Efringen-Kirchen is a town in the district of Lörrach

Lörrach (district)

Lörrach is a Kreis in the south-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Waldshut...

 in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Fortifications

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 fortifications were built at Istein, these were destroyed at the end of the war. In 1936 plans were drawn up to turn the location into the "Gibraltar of the West" with two kilometres of underground passages linking gun emplacements and bunkers. The site was to host an underground garage for over 100 tanks, 3600 men and as part of the West Wall it would dwarf similar Maginot Line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

 fortifications. Work began in 1937 and Hermann Goring

Hermann Göring

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

visited in the Spring of 1938. By 1939 several installations were complete but as the war progressed advantageously for the Germans in 1940 the site remained unfinished.