Fortress Europe- European Fortifications Of World War II

by J E Kaufmann

  Metaxas Line and the Greek Fortifications

  The Carol Lines and Rumanian Fortifications

  The Turkish Straits

  LOCATION

  1. Metaxas Line and Greek Fortifications

  The Metaxas Line covered much of the Macedonian and Thracian borders with Bulgaria where the terrain was mostly mountainous, intersected by a few river valleys that formed the main communications routes. In 1938, Greece's entire frontier region with Albania and Turkey was mountainous and underdeveloped, and few roads allowed travel from one country to the other.

  The border with Bulgaria, which stretched over 490 km, was no further than 75 km from the Aegean Sea at any point. It was crossed by only five roads, the most important of which ran near the Yugoslav border and followed the Struma Valley. The other four were so small they were seldom shown on maps and were of poor quality, especially on the Bulgarian side. One of these routes followed the Nestos River, while the one furthest to the east passed through a border pass through the Rhodope Mountains, which dominated most of the Bulgarian frontier with Greece.

  The Metaxas Line was divided into sectors, the most westerly of which was the Krusia Sector that passed through the mountains of the same name. It ran from the Aksios (Vardar) River valley eastward along the border to the valley of the Struma, covering part of the Yugoslav border. The Struma Sector dominated the Struma Valley, extending eastward into the mountains where it joined with the Neverokopion Sector. This sector spanned the area between Achladochorion and the Nestos River. The Nestos Sector followed the River Nestos to the Aegean and concentrated on the town of Echinos. The last sector, which was not actually linked to the Metaxas Line, began at Komotine and covered the city of Alexandropolis in eastern Thrace for which it was named. Between these last two sectors individual fortifications blocked the Makaza Pass through the Rhodope Mountains.

  Another sector where land fortifications were planned, was along the Albanian border, one of the most rugged parts of the country. The only other fortifications of any significance consisted of coast defenses guarding several major harbors on the mainland and a number of Aegean islands. The most important of these defenses were the positions that protected Athens and its port, Piraeus, and Thessaloniki, the northern key to the Metaxas Line.

  2. The Carol Lines and Rumanian Fortifications

  The province of Bessarabia was separated from the Soviet Union by the Dniestr River, which served as its main defensive feature. It included the agricultural regions of Moldavia along the Dniestr, and Bukovina along the Prut. These two regions were hilly, particularly the forested area of Bukovina, located in the foothills of the Carpathians.

  One of Rumania's defensive lines of the inter-war period was called the Eastern Carol Line by western sources, which did not specify whether it was located on the Dniestr or the Prut. In fact, the Dniestr constituted the main line of defense against the Soviet Union in Bessarabia. However, when the political climate deteriorated in the late 1930s, additional fortifications were erected on the Prut River and, after the fall of Poland, in the north, near Cernauti. In addition, roads were improved to facilitate the defense of this region.

  Some of Rumania's most important defenses faced Hungary, protecting its resources and agriculturally rich plains and foothills from Hungary. The advanced line, extending from Arad, to Oradea, and Satumare, covered the entire Hungarian border facing the Transylvanian Alps. The forward position at Oradea covered the gap between Oradea and Cluj and the Transylvanian Plateau. The main line ran from Zalu to Ciucea, about 60 km northwest of Cluj.

  Another defensive line, known as the Western Carol Line, was built in the south, to the west of Deva, to block the approach through the Muresh River valley from Arad. Finally, Rumania also planned a line to cover the coastal plain between Constanza, Lake Oltina and the Danube. These defenses, called the Southern Carol Line in the west, were meant to protect this rich agricultural region, with few natural barriers, from Bulgaria.

  3. The Turkish Straits

  Turkish Thrace allowed Turkey to retain its domination of the Straits of Bosphorus and Dardenelles, these vital straits controlled access from the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean. In contrast to the remainder of the Balkans, this region of Turkey was relatively open to invasion, except for one group of mountains in the north. Both straits, formed by peninsulas on the European side, were easily defended, as was demonstrated at Gallipoli in 1915. Most of Turkey's defenses consisted of coastal positions that controlled the Straits.

