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Maginot Line facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Maginot Line ln-en svg
A map of the Maginot Line in France

The Maginot Line (French: Ligne Maginot) was a long line of walls, forts, and armed defenses that the French built after the First World War. It is named after André Maginot, who was the French Minister of war when it was built. The Maginot Line was made of a number of fortifications and bunkers, close to the French border to Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy. Today, the fortifications towards Italy are commonly called Alpin Line. The Maginot Line was built between 1930 and 1940.

During the First World War, the German Army had built the Hindenburg Line, which is similar.

The plan was that the French army would have time to get ready and go north to Belgium and win any battle with the German army there. In the Second World War the German army and French army met in Belgium, but the French army lost.

Images for kids

  • Manoeuvre tourelle

    Side view diagram of the operation of a retractable turret: 75 mm gun of block 3 in Ouvrage Schoenenbourg

  • Casematedambachnord

    Casemate of Dambach Nord, Fortified Sector of the Vosges, Subsector of Philippsbourg

  • Blockhousemomderichtolsheim

    Blockhaus MOM (Main d'Oeuvre Militaire) de Richtolsheim – Secteur Fortifié de Colmar – Sous secteur de Hilsenheim

  • Antitankrails

    Anti-tank rails around casemate 9 of the Hochwald ditch

  • Maginot Linie Karte

    The principal fortified section of the Maginot Line

  • Fort Saint-Gobain p1410129

    81 mm (3.2 in) mortar

  • Fort Saint-Gobain p1410059

    Corridor inside the Fort Saint-Gobain near Modane in the Alps. The Decauville

  • Ligne Maginot - Four à Chaux (Alsace) bloc 1

    Combat block 1 at the fortress Limeiln (ouvrage Four-à-Chaux, Alsace), showing signs of German testing of explosives inside some fortresses between 1942 and 1944

  • Maginot line 2

    The view from a battery at Ouvrage Schoenenbourg in Alsace. A retractable turret is in the left foreground.

  • Ligne Maginot - Four à Chaux (Alsace) bloc 5

    View of the village of Lembach in Alsace (north-east), taken from combat unit number 5 of the fortress ouvrage Four-à-Chaux

  • Line maginot tunel

    Tunnel, Ouvrage Schoenenbourg, the decauville

  • Cloche gfm

    GFM cloche

  • Cloche jm

    JM cloche

  • Cloche am

    AM cloche

  • Cloche lg

    LG cloche

  • Cloche vp

    VP cloche

  • Cloche vdp

    VDP cloche

  • Turret75

    75 mm (3.0 in) Turret model 1932

  • 135Turret

    135 mm (5.3 in) Turret

  • 81Turret

    81 mm (3.2 in) Turret

  • Tourelle jm

    Machine-gun Turret

  • AMTurret

    AM (Mixed-Weapons) Turret

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Línea Maginot para niños

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Maginot Line Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.