La Ferté (Maginot Line)
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| La Ferté | ||
| Type: | Infantry plant | |
| Fortress section : | Montmédy | |
| Crew: | 107 men of the 155th RIF including 3 officers | |
| Commander: | Lieutenant Bourguignon | |
| construction | ||
| Inputs: | 1 × in each casemate | |
| Combat blocks: | 2 × infantry casemates | |
| Power supply: | 2 × CLM units with 25 HP each | |
| Armament | ||
| Block 1: | 1 × 4.7 cm PAK / JM , 1 × JM , 2 × GFM bells , 2 × AM bells | |
| Block 2: | 1 × 2.5 cm PAK / JM tower , 1 × GFM bell, 1 × AM bell, 1 × VDP bell | |
La Ferté was the name of an infantry plant on the French Maginot Line (the German name was Panzerwerk 505) near La Ferté-sur-Chiers , in which one of the great tragedies of the western campaign took place in the spring of 1940 .
construction
The small plant was located at the far northwest end of the so-called New Fortification Front (French: Nouveaux Fronts ) in the Montmédy fortress section , which could only be equipped with significantly weaker facilities after 1934 due to the austerity measures that had meanwhile become necessary. The infantry plant consisted of two casemates , which were armed only with a 4.7-cm anti-tank gun (PAK), a heavy twin machine gun and a turret with a 25-mm cannon . There were seven armored bells on the bunkers . They were used for observation or light machine guns were deployed from their loops. The two bunkers could not optimally cover each other. There were several blind spots in the area that could not be fought because the 50 mm grenade launchers were not installed in time . La Ferté also lacked an underground barracks with a power station and an emergency exit. Rather, the teams were housed in the basement of the two combat blocks. Ultimately, the sewer tunnel to the Chiers was not accessible and could therefore not serve as an emergency escape route.
Combat operations in World War II
Starting position
On May 14, 1940, General Guderian broke out of the Sedan bridgehead in two directions : with the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions to the west and with the 10th to the south. This led the Commander in Chief of the French 2nd Army General Huntziger , whose headquarters was in La Ferté, to misjudge that the Maginot Line was in danger of being rolled up from behind. He therefore allowed the left wing of his army to swing south to Inor on the Meuse . The fulcrum was the La Ferté infantry factory. Instead of launching a counterattack, he tried to seal off what appeared to be a major attack. The advance south was just a ruse, however. A little later, when the other Panzer divisions were advancing further towards the Channel coast , the 10th Panzer Division also swung in that direction again. In order to continue to simulate a strong advance southwards to the French army command , the 71st Infantry Division was tasked with the attack on the La Ferté infantry plant.
Fight for the plant
The attack began on May 15, 1940. Parts of the Pioneer Battalion 171 and parts of the Infantry Regiments 191 and 211 were involved. After the units had been brought up, the assault was planned for May 18th. 22 artillery departments (with a caliber of 10 to 21 cm) and an 8.8 cm flak battery with a total of 259 guns previously fired at the plant and its immediate vicinity. The damage to the concrete in the bunkers was minor. When the last shell hit, the assault began. Block 2 was switched off with concentrated charges that were ignited on long steel pipes close to the armored bells. Further explosives and smoke candles were thrown into the interior of the factory into the openings that were blown open. Furniture caught fire and the crew had to flee into the connecting corridor 35 m below. The works commander Lieutenant Bourguignon urgently requested assistance. The French relief attack with two infantry battalions and 13 tanks failed, however. During the night a second German pioneer attack against Block 1 was successful.
The situation had become extremely threatening for the crew. Both combat bunkers were lost. Further explosive charges detonated inside the plant. Fire gases penetrated down through the suction in the stairwells. The exhaust and ventilation systems were destroyed. Gas masks were put on, but they could not filter the carbon monoxide out of the breath.
At around 4:30 a.m. on May 19, Lieutenant Bourguignon asked Division Commander General Falvy by telephone to stop the work. However, the general insisted on keeping the work as long as the 4.7 cm gun in Block 1 was still functional. The commander did not accept Bourguignon's objection that his crew could no longer get to the intact gun because of the CO gases. At this early point in the western campaign, the French generals had to maintain the myth of the impenetrable Maginot Line (whose motto was "on ne passe pas" - no one gets through). Then, in his desperation, Bourguignons threw the key to the work through an opening in the diamond trench , locking himself and the crew in. They fled into the lower connecting passage to escape the shelling and fire. The last telephone conversation from La Ferté to the neighboring plant in Chesnois took place at around 6:00 a.m. Inside the factory, 107 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The 71st Infantry Division suffered a total of 90 dead, 446 injured and 17 missing in the fighting around La Ferté from May 15 to 19.
propaganda
The case of this small, poorly equipped and rather insignificant installation of the Maginot Line in German propaganda :
"Just as the mighty Hochwald Fortress was the cornerstone of the Maginot Line in the east, so the 505 Armored Factory was supposed to be its cornerstone in the west."
"In the course of two days, Lieutenant Germer conquered two excellent tank factories on the Maginot Line [...]".
"In the case of the famous Panzerfort 505, one of the most powerful systems on the entire Maginot Line, the electrical ventilation failed as a result of the heavy bombardment and the powder gases penetrated the interior of the plant".
The fortress today
La Ferté can be visited. There is a memorial for the fallen nearby.
literature
- Joachim Barckhausen : Men against stone and steel . Berlin 1942.
- Roger Bruge: Faites sauter la Ligne Maginot . 1973.
- Hans von Dach: Struggle for a fortress (La Ferté) . In: Swiss soldier . tape 43 , no. 18 , 1967, ISSN 0036-7451 , pp. 408-429 .
- Karl-Heinz Frieser : Blitzkrieg legend . Munich 1995, ISBN 3-486-56124-3 .
- Krumsiek: 71st Infantry Division attacked the Chiers and breached the Maginot Line . In: Pioneers . No. 1 , 1959, ISSN 0032-0072 , p. 17-25 .
- Libor Vítěz: Glory and Fall of the Maginot Line . Prague 1942.
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 49 ° 35 ′ 6 ″ N , 5 ° 14 ′ 8 ″ E