Defense line
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A defense line or fortification line is a geographically recognizable line of troops and armament, fortified and set up to protect a high-value location or defend territory, which is an "area of defense".[1]
A defense line may be based on natural difficult terrain features, such as rivers or marshes, mountain ranges, or coastlines; temporary field fortification works such as trenches; and/or more permanent fortifications such as fortresses and bunkers.
For the offensive army, the goal is to attack or "breach" the weakest part, "the easiest way to split the defense line and move to the depth of defense.[1]
List of defense lines
Some notable defense lines include:
Historical[a]
- Great Wall of China, China
- Sassanian defense lines
- Great Wall of Gorgan, Persia
- Derbent Walls
- Defense lines of the Netherlands
- Median Wall (before 401 BC)
- Limes Germanicus, Germany
- Hadrian's Wall, United Kingdom (122)
- Antonine Wall, United Kingdom (142)
- Offa's Dyke, Wales (early 5th century)
- The Pale, Ireland (late 12th century)
- Serpent's Wall, Ukraine
- The Zasechnaya cherta (Template:Langx)) on the southern and eastern borders of the Tsardom of Russia
- Western Russian fortresses, Russia
- Civil War Defenses of Washington, United States
- Victoria Lines, Malta (1875)
- Hindenburg Line, France (1916)
- Maginot Line, France (1929)
- Schuster Line, Luxembourg
- Metaxas Line, Greece (1936–1941)
- Siegfried Line, Germany
- Mannerheim Line, Finland (1939–1940)
- K-W Line, Belgium (1939)
- Salpa Line, Finland (1940)
- Gothic Line, Italy
- Winter Line (Gustav, Bernhardt and Hitler Lines), Italy (1943–1944)
- Panther–Wotan line, Russia (1943)
- Pusan Perimeter, South Korea (1950)
- McNamara Line, South Vietnam (1966)
- Bar Lev Line, Sinai Peninsula (1973)
Modern
- Russia–Ukraine barrier, Ukraine
- Wagner Line, Ukraine
- Muhamalai FDL, Sri Lanka
- Nagarcoil FDL, Sri Lanka
- Baltic Defence Line, Baltic states
Notes
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- ^ Where given, dates in parentheses indicate when construction began.
References
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- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Military Thought, Volume 12. Voennaya mysl (Russia). 2003. pp. 54, 60, 70. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
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