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Military
defence lines are a subject of interest of the EU history and a reflection of the
time spirit and living decades of the last centuries. You can find the equipment
but also the furniture of the century in which it was constructed. You can have
the idea how much a country was spending on its defence and how unrealistic they
were in expecting not to be attacked. Dutch troops, for example, defended themselves
in May 1940 with canons from 1870 (!).
The Maginot line on the other hand was reflecting another point of view, using modern weapons for defending. However, German troops changed the use of stable defence lines, studying the mobile strategies of Charles de Gaulle in their military academies since around 1933 and avoided the Maginot line by invading Belgium and Holland. The Germans built their own defence lines up to 1941 at the Atlantic. The construction of the Ostwall in the East of the former Germany, nowadays Poland, was already started in 1925. It stopped the Russians in January 1945 for just a few days, as the crew of the Ostwall was not very well-trained and had not enough battle experience. After the Second World War the military importance of unmovable defence lines declined.
Ostwall, Poland
The defence lines and, of course, also castles and fortresses are “wave points” in our common European history. In fact those lines were generally built to defend oneself against a foreign aggressor. In his way one can define a tank as an attacking mobile fortress which can also be used for defence.
The defence lines are keeping alive the memory of the inhabitants of Europe how valuable peace is. Without fearing aggression of the neighbouring countries there is no need of this kind of defence construction works any more.
The European Union is the best way to guarantee peace. It is the best defence against military aggression of the EU neighbour countries. This statement has to become a collective memory of its inhabitants.
From the EU point of view, it is also important that the authorities and tourism management of the “old defence” tourism objects start to co-operate with each other. It would be in the interest of the preserving of the defence lines to exchange know-how and organise common events. Certainly, also tourism package deals can be developed for tourists in and outside the EU. For example, there could be a visit to three old EU defence lines in four days. Japanese and the USA tourists would probably be interested.
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2.1.1. The Dutch “Grebbelinie” | 2.1.3. A Dutch Reconstruction Approach |
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