Fortified defense lines can decay into near-total unreadiness through neglect

Evidence

There’s not one gun in two ready to fire in the whole blockhouse line after this rotten snow. — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 244

corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 244
XREF: connects to: Bureaucratic war preparation can produce anticlimax rather than combat — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 49; Military fortifications can decay into domestic squalor amid wartime idleness — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 45; Neglect destroyed more ancient libraries than war or malice did — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 58 (+3 more)