Fortified Sector of Maubeuge

The Fortified Sector of Maubeuge (Secteur Fortifié de Maubeuge) was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line between the French border with Belgium and Maubeuge, a distance of about 70 kilometres (43 mi). The sector was not as strongly defended as other sections of the Maginot Line Large portions of the Maubeuge sector were defended by blockhouses or casemates. The sector includes only four ouvrages of the type found in stronger sections of the Line, arranged in an arc to the north and east of the fortified city of Maubeuge, incorporating defenses from the First World War. The Maubeuge sector and the Fortified Sector of the Escaut were the final sections of the Maginot line to be authorized, and were termed the "New Fronts." In the Battle of France the large fortifications of Maubeuge successfully resisted determined German bombardments and infantry attacks, despite their failure to protect Maubeuge against the Germans, who had outflanked the defensive line and who assaulted the fortification lines from the rear. Surrender or evacuation came only after the positions were surrounded and cut off from any hope of reinforcement. One ouvrage and one pre-Maginot fortification have been preserved.

Initial work in the sector established a series of casemates in the Mormal Forest, well to the rear of Maubeuge. The casemates were built by the Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées (CORF), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency. At the same time, studies proceeded on the fortification of the exposed salients, or môles of Bavai and Maubeuge. As the fortification of the Maubeuge Front was commenced later than the main section of the Line to the east, funds were restricted by the impact of the Great Depression, which had reached France. A relatively ambitious project was nevertheless advanced, planning for five artillery ouvrages (Eth, Bavai, Quatre-Bras, L'Épine and Boussois) between Valenciennes and the Ardennes. The plan was progressively scaled back to four infantry ouvrages in front of Maubeuge, resembling larger-than-usual casemates more than the mutually supporting artillery positions of the main Line. Sarts and Boussois, the last-surviving artillery ouvrages, were reduced to infantry positions. Geological and groundwater conditions made construction of deep ouvrages of the kind found in the main Line difficult in the Maubeuge area. The plan was also affected by political considerations, in which the fortification of the Belgian frontier was seen as a betrayal of the French plan for forward defense on Belgian territory. The CORF lines were augmented by lesser positions in the principal line of resistance constructed in 1937–38, backed by further fortifications about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) to the rear, built in 1940. A total of 300 fortifications were built to cover 70 kilometres (43 mi) of frontier, but in 1940 there were only enough fortress troops to fully man the CORF positions and 125 of the hastily built reinforcing positions.

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