  HISTORY

  1. The Metaxas Line and Greek Fortifications

  Until 1936, Greece had done little to improve its coastal and land defenses due, in part, to internal political problems. Finally, animosity toward Bulgaria prompted Greece to fortify its border with that country. The Greek Commander in Chief, General Hazipides, who planned the fortified line in 1936, intended to delay the enemy long enough for the Greek armed forces to complete mobilization. However, General Alexandros Papagos, who replaced him in 1937, decided to adopt the French defensive philosophy of the time. In other words, instead of building fortifications that merely delayed the enemy, he opted for a major fortified line that would prevent an invasion altogether. Thus he ordered the creation of stronger defenses, and later demanded further strengthening of the completed line. He even envisioned the line as a starting point for an offensive against Bulgaria. Greece's dictator, General loannis Metaxas, assured the army that the government would procure the necessary funds for the project. Soon the line, initially called the Ochiromeni Topthesia or Fortified Line or the Nestos Line, was named "Metaxas Line" after the dictator.

  The Greeks worked on their fortifications for almost two years. They built field positions on the Albanian front, to the east and southeast of Goritza, in anticipation of an Italian invasion from that quarter. When the Italians occupied Albania in 1939, Greece reconsidered its plans, deciding to add fortifications on the Italian front as soon as the Metaxas Line was finished. However, this plan never materialized because the Metaxas Line was still incomplete by 1941.

  The Balkan Alliance of September 2, 1934, with Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Rumania, left Greece feeling secure enough. to leave its borders undefended against its allies. Greece concentrated its efforts on the Metaxas Line because Bulgaria, claiming ethnic links, had designs upon eastern Macedonia and Thrace, which would give it access to the Aegean.

  The Greek Ministry of Defense, which was responsible for the security of the frontier, founded the Commission of Fortifications in charge of preparing the instructions and guidelines for the defenses. This commission was further divided into subordinate commissions consisting of officers from various branches. These smaller commissions, somewhat similar to the Czechs's, worked on the various fortified sectors of the Metaxas Line, surveying the terrain and selecting the building sites. Another engineer organization, based in Salonica, also subdivided into five sub-groups, did the technical planning.

  Between 1936 and 1941, civilian companies were entrusted with the construction of the fortifications. The concrete was produced locally from limestone quarries and pebbles from beach areas. From Thera, now believed the island which the story of Atlantis is based on, ships carried volcanic material which was used to increase the strength of the concrete by about 30 percent.

  Meanwhile the military prepared a defense plan that only called for delaying action in Thrace. The positions on the eastern sector, manned by an army corps, covered the seaport of Alexandropolis. The defenses on the Metaxas Line, on the other hand, protected Macedonia and ran from the Kerkini Mountains west of the Struma Valley towards Porto Lagos near the mouth of the Nestos, but did not reach that seaport.

  According to the 1938 plan, the Greek forces were to use the Metaxas Line along the Nestos River as a jumping off point for an offensive against Bulgarian contingents moving against Aleandropolis. The Greeks optimistically hoped that Turkey would strike Bulgaria from the other flank.

  The work on coastal defenses
also began in 1936 with the creation of the Superior Coast Defense Command based in Athens under the command of a rear admiral. In the spring of 1938 there were harbor defenses built in the Athens-Piraeus area, the Gulf of Patras, the Gulf of Corinth, and the Gulf of Amvrakia. There were also plans for harbor defenses at Thessaloniki, the Strait of Evrippu (Egrippos Channel), and the Gulf of Evia (Talanta Channel), which separated the island of Euboea from the mainland.

  In 1937 a group of German specialists led by Admiral Kinzel went to Greece to help in the preparation of the Greek coast defenses. The group was given access to information on the organization, sites, and design of the emplacements. It left Greece a year later, but one or more members returned periodically to Greece to give additional advice.

  In 1938, the Superior Coast Defense Command was subdivided into several Harbor Defense Commands that included: Western Greece (HQ at Patras), Crete (HQ at Canea), Southern Aegean (HQ at Piraeus), Northern Aegean (HQ at Thessaloniki), Euboea (HQ at Chalkis), and East Islands (HQ at Chois). A Coast Defense School was in the planning.

