Truttmann, Michel/Gorce, Jean-Robert La ligne Maginot au combat. Volume 2: Du Kerfent au Simserhof

On 13 June 1940, surprised by the breakthrough of the Guderian armoured corps in Champagne, Commander-in-Chief General Weygand ordered the large units and interval troops to abandon the garrisons of the Maginot Line fortifications to their fate in order to avoid encirclement. As the retreat began, the Saarland, a modestly fortified 30-kilometre section with defences in the form of floods, suffered the terrible blow of von Witzleben's army: thus Operation Tiger began at dawn on 14 June. Within a day, the Allied forces inflicted a merciless defeat on the enemy. The enemy, who had suffered very heavy losses and was on the verge of surrendering, continued its endeavours with great difficulty. After the almost complete retreat of the French and Polish units, he managed to break through the next day. Then, a few days before the armistice, he attempted to bring down the small CORF infantry installations on the flanks of the Maginot Line with a bypass movement. Several capitulations followed, but the results remained mixed. For every advance in the sector bombarded by the artillery of the fortifications meant heavy losses. This was the case with the overpowering Simserhof, which brought the Wehrmacht to a standstill in the Rohrbach-Bitche sector. After the armistice was signed, the numerous undefeated garrisons surrendered at the beginning of July and were then taken to prison camps. This second volume, which begins in Kerfent near Saint-Avold, revives the battles of the fortress troops all the way to Bitche. A very precise text, unique original documents redrawn on the computer and more than 500 photos, most of which are previously unpublished, give this work an exceptional memorial value. A work in preparation will later cover the battles of the garrisons of the Northern Vosges and Alsace, while continuing along the Rhine towards Mulhouse.