Editing Siegfried Line (section)

== Name ==
The official German name for the defensive line construction program before and during the [[Second World War]] changed several times during the late 1930s. It came to be known as the "Westwall", but in English it was referred to as the "Siegfried Line" or, sometimes, the "West Wall".<ref name="MacDonald"/> Various German names reflected different areas of construction:

* Border Watch programme (pioneering programme) for the most advanced positions (1938)
* [[Limes (Roman Empire)|Limes]] programme (1938)
* Western Air Defense Zone (1938)
* [[Aachen]]–[[Saarland|Saar]] programme (1939)
* Geldern Emplacement between [[Brüggen, Germany|Brüggen]] and Kleve (1939–1940)

The programmes were given the highest priority, putting a heavy demand on the available resources.

The origin of the name "Westwall" is unknown, but it appeared in popular use from the middle of 1939. There is a record of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] sending an [[Order of the Day]] to soldiers and workers at the "Westwall" on 20 May 1939.<ref>Das kleine Volksblatt, Wien, 20 May 1939, [http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=dkv&datum=19390520&seite=3 ANNO – AustriaN Newspapers Online], last viewed 1 Dec 2022</ref>