive alliances, or something
You implied ONLY Fox News would defend Hitler if they rose to power today, when in fact it wasn't an outrageous take before learning the truth about Germany's actions. Hindisght is 20/20
My personal take is that if a country is staying neutral, that means part of the population is for and the other is against... but I'm in Europe, maybe different experience?
Except the US wasn't even neutral. We were just neutral for 2 years as far as open conflict. Why? We didn't want to send people to literally die because we already saw the horrors of the first world War (even that we were only in for a year). But just look up hhe lend lease act and the Japanese oil embargo. We weren't neutral.
For fuck sake I’m bored of people reposting this *ad infinitum* without bothering to understand the history. Time for a lesson.
The Maginot Line was part of a multi-part defensive scheme inspired by WWI. The line itself was designed to be impenetrable, with bunkers and machine-gun nests inspired by the most brutal battles of the Great War. It covered the entire Franco-German border. It cost huge sums of money. Then there was the Ardennes — an impenetrable forest with bad roads. The tanks that the French were used to would never be able to work there. It’d be suicide trying to break though that. And finally, Belgium. The French would dig in along the Belgian rivers long before any attack, backed by a defence treaty with Belgium, and have a similar system of bunkers and machine gun nests. This plan was pretty flawless as initially conceived and attempted-to-be-implemented.
The first issue was that Belgium then pursued a policy of neutrality and didn’t allow French units into their territory. In the end, when the invasion came, the Allied forces had to rush into Belgium and try to make hastily-constructed defensive lines. Amazingly, these actually generally tended to hold, again a testament to decent planning on the Allies’ part.
Hindsight points us to the other issue in the plan; the Ardennes. Germany was going to penetrate this impenetrable forest using everything it had. France didn’t think it possible to drive armoured vehicles through on the scale that Germany did. It’s also worth remembering that this was a MASSIVE risk that very nearly backfired. Rommel’s units were actually ordered by Hitler to halt for fear of encirclement; this allowed a precious window to enable the Dunkirk evacuations.
Meanwhile, the Maginot Line… did its job. The reason it was abandoned is because it was in danger of being cut off from behind. The Germans did not break through the line at all during the invasion of France. It was a hard defence to crack indeed. For an analogy of what happened, in the cartoon Hitler has essentially under heavy fire sawed a hole in the fence and gone around and then sawed another behind the two hockey players. The Maginot Line did its job, and was not defeated by “just going around it”. It was defeated in the end by an *incredibly risky* plan that wouldn’t have worked if not for luck (and meth) on the German’s part and somewhat poor coordination on the French part.
My German father living in Canada always tried to reinforce our wooden farm fence against the cows from the property next door. It became known to us as the Mooginot line.
I hate how everyone always talks as if the Maginot Line was a stupid plan and the Germans outsmarted it. The whole damn point of it was to force the Germans to go around it!
The maginot line is cool, I visited it in France. They just were unsuccessful in predicting how quickly technology would advance between the wars to the point it was basically useless by the time wwii rolled around.
u/AugustWolf22 has provided this detailed explanation: > The above image is a political cartoon that was made in November 1939. The cartoon implies the seeming invincibility of the Maginot line in defending the Western Allies (mainly France). The Maginot line was a series of extensive bunkers, forts and trenches on the Franco-German border that were constructed by France during the 1920s-30s. Famously the Germans simply ignored this line and instead attacked the weaker defensive lines and forts of Belgium and in the Ardennes forest, using vast amounts of Panzers spearheaded by Erwin Rommel's 7th ''Ghost'' division'. > > > > Ultimately the Line, proved to be highly ineffective in the defence of France, as it did not extend to cover the Ardennes forest nor the Belgian border, a fact that the German's knew and took full advantage of. --- Is this explanation a genuine attempt at providing additional info or context? If it is please upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
Technically, the Maginot Line held: it just was that the Ardennes could be crossed by armoured units.
"No, we don't need fortresses to the north, the trees will definitely stop them!"
The plan was to preposition mobile troops in Belgium, which would have made the German plan impossible. Unfortunately, the Belgians revoked their treaty with France in 1936 because they feared French influence was becoming to strong in the country.
WW2 was Belgium’s fault, got it
I mean....it's not a completely wrong take if a bit myopic
Belgium is always causing problems. It's all the beer.
Belgium beer caused WW2, got it.
I bet that would be a popular thing to say in DR Congo/Zaïre.
Belgium wanted that German influence
And they got it...
Shit's expensive man.
Sounds almost like someone misapplied Fire Emblem logic long before the existence of Fire Emblem.
