- Stalin Line
The Stalin Line was a line of
fortifications along the western border of theSoviet Union . Work began on the system in the 1920s to protect the USSR against western aggression. The line was made up of concretebunker s and gun emplacements, somewhat similar but less elaborate than theMaginot Line .In the aftermath of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact , with the westward expansion of the USSR in1939 and1940 , intoPoland , the Baltic, andBessarabia the decision was made to abandon the line in favour of constructing the so-calledMolotov Line further west, along the new border of the USSR. A number of Russian generals felt that it would be better to keep both lines and have defence in depth, but this conflicted with the pre-World War II Soviet military doctrine.Thus the guns were moved, but were mostly in storage as the new line began construction. The
1941 German invasion caught the new line unfinished and the Stalin Line largely abandoned and in disrepair. Neither was thus of any use in stopping the onslaught ofOperation Barbarossa .ee also
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KaUR External links
* [http://svsm.org/gallery/StalinLine Photos from "Stalin Line" Museum (Minsk Fortified District)]
* [http://www.bunkermuzeum.hu/ Bunkermuzeum]
* [http://www.nortfort.ru/kaur/index_e.html KaUR (Karelskij Ukrepljenyj Rajon) - www.nortfort.ru]
* [http://www.panoramio.com/user/263612/tags/defence%20line KiUR (Kievskiy Ukrepljenyj Rajon)]
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