Description
The fortifications included concrete bunkers and machine gun emplacements, heavy belts of barbed wire, tunnels for moving troops, deep trenches, dug-outs and command posts. At a distance of one kilometre or just over a half-mile in front of the fortifications was a thinly-held outpost line, which would serve a purpose comparable to skirmishers: slowing down and disrupting an enemy advance. In addition, villages (called "Outpost Villages") immediately in front of the outpost line were sometimes fortified and used to reinforce the main defenses.
The line was subdivided into five areas, named from north to south:.
- Wotan Stellung - from near Lille to St Quentin
- Siegfried Stellung (Note that this differs from the Siegfried Line, built along the German border with France prior to World War II) - from near Arras to St Quentin
- Alberich Stellung
- Brunhilde Stellung - the northern portion of the "Hunding Stellung", and went from near Craonne to near Reims
- Kriemhilde Stellung - the southern portion of the "Hunding Stellung", and went from near Reims to near Verdun
(Note: That there was an extension of the "Hunding Stellung" further south from Verdun to Metz, called the "Michel Stellung".)
Of these areas, the Siegfried Stellung was considered the strongest.
The German command believed the new line was impregnable. However it was temporarily broken through in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 by British and Canadian forces including tanks, and was successfully permanently breached in a number of locations during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in September 1918.
Read more about this topic: Hindenburg Line
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