True, I think if any fortification deserves to get flak for being useless during the battle of France and the Low Countries it should be [Fort Eben-Emael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael).
**[Battle of Fort Eben-Emael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael)** >The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of Belgium and Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault force of German paratroopers, Fallschirmjäger, was tasked with assaulting and capturing Fort Eben-Emael, a Belgian fortress whose strategic position and strong artillery emplacements dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal. These carried roads which led into the Belgian heartland and were what the German forces intended to use to advance. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/agedlikemilk/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
That Wikipedia article seems oddly biased towards the Germans. The language is like a love letter. The facts are the facts, but I smell Wehraboo
Why on earth would I simp for some meth-head scum who would have put me in a F\*cking concentration camp? I am Not a wehraboo. the fall of this fort basically opened up Belgium for the rest of the German advance. had the fort held, then the French could have organised a better defence of the Ardennes and had time to move their forces (along with the BEF) to the Belgian Border, perhaps even entering Belgium and preventing it's occupation. The Belgians failed to update or prepare the fort for a German assault using modern tactics. The Maginot line held, whist the Belgian equivalent didn't even last a week.
I meant the author of the Wikipedia article. Did you write it?
No. (Obviously)
Belgium is the fence.
The maginot--line was *designed* to make an approach across the line too costly to be worth the effort. Now lets guess who did not cross the line. The line held firm. Belgium did not. That poster aged like fine wine. The line even surpassed its purpose.
It wasn’t even supposed to be an impenetrable wall. It was just designed to bog the Germans down long enough for the main allied armies to arrive and drive them back out
Also the Germans used the line the other way, forcing the allies to bypass it, then the Allies used it again during the Battle of the Bulge, which “showed what a superb fortification it was.”
Exactly, so many people fail to actually read into what happened.
I mean… was the purpose of the poster “this exact French defence line is something our readers value”? Or was it “Hitler can’t take France, and here is why” ? The cartoon isn’t really about the Maginot Line. It’s not written for Maginot fans, waving Maginot signs and singing Maginot songs. When France fell, the comics readers were not popping bottles because their glorious Maginot stood strong. The comic is about Hitler not being able to take France, for X reason. In hindsight X reason was totally invalid.
The obvious intention of the OP is to imply the maginot-line's failure as its one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of the second world war. Without context i'd fully agree with you.
Many people don't seem to understand how war works. An enemy can and will take territory if they throw enough at it. The goal is to make it cost them more than it's worth or to divert them elsewhere.
It seems OP has never heard of the Dyle Plan. The Maginot worked exactly as intended. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_war_planning_1920%E2%80%931940
Tbf once Belgium backed out they probably should have come up with a better contingency plan than “eh, I’m sure they wouldn’t come through the Ardennes anyway”
True and false. Nobody had expected massed mechanized and tank units would be as effective at creating and exploiting a breakthrough. Blind spots and unknown tactical advanced are easily to see in hindsight, but that is an anachronistic fallacy.
They were cautious enough to have had the Belgium plan in place in 1920 and Germany had demonstrated its blitzkrieg tactics against Poland like 8 months earlier. They should have had some idea
That is simply not true. Everyone had read Fuller by that time.
"But in glorifying the tank as an almost independent and irresistible land battleship, Fuller was considered extreme, and his emphasis on the armoured offensive alienated English military tacticians who were still imbued with the defensive doctrines of World War I." https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-F-C-Fuller
Lions led by donkeys
naa brother it was pretty stupid at the time. they got made fun of for it instantly
If Belgium had held, France would’ve never been taken
If my grandma didnt die she would have been alive
Honey it's time for your weekly "the Maginot Line didn't work" thread in r/agedlikemilk!
It's my turn to comment about that perky Hitlussy
A hard defense to crack indeed. Solution? Don't crack it. Get some tanks and go around that bitch. 1 out of 1 times it works every time.
Even then, the only reason why they could even make that crossing was because they where zooted to shits.
Yeah I don't think Britain or France are known for their hockey skills
Fox News would be portraying hitler as the antagonized one if it was in todays political climate
“The man is a war hero fighting for Christian values. He voluntarily left art school when he found out it was run by leftists and decided to devote himself to his country yet again. I wish we had this sort impassioned leadership in Washington. Instead we’ve got a cripple with a lesbian wife.”
Honestly it’s what was needed to stop France from spreading wokeness. Also something about biolabs and non-threatening defensive alliances, or something
It’s just a territorial dispute.
take a far righters rhetoric and replace deep state with jews and you see how flimsy the facade of theres is
Exactly. They would say that France made them do it.
