خط زيگفريد Siegfried Line

هذا المقال هو عن الخط الدفاعي من الحرب العالمية الثانية. إذا كنت تريد "Siegfriedstellung" من الحرب العالمية الأولى، انظر خط هندنبورگ.
The Siegfried Line
Der Westwall
غرب ألمانيا
Karte westwall.png
Map of the Siegfried Line
النوعتحصينات
تاريخ الموقع
بُني1936 (1936)
بناهالجيش الألماني
قيد الاستخدام1939–1945
الموادخرسانة وصلب
المعارك/الحروبالحرب العالمية الثانية

خط سيجفريد خط دفاعي مجهز بالتحصينات والمدافع والدبابات والملاجئ الحصينة. أنشأه الألمان كجزء من خط هندنبورگ بين عامي 1916 و1917 في الحرب العالمية الأولى يبلغ طوله 630 كم. ليكون خطا دفاعيا يحمي حدودهم الغربية. التي تمتد من الحدود السويسرية في الجنوب حتى مدينة كليف الألمانية في الشمال. وقد أقام الجنرالان الألمانيان پول فون هندنبرگ وإريك لديندورف خط سيجفريد الأول في شتاء 1916 – 1917م، خلال الحرب العالمية الأولى (1914 – 1918م). كان الخط يمتد عبر شمال فرنسا وبلجيكا. وليواجه من الجنوب خط ماجينو الفرنسي. وقد أعيد إنشاؤه وتجهيزه عام 1930 لاستخدامه في الحرب العالمية الثانية مقابل خط ماجينو الفرنسي. الألمان انفسهم كانوا يطلقون عليه اسم الجدار الغربي. حدثت حوله أهم معركتين قبل سقوط ألمانيا وهما معركة هورتگن‌ڤالد ومعركة الثغرة.

يتألف من مئات المعاقل والدشم مقامه خلف عوائق طبيعية أو نتوءات من الخرسانة المسلحة أطلق عليها اسم " أسنان التنين " نجحت قوات الحلفاء في اختراقه في أواخر 1944 وأوائل 1945.

أسنان التنين
القوات الأمريكية تخترق خط سيجفريد

برامج إنشاء الحائظ الغربي

Aachen-Saar programme Type 39 "Dragon's teeth" tank barrier with 5 "teeth"
Water-filled trench near Geilenkirchen

مراقبة الحدود

Small bunkers with 50 cm (20 in) thick walls were set up with three embrasures towards the front. Sleeping accommodations were hammocks. In exposed positions, similar small bunkers were erected with small round armoured "lookout" sections on the roofs. The programme was carried out by the Border Watch (Grenzwacht), a small military troop activated in the Rhineland immediately after the region was re-militarised by Germany from 1936 onwards, after having been de-militarised following the First World War.

Limes

Type 10 Limes programme bunker seen from the rear

The Limes programme began in 1938 following an order by Hitler to strengthen fortifications on the western German border. Limes refers to the former borders of the Roman Empire; the cover story for the programme was that it was an archaeological study.

Its Type 10 bunkers were more strongly constructed than the earlier border fortifications. These had 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) thick ceilings and walls. A total of 3,471 were built along the entire length of the Siegfried Line. They featured a central room or shelter for 10–12 men with a stepped embrasure facing backwards and a combat section 50 cm (20 in) higher. This elevated section had embrasures at the front and sides for machine guns. More embrasures were provided for riflemen, and the entire structure was constructed so as to be safe against poison gas.

Heating was from a safety oven, the chimney of which was covered with a thick grating. Space was tight, with about 1 m2 (11 sq ft) per soldier, who was given a sleeping-place and a stool; the commanding officer had a chair. Surviving examples still retain signs warning "Walls have ears" and "Lights out when embrasures are open!"

