1940 French Chauvineau Line

1940 Chauvineau Line bunkers implementation sector by sector
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Organisation de la Ligne Chavineau au 1er mai 1940

Avant le début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale le GQG français avait remarqué (tardivement) qu'en cas d'une percée de la première ligne à notre frontière du nord,
il n'y avait plus aucun moyen pour défendre Paris, d'autant que les vieux forts de 1874 étaient périmés et qu'aucune ligne secondaire n'avait été achevée à la frontière.

Pour contrer cette carence, il a été décidé dans l'urgence de construire une ceinture de blockhaus (principalement pour l'action antichar) à environ cinquante kms dans
le Nord de la Capitale (de Conflans-Sainte-Honorine à l'Ouest jusqu'à La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre à l'Est) et cette ligne va porter le nom de son inspirateur, le Général CHAUVINEAU.

Bien que n'ayant rien à voir avec sa grande soeur la ligne Maginot, et partiellement inachevée (environ 300 blocs a été construits dont 200 ont pu être opérationnels), elle devra subir l'attaque allemande à la mi-juin 40 et des combats très sévères y auront lieu, particulièrement sur l'axe de N-O de percée, retardant le
mouvement des troupes du Reich à 1 contre 10 pendant presque 3 jours.

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Chauvineau Line implementation on Mayt 1st, 1940


Before the beginning of the WWII, French GHQ noticed (belatedly) that in case of a breakthrough of the front line on our northern border, there was no more defense for Paris, as far as the old forts of 1874 being obsolete and no secondary line was completed on the border.

To counter this deficiency, it was decided in the urgency to build a belt of bunker (mainly for antitank purpose) in about fifty km in the North of the Capital (From Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on the West to La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre in the East) and this line is going to carry the name of its inspirer General CHAUVINEAU.

Although having nothing to do in power with its big sister the Maginot line, and partially unfinished (about 300 blocks were built of whom 200 were able to be in fighting condition), it will have to undergo the German attack in mid-June 40 and very severe fights will take place there (especially on the N-W axis of breakthrough), delaying the troops of Reich's movement in 1 against 10 during almost 3 days.
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by ATTILA

Attachments:

French_Chauvineau_Line.kmz (542 B)

Hi Ati! (Ati is the official, spoken abbreviation of the name Attila in Hungary. Your cat would be called as 'Ati cica' 'round here:)

Back to subject:
It was only a few weeks ago when finished 'The Young Lions', a WW-II. novel by Irwin Shaw so it was been some gratis experience for me browsing through your defense line files with my reading memories.

Still pretty cool, however as one can see there are several placemarks with question marks and with '(Site not yet located)' memo in their descriptions.
Well maybe I had only luck but as randomly picked one I have found relevant GE photo-layer content next to mark.

Probably would be not useless for you running through the lines with photo-layer on to fix some locations. (Hurry up! Panoramio no longer available after November 4, 2016.)

Still pretty cool anyway.
Best,
g

Hello,

- The question mark generally means that the name is not confirmed or that it is subject to a multiple naming due to different coding between maps.
- When the question mark is joined with the word "disparu (missing)" it means that it is impossible to see if something still stands and, thus, we must refer only to the military maps.
- When we say "not yet located" it means that we haven't been on site or that nobody living near the point Is able to confirm the location.

For the point quoted in your example (30G) the location is supposed to be the right one but only the military map of 1940 specifies it. Nowadays, the neighbors don't remember anything (too young people) and the vegetation prevents from seeing whatever it is. The Panoramio photo isn't far from the point but a block placed here would have been of no use with no sight on the road nor on the bridge.

You may have seen that some of the photos are from Panoramio (very few indeed) but we prefer to rely on own sets and those of our friends because they're nailed on the right place (LOL)...and not some miles away ;-))

A new set of nearly 100 photos is going to be placed very shortly for the blocks from Saint-Jean-les-Deux-Jumeaux (group 29) to May-en-Multien (group 25) according to accessible places and you'll see that nature is ... strong !

RGDS

thanks for details! 

Posted by attila

- The question mark generally means that the name is not confirmed or that it is subject to a multiple naming due to different coding between maps.
- When the question mark is joined with the word "disparu (missing)" it means that it is impossible to see if something still stands and, thus, we must refer only to the military maps.

made me remember to an old favorite placemark collection of mine -Kurgans of Hungary-, where I used some colorcoding to differ placemark subjects from each other.
these were sorted by various characters as:

Posted by me at oGEC

Color Legend:
blue: marks next to photo layer locations
khaki: marks with own photo
brown: no photo
white: based on old maps and the most recent MEPAR database
faded white: same sources, but no visible reference (nor as a soil pattern on imagery)
red: mined, disturbed mounds

CU,
g