Historical Timeline of Events

The West Wall or Siegfried Line

by Rainer Monnartz

During the battle of the Huertgen Forest the West Wall played an important role at some places. This was the case at Peterberg, Oschenkopf (Raffelsbrand area), Deadmans Moor (Todtenbruch), Buhlert, and Paustenbach Hill (Hill 554 at Lammersdorf).

What follows is a short description of the West Wall:

The West Wall was the Nazi's equivalent of the French Maginot Line and the Belgian and Dutch border fortifications. The construction of the line was begun in 1936 but at the outbreak of WW II the line had not been completed.

The West Wall consisted of three lines:

Anti-tank obstacles:
Dragon's teeth (Höckerlinie) ± 167 km.
Infantry defenses and fortifications:
Approx. 14,000 pillboxes and fortifications of different kinds.
Air defense zones:
Anti Aircraft Sites (Luftverteidigungszone LVZ) with AA Guns (Flak)

The West Wall stretched along the German border from near Basel Switzerland to Kleve in northern Germany, this is a distance of about 630 km.

Even today the military importance of the line is questionable. The Germans used the line as a political means to show the Allies (primarily the French, Dutch, Belgians and Brits) that Germany had no intentions of attacking its western neighbors.

Shortly before the invasion of Poland (Sept. 1, 1939), German border troops and units of the Wehrmacht occupied positions at the West Wall for the first time. At the beginning of the Blitzkrieg against the Lowlands and France (May 1940) the West Wall was the jump off point. At that moment in time the line was not, and never would be, finished.

After their unexpected fast advance in France, Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium, the Germans demilitarized the Siegfried Line in mid 1940. Parts of the line and most of the weapons were moved to the Atlantic Wall and further construction of the West Wall was ended.

Thereafter and until the fall of 1944 the West Wall was neglected.

When the German army pulled back from France and reoccupied the fortifications of the West Wall in September 1944, the installations were in a dreadful state:

All efforts made at the end of 1944 to refurbish the West Wall were more or less fruitless.

The following measures were taken:

A great disadvantage for the occupants of the pillboxes was the fact that the entrances/exits at the rear of the pillboxes, could only be defended with hand weapons and firearms. In many cases this was a deadly trap.
Often the Allies attacked the pillboxes from the rear with the use of heavy gear (armor) and flamethrowers.

HORIZONTAL FLOURISH LINE



Source:
Original text by Rainer Monnartz, Geschichtsverein Hürtgenwald e.V.
German to English translation made by Scorpio and Christine Greenthaner.

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