Word: vauban
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...troops had been fighting inside Cherbourg for 26 hours. But on the city's perimeter were Maginot-type forts, begun by Vauban in the 17th Century, improved by Napoleon in 1808, perfected by Todt in the 1940s, which still blazed with bitter resistance. Spectacled Major General Manton S. Eddy, commander of the 9th Division, stood with one of his regimental commanders on a hillside near Octeville, on the southwest approaches to the port...
Roar followed roar from all parts of the harbor as ship after ship exploded. German troops raced for the Vauban Basin where the battleship Dunkerque had been tied up for repairs since the British attack on Oran in July 1940. Near by were the cruisers Algérie, Foch and Jean de Vienne; their docks were wrecked with them. Earth and air trembled as the beautiful ships destroyed themselves...
When resplendent Louis XIV deigned to found the city of Saarlouis, endowing it richly with his august name and commanding that it be fortified by his great Engineer Vauban, nothing would have seemed more preposterous to the Sun King than any question of whether the Saar is German or French. Having said "L'etat c'est moi," His Majesty would certainly have troubled no more about Saar nationality than to say "The Saar is mine!" Last week a lumpy lot of Teuton farmers and workmen from various parts of the U. S. enjoyed free passage on German ships...