Until 1707, the line bounded the operational area of the French troops and barred the easiest route to Bavaria via Pforzheim.
[citation needed] Following his Rhine crossing in mid-February 1703, Marshal Villars found the passes through the Black Forest to be still impassible because of snow.
Therefore, he initially occupied Kehl Fortress on 12 March as his base east of the Rhine, united with the army of Marshal Tallard,[2] and on 19 April 1703 began an attack on the Bühl-Stollhofen Line.
[citation needed] In summer 1703, however, Margrave Louis William could not stop Villars marching up the Kinzig valley and on into Bavaria.
[citation needed] After the death of Margrave Louis William (9 January 1707), Villars captured the Bühl-Stollhofen Line in May without a fight and had it destroyed.