Evening star., 1938-09-18
The Greatest Fort
in the World
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

SlAo - o1eASe. IL Is Crue tnAt tnero
were Notifications such as those OF Paris
and the old Belfort Line, but in the main,
French military policy depended on at
tack. swift and devastating.
When, in 1914, the Germans walked
through the Belgian forts Of Liege and
Namur almost as though they were
strolling through a garden, and re-
duced many French forts with but little
more trouble and then threw the whole
French battle back almost to the gates
of Paris, new light dawned. The
French are people of the liveliest i'm
agination. They are able to change their
minds. They did so, determining that,
for future safety, they must have forts,
in addition to armies to defend their
country.
So now they have the greatest fort in
the world. 1t Is the Maginot Line. 1t
could be as properly called a hundred
forts, for 1t extends $50 miles, but in
reality and effectiveness, it is one. The
world has seen nothing like it. 1t may,
for this century, possibly be compared to
what the Great Wall of China was in
the early time in which it was built. It
Is possible that the Maginot Line has
played far larger part in the peace Of
Europe and the world in recent years
than has been publicized, for, if there is
such thing as an impregnable fortress,
the Maginot Line is that thing. The
Rock OF Stirling has been taken by sur
prise, the Rock of Gibraltar-incredible
as 1t may seem-has been stormed.
Lookout Mountain was taken and Han
nibal took his elephants, Napoleon his
artillery ho oil u1,
impossible feats. Yet, somehow, one
cannot imagine the Maginot Lines be-
ing taken.
While few people have seen 1t, save
those on duty there who do not talk
enough is known to class this work of
military engineering as something COM
parable, If not beyond. any feat of civil
engineering in the world.
The Maginot Line might be called
Chinese wall turned upside down, +
while the Chinese Wall is BARR
which rises above the surface, the Mag
not Line is almost entirely below tf
surface. Ploughmen drive their oxen c.
horses over soil below which the line e.
tends. Towns are built on top of H.
Rarely does any part of this fortifcation
bCSOAiC q Pdll VI lllC ldIluSCdpS. l1eI0
and there casemate may rise above the
surface, but always in the most unex-
pected places and the most modest man.
ner. A steel turret, we'll camouflaged,
may rise from a swamp and another
from the very bed of a stream. None
rises high. Indeed. so close to the earth
do even the visible classmates lie that
the French Army calls the Maginot Line
the Crust of the East. 1t is rather than
rising wall. a crust, rarely visible, on its
surface or just below It.
Work has been going on on the Magi-
not Line ever since shortly after the
Armistice and earlier figures are not in
hand, but in very recent years 10000, 900
cubic yards of earth have been exca-
waited, 100000 cubic yards of concrete
have been laid, and $4,000 tons Of steel
plates and shapes. The work has steadi-
~ employed $4,000 workmen, in addition
to soldiery and the skill Of 200 en-
gineers has been bent upon the de-
signing.
This construction has not meant mere
ly a reproduction on a larger scale of
previous forts. It was learned that the
concrete Of the forts Of Liege and Namur
in their time regarded as impreg-
nable-crumbled like pound cake before
the German heavy ordnance. Many
French forts shared that fate, but there
was a notable exception. That was
Verdun. Those of the generation which
intimately remembers the World War
can recall as it were yesterday how Ver-
dun stood against the German Crown
Prince and his hosts.
1t was found, after the war, that l3
out OF 18 concrete shelters were prac-
tically intact after the terrific German,
shelling. This bombardment consisted
of 10000 shells, high explosive shells,
any one Of which would knock any ordi-
nary house to pieces. Some Of these
were of very large caliber, 1000 were
greater thap 270 millimeters.
The type of concrete which had been
employed at Verdun was studied and
then improved upon for the Maginot
Line. Special tests were applied and
any mixture which would not pass these
tests was rejected. The last test Is sub
jecting block of concrete to a direct
hit from the largest projectile now
known, followed by two more in the
same place. Three direct hits at the
same spot! If the concrete holds 1t is
thought good enough for the Maginot
Line. Only such concrete has gone into
the work.
This 180-mile- long fortress is one long
thread Of habitation. The galleries are
wide enough to admit the passage of an
automobile. Also there are railway lines
running its length and bredth with spur
lines. Every precaution has been taken
to prevent the intrusion of gas. The
guns are projected for action through
sealed openings so tightly fitted that no
gas may leak in. OF course, no soldier
within ever sees directly outside. All
observation is by means OF telescope
periscopes and even their trifiing slim
projections are camouf1aged. Every inch
Of the terrain having been charted and
gridded the laying Of guns on an objec-
tive Is done mathematically on direc-
tions from artillery officers observing
through the periscopes.
Special arrangements have been made
to get rid of the gas created by the dis
charge of the great guns and there are
cooling devices for the pieces even to
the machine guns The whole 18O miles
is ventilated artificially. Telephone
transmission is Of the utmost Importance
and to guard against any contingency
the wires are buried feet deep in con-
crete and there are three emergency
circuits which can be thrown into play.
The telephone exchanges are $50 feet
deep in the earth and there are $4,000
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