In WWI how did the Allied and Axis trenches end at the Swiss Border?

Question

I was watching a TV program that said that the trench systems on the Western Front ran in a continuous parallel line for hundreds of miles from the North Sea coast to the Swiss Border? Did that mean the Allied and the Axis trench line just stopped right at the border? Making a T-shape on a map.

Could the Swiss Army therefore see into both sides of the trench line or did the trenches just peter out? Or stop on top of an Alpine mountain?

Is there any monument to where the trenches ended?

Answer 1

In World War One the two sides were known as the:

The Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

and

The Entente Powers or The Allies - The main allies were the Russian Empire, France, the British Empire, Italy and the United States. (Also many other smaller nations.)

Yes, the trenches stopped at the Swiss border, during both World Wars Switzerland claimed armed neutrality, and was not involved militarily.

For maps of the trenches go to the website below and click on each map to enlarge.

http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/theat...

Answer 2

Umm there was no "Axis" in WW1

I don't know the answer to your question but just wanted to point that out.

Answer 3

Switzerland probably had a fence on the border to the trenches couldn't go past there.

Answer 4

Interesting question.  My guess is that the Swiss probably had a reasonably formidable chunk of their army, and not a few fortifications of their own, in the area to discourage any attempts to do an end run.

Answer 5

The ancient, traditional invasion route in Europe is the Belfort Gap.  It was through this gap that the Russians would have come, had they ever decided to launch WWIII.  The Gap lies just north of the Swiss border, between the Alps and the Vosges Mountains.  The "end of the line" was just across from the Swiss Customs House (which still stands) in the town of Pfetterhouse.  Thus the lines extended across the route through the Belfort Gap.  There are remants still present, crumbling blockhouses and so on.  There is a memorial in the town of Pfetterhouse.

On the other side of Switzerland the front continued to the Adriatic after Italy entered the war on the Allied side in 1915, against her old enemy Austria.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/layout/frames....

http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov...

http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/layout/frames....

http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/b...

http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/layout/frames....

Answer 6

There were no axis in WW1.