Molotov Line

The so-referred to as Molotov Line was a gadget of border fortified areas built via the Soviet Union within the years 1940–1941 alongside its new western borders. These borders were the result of the Occupation of the Baltic States, Eastern Poland and Bessarabia in 1940. The line stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains. It turned into made of 13 fortified areas, most masking approximately 100 km of the border. It become a part of the larger Soviet defence community alongside its western borders, stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea.

Each fortified vicinity consisted of a big quantity of concrete bunkers armed with machineguns, antitank guns and artillery. The bunkers had been constructed in groups for mutual support, each group forming a centre of resistance. A devoted military unit changed into completely assigned to man every place. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 in the course of the path of Operation Barbarossa, most of the line was now not but completed, and subsequently posed a negligible obstacle to the invading forces. Only the 4 southernmost regions, partially finished, have been able to hamper the development of the Wehrmacht for a few days.