Irrel - Westwall

Irrel is a small town next to the border with Luxembourg and here can remains of the West Wall be found. The origins of the West Wall date back to the First World War when a number of defensive positions were built called the Hindenburg line. But the West Wall at Irrel  began its construction in 1938 and was completed in 1940. The West Wall was a response to France’s Maginot line and would be a defense against France. The west embankment, or the Siegfried line as it was also called, stretched from the Dutch border down to the Swiss border and consisted of about 18,000 bunkers and pillboxes. When France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, Germany mobilized the West Wall to meet a possible French attack. But that never happened. Nor was it used when Germany attacked Western Europe in the spring of 1940. Not until the Western allied landing in Normandy in June 1944 did the West Wall mobilized again. But it was not until autumn 1944 heavy fightings occured when the Wall became a difficault obstacle to overcome for the allies during their advance eastward.