I am interested in the the way the Imperial German Army built their fortifications and defences; very well from the few photographs I have seen!.where can I get plans, drawings, etc on this subject especially the Hindenberg Line defences?
I think it's difficult to find plans and drawings especially about the Hindenburg Line. There are drawings of German dug outs, pill boxes, bunkers and trench systems available in different publications. But this material often is from different places on the Western Front, for example Ypres, Somme, Verdun, Argonnes etc.
Here's a list of publications which might be interesting for you:
1. Osprey Elite, "World War I Trench Warfare (1) 1914 - 16. This book contains photographs, a few drawings and colour plates (French Bombers 1914-15, British Bombers 1914-15, British Snipers 1915-16, German MG08 Machhine Gun Team 1915, British Bomb Catapults, 1915, Mine Warfare Vauquois Sector 1916, Allied Gas Masks 1951-16, Russian Trench Garrison 1914-15, German Trench Raiders, French Infantry with 58mm Trench Mortar, Verdun 1916).
2. Osprey Elite, "World War I Trench Warfare (2) 1916 - 18. Here we have diagrams of German concrete block bunkers from 1917 (Ypres sector) and ten colour plates. I think this book comes closer to the Hindenburg Line interests.
3. Osprey Fortress, "Fortifications of the Western Front 1914 - 18". In this book you can find some very nice drawings (cut aways) of British and German dugouts and trench systems. It appears that the German lines were similar to the Allied lines (front trench, communication trench, reserve trench, dugouts, MG posts, latrines and so on), but the quality of the work done was often much more better.
4. "Pill Boxes on the Western Front". This book written by Peter Oldham contains lots of photographs and drawings of concrete pill boxes and bunkers (German and British/Australian/Canadian). But as I stated, there are examples from all over the Western Front. Unfortunately this book is out of print...
5. "Beneath Flanders Fields/ The Tunnellers' War 1914 - 18". This is an interesting book about the mine warfare during the Great War. It contains many photographs and drawings of dugouts and bunkers (both german and allied).
6. Trench Maps. On such maps you can clearly identify the red printed German trenches. Often those maps are most accurate, for example there are not only trenches but the caption reads "Any trenches apparently organised for fire" - "Other trenches" - "Disused trenches". You can find such trench maps in original form (very expensive on ebay...) or as facsimile prints or as a collection on CD (Imperial War Museum, London, for example).
7. "Battleground Europe The Hindenburg Line" by Peter Oldham. This is the first book in a series of guides. This book is written for battlefield visitors and contains many maps, photographs and drawings. You find historical reports and "The Area Today" as well.
8. "Battle Tactics Trench Warfare" by Stephen Bull. It's an interesting book with photographs and drawings.
9. "Dominating the Enemy War in the Trenches 1914 - 1918" by Anthony Saunders. In this book you can find many interesting facts about the weapons and equipment used in the trench warfare. For example: Body shields. Armoured Shovels and Tin Hats. Periscopes. Sniperscopes. Wirecutters.
10. "Weapons of the Trench War 1914- 1918" by Anthony Saunders. The author looks at weapons used in the trenches, principally from the British viewpoint. You find a lot of photographs and drawings which explain the weapons.
10. "British Trench Warfare 1917 - 1918 A Reference Manual". This is the fifteenth in a series of reference manuals produced by the publishers The Imperial War Museum and The Battery Press. Part I contains "Notes for Infantry Officers on Trench Warfare" and Part II "Diagrams of Field Defences". This part has got about 112 pages full of drawings about the theme! In this series there are books like "German Forces in the Field, 11 November 1918", "Handbook of the German Army at War, April 1918". Unfortunately I don't know these books. Perhaps they contain some good diagrams, too.
Of course there are other publications available. Perhaps you can visit an archive which should contain some of this sort of material. I visited the Bavarian War Archive in Munich. This archive has got an extensive collection but it's a little bit time consuming to find the things you need. And you can only visit this archive (and others, too!) by appointment. The Great War Museum at Ingolstadt, Germany, has got an impressive collection, too.
If you are interested in some photocopies out of these mentioned publications please let me know (e-mail off list).
One needs to be careful. There are a number of photos around captioned as Hindenberg Line fortifications but which in fact are of the second Hindenberg line built in the early 1930s as a sort of counterpoint to the Maginot line. I think it eventually became the Siegfried Line.
