Minor early role At the start of World War II, the Siegfried Line had serious weaknesses. After the war, German General
Alfred Jodl said that it had been "little better than a building site in 1939" and, when Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt inspected the line, the weak construction and inadequate weapons caused him to laugh. Despite France's declaration of war against Germany in September 1939, there was no major combat involving the Siegfried Line at the start of the campaign in the West, except for a
minor offensive by the French. Instead, both sides remained in a safe position behind their defences, during the so-called
Phoney War. The
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda drew foreign attention to the unfinished Westwall, in several instances showcasing incomplete or test positions to portray the project finished and ready for action. During the
Battle of France, French forces made minor attacks against some parts of the line, but the majority was left untested in battle. When the campaign finished, transportable weapons and materials, such as metal doors, were removed from the Siegfried Line and used in other places such as the
Atlantic Wall defences. The concrete sections were left in place in the countryside and soon became completely unfit for defense. The bunkers were used for storage instead.
Reactivation in 1944 With the
D-Day landings in
Normandy on 6 June 1944, war in the West broke out once more. On 24 August 1944, Hitler gave a directive for renewed construction on the Siegfried Line. 20,000 forced labourers and members of the
Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service), most of whom were 14 to 16-year-old boys, attempted to re-equip the line for defensive purposes. Local people were also called in to carry out work, mostly building anti-tank ditches. Even during construction, it was becoming clear that the bunkers could not withstand newly developed
armour-piercing weapons. At the same time as the reactivation of the Siegfried Line, small concrete "
Tobruks" were built along the borders of the occupied area. Those bunkers were mostly dugouts for single soldiers.
Clashes In August 1944, the first clashes took place on the Siegfried Line. The section of the line where most fighting took place was the
Hürtgenwald (Hürtgen Forest) area in the
Eifel, south-east of Aachen. The
Aachen Gap was the logical route into Germany's Rhineland and its main industrial area, so it was where the Germans concentrated their defence. The Americans committed an estimated 120,000 troops plus reinforcements to the
Battle of Hürtgen Forest. The battle in the heavily forested area resulting in 24,000-33,000 Americans killed or wounded, along with 9,000 so-called non-battle casualties — those evacuated because of fatigue, exposure, accidents and disease. The German death toll is not documented. After the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the
Battle of the Bulge began, a last-ditch attempt by the Germans to reverse the course of the war in the West. The offensive started in the area south of the Hürtgenwald, between
Monschau and the
Luxembourgish town of
Echternach. German loss of life and materiel was severe and the effort failed. There were serious clashes along other parts of the Siegfried Line and defending soldiers in many bunkers refused to surrender, often fighting to the death. By early 1945, the last Siegfried Line bunkers had fallen at the
Saar and
Hunsrück. The British 21st Army Group, which included US formations, also attacked the Siegfried Line. The resulting fighting brought total US losses to approximately 68,000. In addition, the
First Army incurred over 50,000 non-battle casualties and the
Ninth Army over 20,000. That brought the overall cost of the Siegfried Line Campaign, in US personnel, close to 140,000.
Postwar period During the post-war period, many sections of the Siegfried Line were removed using explosives.
Preservation and destruction In
North Rhine Westphalia, about thirty bunkers still remain. Most of the rest were either destroyed with explosives or covered with earth. Tank traps still exist in many areas and, in the
Eifel, they run over several kilometres.
Zweibrücken Air Base was built on top of the Siegfried Line. When the base was still open, the remnants of several old bunkers could be seen in the tree line near the main gate. Another bunker was outside the base perimeter fence near the base hospital. Once the base was closed, workers, digging up the base's fuel tanks, discovered lost bunkers buried below the tanks. Since 1997, with the motto "The value of the unpleasant as a memorial" (
Der Denkmalswert des Unerfreulichen), an effort has been made to preserve the remains of the Siegfried Line as a historical
monument. It was intended to stop reactionary
fascist groups from using the Siegfried Line for propaganda purposes. At the same time, state funding was still being provided to destroy the remains of the Siegfried Line. Consequently, emergency
archaeological digs took place whenever any part of the line was to be removed, for example for road building. Archaeological activity was not able to stop the destruction of those sections, but furthered scientific knowledge and revealed details of the line's construction.
Environmental conservation Nature conservationists consider the remains of the Siegfried Line valuable as a chain of
biotopes where, thanks to its size, rare animals and plants can take refuge and
reproduce. That effect is magnified by the fact that the concrete ruins cannot be used for agricultural or forestry purposes. == Westwall construction programmes ==