Germans building the WWII defensive line; Hitler tours the Siegfried Line
Creator(s)
- Jack Penman
Scope and Content
Reel 2, German laborers working on the Siegfried Line stop for lunch. Concrete ""dragon's teeth"" antitank obstacles, barbed wire entanglements and blockhouses along the Rhine River, an observation tower, and farmers working in a field nearby. A diagram shows the interlocking field of fire from points of the Siegfried Line. German troops march and enter a tunnel into fortifications. Hitler tours the area.
Note(s)
The Siegfried Line was a defense system stretching more than 630 km (390 mi) with more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. It went from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of the old German Empire as far as the town of Weil am Rhein on the border to Switzerland. Adolf Hitler planned the line from 1936 and had it built between 1938 and 1940. In English, "Siegfried line" commonly refers to this World War II defensive line opposite the French Maginot Line; the Germans called this the "Westwall."
Subjects
- CONSTRUCTION
- RHINE RIVER
- WORKERS
- HITLER, ADOLF
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY (GERMAN)
- MAPS
- BARBED WIRE
Places
- , Germany
Genre
- Propaganda.
- Film