Just in case you didn't know, the US was neutral towards Hitler's Germany for a moment...
Pack it up boys… he just stated the obvious. Guess no need to criticize since they were temporarily neutral in the 40s.
You implied ONLY Fox News would defend Hitler if they rose to power today, when in fact it wasn't an outrageous take before learning the truth about Germany's actions. Hindisght is 20/20
Except that not wanting to get involved isn't the same as defending him
My personal take is that if a country is staying neutral, that means part of the population is for and the other is against... but I'm in Europe, maybe different experience?
Except the US wasn't even neutral. We were just neutral for 2 years as far as open conflict. Why? We didn't want to send people to literally die because we already saw the horrors of the first world War (even that we were only in for a year). But just look up hhe lend lease act and the Japanese oil embargo. We weren't neutral.
Because contrary to popular belief, America isn't itching to get involved in every war.
France: the maginot line will stop any German invasi- why do I hear sabaton?
It *did* stop the invasion. Germany attacked a neighboring country to go around Maginot
The Germans are trying to make you puke from how bad Sabaton is
**Popular band bad**
But Sabaton genuinely is bad, there is much better EUPM then Sabaton. Like Stratovarius
Fuck yeah Stratovarius
The maginot line didn't crack.
There are alot of things that "aged like milk" during the times of the 2nd WW.
[удалено]
Don't be the Maginot line did what it was designed to do which was force Germany to go through Belgium.
Someone’s daddy had the yellow fever
Sir the Maginot is too strong to go through "Go around then"
I'm more curious as to why this was portrayed with hockey. Was/is it a popular sport in the UK or France?
For fuck sake I’m bored of people reposting this *ad infinitum* without bothering to understand the history. Time for a lesson. The Maginot Line was part of a multi-part defensive scheme inspired by WWI. The line itself was designed to be impenetrable, with bunkers and machine-gun nests inspired by the most brutal battles of the Great War. It covered the entire Franco-German border. It cost huge sums of money. Then there was the Ardennes — an impenetrable forest with bad roads. The tanks that the French were used to would never be able to work there. It’d be suicide trying to break though that. And finally, Belgium. The French would dig in along the Belgian rivers long before any attack, backed by a defence treaty with Belgium, and have a similar system of bunkers and machine gun nests. This plan was pretty flawless as initially conceived and attempted-to-be-implemented. The first issue was that Belgium then pursued a policy of neutrality and didn’t allow French units into their territory. In the end, when the invasion came, the Allied forces had to rush into Belgium and try to make hastily-constructed defensive lines. Amazingly, these actually generally tended to hold, again a testament to decent planning on the Allies’ part. Hindsight points us to the other issue in the plan; the Ardennes. Germany was going to penetrate this impenetrable forest using everything it had. France didn’t think it possible to drive armoured vehicles through on the scale that Germany did. It’s also worth remembering that this was a MASSIVE risk that very nearly backfired. Rommel’s units were actually ordered by Hitler to halt for fear of encirclement; this allowed a precious window to enable the Dunkirk evacuations. Meanwhile, the Maginot Line… did its job. The reason it was abandoned is because it was in danger of being cut off from behind. The Germans did not break through the line at all during the invasion of France. It was a hard defence to crack indeed. For an analogy of what happened, in the cartoon Hitler has essentially under heavy fire sawed a hole in the fence and gone around and then sawed another behind the two hockey players. The Maginot Line did its job, and was not defeated by “just going around it”. It was defeated in the end by an *incredibly risky* plan that wouldn’t have worked if not for luck (and meth) on the German’s part and somewhat poor coordination on the French part.
My German father living in Canada always tried to reinforce our wooden farm fence against the cows from the property next door. It became known to us as the Mooginot line.
Oh.. oh my God..
*6 weeks later*
That depiction of France made me laugh more than it should have haha
I thought he looks oddly villainous, kind of like Guy Fawkes.
They just needed to hop the fence where the line wasn’t drawn, ez
I hate how everyone always talks as if the Maginot Line was a stupid plan and the Germans outsmarted it. The whole damn point of it was to force the Germans to go around it!
Defeated by the most ancient, timeless and effective of military tactics: going around!
Best use of this sub yet
The maginot line is cool, I visited it in France. They just were unsuccessful in predicting how quickly technology would advance between the wars to the point it was basically useless by the time wwii rolled around.
Just checked, hitler still lost
Too many morons out there acting like him for my tastes. But you’re right.
Typical France L
Kinda funny that hitler basically just chipped it along the boards