What was the weakness in the Maginot line?

Answer 1

Because it lulled the French into a false sense of security. The were so confident their concrete wall would keep the pesky Germans out, they over-estimated the difficulty the Germans would have moving armour through the Ardennes in Belgium - the only obvious way into France. Charles de Gaulle had warned them that the Ardennes were not impenetrable, but the Maginot Line was erected anyway. In April of 1940, Germany set up a small diversionary force in front of the Maginot Line and began moving the bulk of their troops and armour through the "impenetrable" Ardennes forest (the tanks kept to the road and the troops marched through the woods).

The next month (May), Germany arrived behind the Maginot Line. That would be humiliating enough in itself, if a fatal flaw had not been discovered - the cannons that pointed East, towards Germany, could not be turned around. The French at the line were quickly overwhelmed, and Germany conquered the entirety of France by July.

Epic fail.

Answer 2

The Maginot Line was ineffective and costly to maintain. It had been built to prevent a direct German attack on eastern France; however, Germany invaded France through Belgium bypassing the Maginot Line.

Answer 3

The biggest shortcoming of the Maginot Line was that it was not long enough. It did not extend north through Belgium and Holland along the German border - it was entirely in France. This allowed the Germans to outflank it, meaning go around it, by circling to the north through Belgium.

US General Patton famously called the Line a "monument to the stupidity of fixed fortifications". This led many to dismiss any such prepared defenses. Patton's remarks were reflective of the fact that ANY prepared defensive position can eventually be captured, destroyed, overrun, if the attacker is determined enough and pushes his attack to the extent necessary. This does not mean it will be easy, or that the attacker will not suffer heavy losses in doing so. Artillery can be used to pound down walls, air strikes can also hammer them, engineers can tunnel close or use siege tactics to get close enough to blow up the walls. All of this is time consuming and costly though.

Before gunpowder, when armies used catapults and trebuchets, those weapons were called "siege engines". They might eventually pound a breach in a wall. With the advent of rifled, very accurate artillery, brick and mortar forts could not stand. If a resolute defender held out though, the attacker would still have to take the trouble to pound his fort to dust. These are all aspects of siege warfare.

The French got little use of their Maginot fortifications, because the Germans were able to outflank them, so, quite sensibly, they did, rather than waste time and blood in a direct attack on the Line.

The Germans, however, got full value out of their own opposing line of fortifications, often called the Siegfried Line. The US spilled much blood getting past this barrier in 1944-45.

Answer 4

because the germans just went through belgium and ardennes which were not covered by the maginot line, not went through the border

Answer 5

The Germans outflanked the fortifications .