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Originally Posted by tikilal
Defenses were not as obsolete as people like to believe. The Maginot line fulfilled its purpose, it protected the French-German border.
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Agreed, it would be foolish and costly to frontal attack the Maginot line
Quote:
Originally Posted by tikilal
Now if the line had been built to the same extent all the way around France the whole face of the war would have been changed.
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The French could not afford it politically or financially. If they did have it then innovative Germans may have come up with a breeching plan on a larger scale of Eban Emal with greater numbers of Fallschirmjäger utilizing air support and panzers to exploit the breeches. Perhaps this would have given the French time to mass for a counter attack but I doubt little would have changed in the outcome.
Reality would dictate the French having to attack into Germany while the bulk of the Wehrmacht was in Poland.
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Originally Posted by Emperor
I still think the French could have held them. The French soldiers could fight. Almost every book I've read gives them credit for being good soldiers. It was the ridiculous last-second run to the north that wore them out.
Given an objective like holding the line, I think there would have been no problem, and in such a situation the French would have been able to resupply more rapidly than the Germans. Throw in a handful of British divisions, maybe some Poles, and it's even easier. Whatever problems the German artillery caused would have been dealt with somehow. Maybe instead of the RAF frantically trying to take out bridges over the Meuse it would have been sent against the advancing German heavy guns.
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I couldn't disagree with you more. The French lines of communication were sadly inadequate. The top eschelon of leadership were far from capable and that left the French soldier with a distinct disadvantage. The German's with their Autobahns and rail systems, not to mention their superior Luftwaffe that would allow free reign for air drops of men and supplies, would come as they pleased. Germany Artillery could and did have a devastating effect on the maginot line. It takes some time to build bridges, enough for French Armor, if used correctly en mass, to cause problems with the movement of supplies. So the RAF was correct in wanting to hit the bridges on the Meuse. Hitler was able to move men and machines at a far greater rate than his foes early in the war, so unless the Allies had attacked when Germans were engaged in Poland, all else would remain the same.