Fortress France Addendum (PDF)

This CD contains several files that include the photos that the publisher deleted from the book. The files on this CD will be of little value without a copy of Fortress France, published by Praeger in 2005. Publishers often delete material supplied by the authors to save on production costs. Since it is difficult to understand what some fortifications, weapons, and equipment described looked like without photos, we are offering this CD with a small selection of photos that should have been included in the book. In addition, copies of material taken from German documents have also been added. It was not possible to include plans of all the ouvrages of the Maginot Line in the book, and the publisher deleted a copy of a German made plan of Hochwald. Thus, there is no plan of that huge ouvrage in the book, but a copy is in this CD. One of the files on the CD includes maps with the locations of the ouvrages marked on it for the Maginot Line Proper. The publisher simplified most of the charts in the book making them more difficult to read. Copies of the originals have been included in the file marked charts. Among the photos deleted from the book were several German aerial recon photos of the Maginot ouvrages before the campaign in the West began. These have been included in the appropriate files on the CD and we have marked in red the cloches and turrets the Germans circled on the photos since it is difficult to identify all of these.

For more illustrations, we suggest purchasing a copy of the inexpensive Osprey book titled The Maginot Line by Bill Allcorn. For details on all the ouvrages of the Maginot Line there are a number of books available in French. See the books marked on the bibliography in Fortress France. The book and this CD are only intended to introduce the reader to the Maginot Line and other French fortifications. We hope this will satisfy the needs of those who lack other references on the topic.