  The war with Italy in 1940 forced the Greeks to shift the bulk of the army to the Albanian front. In 1941, two divisions faced the border with Yugoslavia. Only three divisions defended the Metaxas Line, two east of the Struma River, with the Nestos and Evors brigades in east (Thrace). In reserve was a motorized division west of the Struma. The Greek Second Army with only about 70,000 men, including the garrisons of the Metaxas Line and border companies, defended the Bulgarian front. The Germans estimated Metaxas Line required 150,000 men, and the lack of these troops reduced its effectiveness. The fact that in January 1941 General Alexander Papagos, the C-in-C of the Army, insisted that the British must send nine divisons to support his forces on the Bulgarian and Yugoslav borders seem to verify this.

  2. The Carol Lines and Rumanian Fortifications

  In the early 1930s, the Rumanian defenses facing the Soviet Union were limited in size and scale as well as being outdated. Some areas of Bessarabia had no fortifications at all. In 1932 a group of Polish officers on an inspection tour reported that the highways had been greatly improved but that more work was necessary, and that the fortifications of the region were inadequate to thwart a Soviet attack. They also noted that the Rumanians planned to defend Bessarabia on the Dniestr River.

  In September 1939, the defenses of Bessarabia and Bukovina were still insignificant. However, after the fall of Poland, Bulgaria engaged 100,000 civilians to build the Eastern Carol Line, which was ready by the spring of 1940. It is still not clear if the main defenses were on the west bank of the Dniestr or the Prut. According to the media, King Carol had shifted his forces from the Prut to the Dniestr during the Finnish Winter War in order to build new defenses. Apparently the king believed that the Soviets would not attack because they were tied down in Finland.

  The situation on the border with Hungary was somewhat different. Alarmed by the events of 1937, Romania hurried to build a defensive line, recruiting the civilian population to help with the work. Although every defensive line in Rumania was named after King Carol II, this line built on the border with Hungary can lay claim to being the original Carol Line, since it was the first to be built. Like most of the European fortified lines, it was often compared with the Maginot Line. Indeed American intelligence officers, who estimated that it would not be ready until the summer of 1940, claimed that it would be as strong as the Maginot Line. In reality, the Carol Line had little in common with Maginot Line.

  After the partition of Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Western Carol Line was extended to the north and northeast, facing territory newly annexed by Germany and the Soviet Union. This extension was given the name of the Eastern Carol Line in 1939

  Rumors started circulating about a third Carol Line that was to defend the Dobruja region against Bulgaria and protect the Constanza-Bucharest rail line. The Danube, a major water barrier, covered most of the border west of this projected line.

  In the event, the various Carol Lines proved of little military value to Rumania because Germany negotiated the surrender of northern Transylvania, with most of the Western Carol Line, to Hungary in 1940. Bulgaria, on the other hand, was given South Dobrogea, which ended any further plans to defend that area successfully. The year brought more bad news when the Soviets occupied Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, taking away the last of Rumania's defenses. The Rumanian dictator, General Ion Antonescu, ordered the preparation of a new line of fortifications between the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains, and along most of the Siret River, over a distance of 80 km. This new line was called the FNB Line because it ran from Focsani to Namoloasa and Braila. In 1942, Antonescu ordered the reinforcement of the line. Thus by 1944 the FNB Line included about 3,000 concrete positions and 60 km of anti-tank ditches.

  3. The Turkish Straits

  The Montreux Convention of 1936, -which revised the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, allowed Turkey to remilitarize the Straits and gave it the right to regulate the passage of warships during war and peacetime alike. No sooner was the treaty signed than the Turkish Parliament authorized funds for the rearmament of the positions on the Straits. Turkish troops reoccupied the area surrounding the Straits and military zones were set up.

