Editing Siegfried Line (section)

=== Reactivation in 1944 ===
[[File:Westwall1.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Front line in December 1944]]

With the [[Normandy Landings|D-Day landings]] in [[Normandy]] on 6 June 1944, war in the West broke out once more.<ref>{{cite video |url=https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.30141 |title=Video: Dragon's Teeth |publisher=[[U.S. Army Pictorial Service]] |access-date=21 February 2012}}</ref> On 24 August 1944, Hitler gave a directive for renewed construction on the Siegfried Line.<ref name="McNab">{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=Hitler's Fortresses: German Fortifications and Defences 1939–45 |date=20 March 2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781782009511}}</ref> 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 [[Armor-piercing shot and shell#Second World War|armour-piercing]] weapons. At the same time as the reactivation of the Siegfried Line, small concrete "[[Defensive fighting position#Tobruk|Tobruks]]" were built along the borders of the occupied area. Those bunkers were mostly dugouts for single soldiers.