Chapter IV.—Fortifications (Art. 180)

Article 180.

All fortified works, fortresses and field works situated in German territory to the west of a line drawn fifty kilometres to the east of the Rhine shall be disarmed and dismantled.

Within a period of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty such of the above fortified works, fortresses and field works as are situated in territory not occupied by Allied and Associated troops shall be disarmed, and within a further period of four months they shall be dismantled. Those which are situated in territory occupied by Allied and Associated troops shall be disarmed and dismantled within such periods as may be fixed by the Allied High Command.

The construction of any new fortification, whatever its nature and importance, is forbidden in the zone referred to in the first paragraph above.

The system of fortified works of the southern and eastern frontiers of Germany shall be maintained in its existing state.

Text of May 7:

Within three months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, all fortified works, fortresses and field works situated on German territory to the west of a line drawn fifty kilometres to the east of the Rhine shall be disarmed and dismantled, as provided in Article 42 of Part III (Political Clauses for Europe) of the present Treaty.

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The construction of any new fortification, whatever its nature and importance, is forbidden in this zone.

The system of fortified works of the southern and eastern frontiers of Germany shall be maintained in its existing state.

Note to V, 180

Easements over lands adjoining or within the boundaries of dismantled fortifications were maintained under Ordinance No. 101, Coblenz, December 8, 1921 (Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, Official Gazette, 1921, p. 257, with lists of the easements acquired at ibid., 1922, pp. 49, 245).

The Inter-Allied Military Control Commission and Germany reached an agreement on January 31, 1927 concerning the line of fortifications to be maintained by Germany along its eastern and southern frontiers. This line ran from Königsberg to an intersection with the 50-kilometer coastal zone (article 196); from the intersection of the German border by the Dirschau–Konitz–Schneidemühl–Küstrin railroad to Küstrin; the course of the Oder from Küstrin to Brieg; the Brieg–Neisse–Kamenz–Glatz–Waldenburg–Görlitz–Bautzen–Pirna–Königstein railroad; Königstein to Hof; the Hof–Neustadt–Regensburg railroad; the course of the Danube from Regensburg to Donaueschingen; the Donaueschingen railroad to Neustadt, where the line reached the demilitarized Rhine zone.

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