  Turkey does not appear to have invested any time and money on fortifications, but rather on weapons, mostly mobile weapons. In 1936, Turkey placed orders for guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, and prime movers with the Czech Skoda Company and the German Krupp Works. The first of these weapons were unloaded at the docks of Istanbul in December 1936. In 1937, it was reported that Turkey was attempting to purchase a number of 340-mm railway guns from the Skoda Works to defend the Dardanelles. In addition, it: ordered ten 13.5-inch and two 15-inch guns from Great Britain for the defense of the Dardanelles. However, these guns, which were expected in early June, were not delivered because the British found their own need for these weapons superseded Turkey's.

  DESCRIPTION

  1. The Metaxas Line and Greek Fortifications

  Before the war, the main criticism of the Metaxas Line was that it lacked depth. The American military attache, LTC E. Villaret, disagreed with this point of view as he wrote in 1938 that despite its shallowness, "it is probably strong enough to hold at the only points at which it can be attacked because the poor communications make any overwhelming concentration of force against these points practically impossible." He neglected to mention, however, that many of the positions were located at almost inaccessible sites that dominated key communication routes.

  Villaret claimed that the Metaxas Line, with its reinforced concrete positions that included "sunken batteries," machine gun bunkers, and underground shelters, was patterned after the Maginot Line. Actually, its many small combat positions placed at strategic points in the rugged terrain and its anti-tank and wire obstacles, were more reminiscent of the French Alpine defenses. The Greek combat blocks were small and often had subterranean facilities linked by a tunnel system. As in the Maginot Line, strong points similar to the ouvrages served as the main defensive points on the Metaxas Line and were supported by secondary positions.

  The Metaxas Line was about 350 km long and, according to the Germans, included approximately 1,200 combat positions, about 700 of which were part of the forts. Assuming these numbers are correct, a high percentage of positions formed strong points or forts akin to the French ouvrages or the German Werkgruppen. The blocks of the Greek strong points were generally smaller, but covered an area of similar size.

  The forts, concentrated at key points on the Metaxas Line, relied on the difficult terrain for defense. Many were integrated into command groups similar to the French fortified sectors. Some sectors consisted mostly of light positions and others of a combination of heavy and light positions. A group usually consisted of three strong points but could include as few as two or as many as five. All the forts in a group were given the name of the group to which they belonged. There was a total of eight groups that included twenty-nine o
f the forty-one forts built. The remainder of the forts, including the important fort of Nimfea guarding the Pass of Makaza and Fort Chinos (Eshinos) to the west of it, were independent positions. The most important forts were located as follows, from west to east:

  Struma Sector: forts of Popotlevitsa (Popotlivica), Istebei, Kelkagia (Kelkaja)(3)*, Paliouriotes (Paljuriones), Rupel (Usita)(5)*, Karatas (3)', and Kali ()*.

  Nevrokopion Sector: forts of Persek, Babasora, Maliarga (4)*, Perithori, Partalouska, Dasavli, Pisse (identified by the Germans as Ochiron-Lisse), Pyramidoeides, Kastillo (3)*, Ajos Nikolaos 0• and Bartiseva O'±.

  Nestos Sector: fort of ChinosAlexandropolos Sector: fort of Nimfea

  *Positions noted were groups of forts with number in ( ). Those which have a ( ) without a number represent the ones at which there was no data available regarding the number of forts, but these three groups totaled eleven forts.

  ±The last three forts may actually have only been two. Kastillo was probably the German name for Bolax (Wolax). What the Germans identified as Ajos Nikolaos and Bartiseva may have actually been together as Lisse, all on the western valley of the Nestos River.

  One additional fort named Beles was on the west end of the line north of Lake Kerentis atop the Kerniki Mountains near the point where the borders of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece meet. It was beyond support of the other forts of the Struma Sector.

  The Rupel (Usita) group, the largest, numbered 1,200 men, Kelkagia 600, and Malinga 500. The garrisons of independent forts varied in number. Forts Paljuriones and Pisse (Ochiron-Lisse) held 500 men apiece, which was more than the individual forts of the Kelkagia and Malinga groups. In contrast, the smaller forts of Perithori and Poptlevitsa had garrisons of 200 men. Partalouska had 125 men and Dasavli as few men as 80.