SIEGFRIED LINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1939, Page 2

SIEGFRIED LINE

LONG MAN-MADE BARRIER. CONCRETE AND STEEL. Running from the Netherlands to the Swiss frontier, Germany’s Siegfried Line, much in the news nowadays, consists of a series of strong points in strategic positions joined by lines of concrete and steel humps. Heavy guns and other armaments are mounted in the underground forts which are placed in commanding positions along the whole of the line. From the North Sea, where Germany borders the Netherlands, the line of fortifications runs from the lower Rhine plain, cut by streams, over hilly land to Aachen. From there southward, low ranges, with many peaks, are taken advantage of, and the line runs through the heavily-wooded Schnee-Eifel district.

Beginning close to the Luxembourg border farther south, the defences are threaded through the steep valleys of the Our and Sauer Rivers, and emerge on the Moselle lowlands. From there they follow the steep mountain terrain of the Saar and wind along the hill country of Osburg and the Black Forest. The many high peaks and deep valleys east of Saarbrucken toward the Pfalz forest are made full use of until the line cuts through this wooded sector to the. upper Rhine and the Swiss border.