Hindenburg Line

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The Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt, as seen from the air.

The Hindenburg Line was a vast system of defences in northeastern France during World War I. It was constructed by the Germans during the winter of 1916–17. The line stretched nearly 160 km (100 miles) from Lens near Arras to the Aisne River near Soissons.

The decision to build the line was made by Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff during the final stages of the First Battle of the Somme. The Hindenburg Line was built across a salient in the German front, so that by withdrawing to these fortifications the German army was actually shortening their front. The total length of the front was reduced by 50 km (30 miles) and enabled the Germans to release 13 divisions for service in reserve.^[1]

The withdrawal to the line was begun in February 1917, and the territory between the old front and the new line was left devastated as the German army employed the scorched earth tactic. The fortifications included concrete bunkers and machine gun emplacements, heavy belts of barbed wire, tunnels for moving troops, deep trenches, dug-outs and command posts. At a distance of one-km in front of the fortifications was a thinly-held outpost line, which would serve a purpose comparable to skirmishers: slowing down and disrupting an enemy advance.

The line was subdivided into five areas, named from north to south:

Wotan Stellung
Siegfried Stellung (Note that this differs from the Siegfried Line, built along the German border with France prior to World War II.)
Alberich Stellung
Brunhilde Stellung
Kriemhilde Stellung

Of these the Siegfried Stellung was considered the strongest.

The German command believed the new line was impregnable. However it was successfully breached at the Battle of the Hindenburg Line during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in September 1918.