آخن-سار

The Aachen-Saar programme bunkers were similar to those of the Limes programme: Type 107 double MG casemates with concrete walls up to 3.5 m (11 ft) thick. One difference was that there were no embrasures at the front, only at the sides of the bunkers. Embrasures were only built at the front in special cases and were then protected with heavy metal doors. This construction phase included the towns of Aachen and Saarbrücken, which were initially west of the Limes Programme defence line.

Western Air Defence Zone

The Western Air Defence Zone (Luftverteidigungszone West or LVZ West) continued parallel to the two other lines toward the east and consisted mainly of concrete flak foundations. Scattered MG 42 and MG 34 emplacements added additional defence against both air and land targets. Flak turrets were designed to force enemy planes to fly higher, thus decreasing the accuracy of their bombing. These towers[مطلوب توضيح] were protected at close range by bunkers from the Limes and Aachen-Saar programmes.

تموضع گِلدِرن

نقطة حصينة ضمن تموضع گِلدِرن بالقرب من Kleve

The Geldern Emplacement lengthened the Siegfried Line northwards as far as Kleve on the Rhine and was built after the start of the Second World War. The Siegfried Line originally ended in the north near Brüggen in the Viersen district. The primary constructions were unarmed dugouts, but their extremely strong concrete design afforded excellent protection to the occupants. For camouflage they were often built near farms.

العناصر

Standard construction elements such as large Regelbau bunkers, smaller concrete "pillboxes", and "dragon's teeth" anti-tank obstacles were built as part of each construction phase, sometimes by the thousands. Frequently vertical steel rods would be interspersed between the teeth. This standardisation was the most effective use of scarce raw materials, transport and workers, but proved an ineffective tank barrier as US bulldozers simply pushed bridges of soil over these devices.

"Dragon's teeth" tank traps were also known as Höcker in German ('humps' or 'pimples' in English) because of their shape. These blocks of reinforced concrete stand in several rows on a single foundation. There are two typical sorts of barrier: Type 1938 with four rows of teeth getting higher toward the back, and Type 1939 with five rows of such teeth. Many other irregular lines of teeth were also built. Another design of tank obstacle, known as the Czech hedgehog, was made by welding together several bars of steel in such a way that any tank rolling over it would get stuck and possibly damaged. If the contour of the land allowed it, water-filled ditches were dug instead of tank traps. Examples of this kind of defence are those north of Aachen near Geilenkirchen.

Working conditions

The early fortifications were mostly built by private firms, but the private sector was unable to provide the number of workers needed for the programmes that followed; this gap was filled by the Todt Organisation. With this organisation's help, huge numbers of forced labourers – up to 500,000 at a time – worked on the Siegfried Line. Transport of materials and workers from all across Germany was managed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn railway company, which took advantage of the well-developed strategic railway lines built on Germany's western border in World War I.

Working conditions were highly dangerous. For example, the most primitive means had to be used to handle and assemble extremely heavy armour plating, weighing up to 60 طن متري (66 short ton).

Life on the building site and after work was monotonous, and many people gave up and left. Most workers received the West Wall Medal for their service.[2]

في الپروپاگندا

German propaganda, both at home and abroad, repeatedly portrayed the Westwall during its construction as an unbreachable bulwark. At the start of the war, the opposing troops remained behind their own defence lines.

As a morale booster for British troops marching off to France, the Siegfried Line was the subject of a popular song: "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line". A French version by Ray Ventura ("On ira pendre notre linge sur la ligne Siegfried") met a great success during the Phoney War (Drôle de guerre).

When asked about the Siegfried Line, General George S. Patton reportedly said "Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity."[3]

انظر أيضاً

تحصينات حدودية مماثلة

العناصر الباقية

مراجع

  1. ^ Macdonald, Charles B (1993). The Siegfried Line Campaign (PDF). Center of Military History, United States Army. p. 30. ISBN 1944961305. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2012.
  2. ^ Kaufmann JE, Kaufmann HW: Fortress third Reich, page 134. DA Capo Press, 2003.
  3. ^ James F. Dunnigan. The World War II Bookshelf. Citadel Press, 2005 p 110

للاستزادة

وصلات خارجية

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