The Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt, as seen from the air. Bullecourt is a commune in the département of Pas-de-Calais and région of Nord-Pas-de-Calais in

The Hindenburg Line was a vast system of defences in northeastern France during World War I. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All It was constructed by the Germans during the winter of 1916–17. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The line stretched nearly 160 km (100 miles) from Lens near Arras to the Aisne River near Soissons. Lens is a commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département. Arras (Atrecht is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The Aisne is a River in northeastern France, left Tributary of the river Oise. Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about 100

The decision to build the line was made by Field-Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff, who had taken over command of Germany's war effort in August 1916, during the final stages of the First Battle of the Somme. Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( known universally as Paul von Hindenburg ( ( October 2, 1847 &ndash August 2 Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (sometimes given incorrectly as von Ludendorff) (9 April 1865–20 December 1937 was a German Army officer, Generalquartiermeister The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, fought from July to November 1916 was among the largest battles of the First World War 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 its front. Salient Salients can be formed in a number of ways An attacker can produce a salient in the defender's line by either intentionally making a Pincer movement around the 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 began 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. A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method (possibly more often referred to as a tactic but this is not entirely correct as there is a difference between 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. Concrete is a construction material composed of Cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as Fly ash and Slag A military bunker is a hardened shelter often buried partly or fully underground designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. Barbed wire, also known as barb wire (and frequently in dialect form spelled bob or bobbed) is a type of fencing Wire constructed 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. Skirmishers are Infantry or Cavalry Soldiers stationed ahead or alongside of a larger body of friendly troops

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. The original Siegfried line ( Siegfriedstellung) was a line of defensive forts and tank defenses built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916-1917 World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including )
• Alberich Stellung
• Brunhilde Stellung
• Kriemhilde Stellung

Of these areas, the Siegfried Stellung was considered the strongest.

The German command believed the new line was impregnable. However it was broken through in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 by British and Newfoundland forces including tanks, and was successfully breached at the Battle of the Hindenburg Line during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in September 1918. The Battle of Cambrai ( 20 November - 3 December 1917) was a British campaign of World War I. The Entente Powers (from Triple Entente) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The Hundred Days Offensive was the final period of World War I, where the Allies launched a series of offensives against the Central Powers on the Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

References

External links

• The Hindenburg Line: The Apotheosis of German Fortifications on the Western Front in the Great War
• Sir Raymond Edward Priestley, Breaking the Hindenburg line : the story of the 46th (North Midland) Division / with an introduction by G. F. Boyd (1919)
• Yockelson, Mitchell A. (2008-05-30). Borrowed Soldiers: Americans under British Command, 1918, Foreword by John S. D. Eisenhower, University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806139197.  

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