MAGINOT LINE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22998, 15 September 1944, Page 5

MAGINOT LINE

Undamaged Stretch In Allied Hands LONDON, Sept, 13. The complete stretch of the Maginot Line which the Americans captured on Monday without a shot being fired is much as the French left it in 1940, states the correspondence of the ‘'Daily Telegraph" with the American Third Army outside Thionville. The Germans have not demolished or mined the vast network of tunnels and underground fortifictaions. Even the guns are still oiled and in working condition, with the breeches intact. Tire correspondent states that he stood beside a French boy 100 feet below the level of the ground in an electrical power-house and watched him press the starter button for huge Diesel engines, huge transformers and a complete air-conditioning plant, heavy lifts and an electric railway. Only one German occupied this fort, which is one of 100 dotting the countryside. All complicated machinery was cared for during the war by three Frenchmen and a boy. whom the Germans paid sixpence an hour. '[’he correspondent Journeyed in an electric train through tunnels connecting the fort with observation points, gun emplacements, magazines, powerhouses and stores. As he left the fort the boy turned off the electricity but did not bother to close the gates of the fort.