Truttmann, Michel/Gorce, Jean-Robert La ligne Maginot au combat. Volume 3: De Bitche à la frontière suisse

On 13 June 1940, one month after the breakthrough at Sedan and fierce fighting in the north, the battle for France is looking very bleak. On the orders of General Weygand, the main troops suddenly abandon the garrisons of the Maginot Line's forts and casemates to their fate. East of Bitche, a German division broke through the chain of small casemates defending the ridges and valleys in two places. From Lembach to the Rhine, however, the artillery of the large fortifications of Four-à-Chaux, Hochwald and Schoenenbourg in the fortified section of Haguenau prevented any advance. Despite the heavy bombardment to which the large concrete blocks were subjected, they inflicted considerable losses on the attackers. The CORF casemates also held their ground. After the armistice, the guns fell silent at 0:35 a.m. on 25 June. At the beginning of July, the intact installations were handed over to the victors and the undefeated crews were taken to prisoner-of-war camps. Further south, Operation Little Bear began on 15 June in Alsace: the crossing of the Rhine by the 7th German Army. From the riverbank to the Rhine-Rhone Canal, the defenders of three infantry bunkers fought desperately. But the damage and losses were considerable. After fierce fighting, the enemy reached the Rhine-Rhone Canal on the evening of 16 June and was able to begin its advance towards the Vosges. This third volume, which begins in Bitche, brings to life the battles fought by the fortress troops as far south as Alsace and also presents some of the support units (heavy artillery) and auxiliary troops (army medical service) that took part in the fighting on the border in 1939-1940 or protected the installations and transport routes (regional protection regiment). A precise text, original documents redrawn on computer, and nearly 500 photos, most of which have never been published before, give this work exceptional commemorative value. This final volume of a trilogy, covering more than 500 families of defenders and a few courageous attackers, completes the account of the battles for the fortified positions in the northeast.

Corners slightly dented in places!