Truttmann, Michel/Gorce, Jean-Robert La ligne Maginot au combat. Volume 1: De l'Escaut au Hackenberg

On 13 May 1940, the breakthrough of the Ardennes front by Guderian's tank corps shatters the myth of the invincibility of the French army. The enemy forces the French armed forces to fight at a pace never seen before. Shortly after the breakthrough at Sedan, the Wehrmacht attacked La Ferté, the last artillery-less fort west of the Maginot Line. Its 105-strong garrison perished 30 metres underground. The enemy also attacked the rear of the Maubeuge forts in Valenciennes, but encountered resistance from the garrisons from the north. On 13 June, the breakthrough of the tanks in Champagne forced General Weygand to order the units to retreat to the fortified line from Longuyon to Mulhouse in order to avoid encirclement. Over a length of 400 kilometres, 22,000 crew members, left to their fate in Lorraine and Alsace, cover the retreat of the intermediate units. However, the enemy attacked several weakly fortified sections and the rear of the forts. The fierce resistance of the soldiers in the concrete caused him heavy losses. The armistice led to the surrender of many undefeated crews, who had to endure the humiliation of captivity. 82 years after the fighting, locating the families of the defenders of the Maginot Line was a daring undertaking, but one that the authors succeeded in. Until then, the exact history of the defence of the fortified positions, especially in the north, had never been included in comprehensive publications. With the support of associations and several friendly historians and genealogy enthusiasts, they use a multidisciplinary approach to research to bring the battles of the fortress troops from the Scheldt to Mulhouse back to life. A text of great accuracy and a rich, mostly unpublished iconography give this work an exceptional commemorative value. Following the chosen geographical division, this first volume, illustrated with more than 560 photos and 53 unique original documents that have been redrawn by computer, allows the reader to discover the battles on the Maginot Line from the fortified section of the Scheldt to the fortified section of Boulay, before continuing further east and south in the following volumes.

Corners slightly dented in places!