Fixed kingmakers

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The celebrations kingmakers ( French Fort de Koenigsmacker ) is built after 1908 fortification near in time to the German Reich belonging Thionville (Thionville) in Lorraine , Moselle , in northeastern France .

task

The fort de koenigsmacker was part of the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan very important Mosel position and took over the task of the Moselle course northeast Thionville, frequency components above the Cattenom and railway connections to Luxembourg and Trier to secure.

Planning and construction

With the “Highest Cabinet Ordre” of January 23, 1900, after the completion of the Obergentringen fortress, only one tank battery was initially to be built at Koenigsmacker . On June 28, 1908, construction began at an altitude (212 m above sea level , about 1 km south of the Moselle ) southwest of the village of Koenigsmacker at a distance of about 7 km from the center of Thionville. The system was inspected between March 17 and 18, 1910, and it was expanded into a festival by 1914. The construction company Theodor Wilhelm Düren was involved in the construction.

Structure of the plant

As a festival , Königsmachern represents a very special type of fortress developed in Germany.

The tank battery built first had four turrets. The built-in 10 cm cannon with a 3.2 m long barrel (10 cm PT) had a range between 8,500 and 10,800 m at a rate of fire of about nine rounds per minute.

In addition to the battery, the concrete power station located in the middle of the approximately 40 hectare complex to supply all parts of the fortress with electrical energy was completed in 1910  . In the four infantry positions distributed around the power station, three concrete multi-storey barracks were built to accommodate the troops with appropriate supply facilities such as cisterns or medical rooms. There were still several standby rooms, armored watchtowers and concrete trenches, each adapted to the site. All important parts of the facility were connected to one another via an approximately 1.8 km long underground corridor system. The entire system was surrounded by a wire obstacle up to 80 m wide in some places and, as additional protection in the south and east, an approximately 700 m long and 4 m high steep wall, on the outside of which there were two trench cuts.

After the loss of the First World War , the facility passed into the possession of the French, completely undamaged. The main battle line of the Maginot Line was established in the 1930s only about 2 km east of the fortress . With its four turrets, which now had an increased range through the use of French ammunition, the Maginot works from Mont des Welsches to Soetrich could be additionally protected from this rearward position.

Occupation and war effort

The fortress was originally intended for a crew of around 1200. The war crew for the First World War initially provided the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Lorraine Foot Artillery Regiment. When this unit was posted to the front in 1915, only a small guard team remained on site. The fortress was not involved in combat missions during the First World War.

During the western campaign , the tank battery was occupied by parts of the 151st RAP (Régiment d'artillerie à pied). However, a direct attack on the fortress did not take place until the fall of 1944 by American troops. The Feste Königsmachern, occupied by a battalion staff and battalion reserves of the  74th Infantry Regiment of the 19th  People's Grenadier Division , hindered the passage of American units over the Moselle near Cattenom on November 9 with its four guns to such an extent that the US Infantry Regiment 358 with was commissioned to storm the fortress. By evening two companies of the 1st Battalion had established themselves in the western part of the facility, but had not yet been able to fight the tank battery themselves. Due to the experiences in the battles against the fortress Crown Prince , the Americans refrained from penetrating the underground passage system. Rather, the entire facility was bypassed and now completely enclosed with four infantry companies. Finally, it was also possible to take the fortress grounds directly under fire from a neighboring height, so that the occupation surrendered on November 11, 1944. The losses on the German side amounted to over 300 men.

The fortress today

After the war, the French army temporarily used the fortress as a training ground. The entire site was still a restricted area in 2009 and may not be entered.

literature

  • Hugh M. Cole: The Lorraine campaign . Washington 1950.
  • Christian Dropsy: Les fortifications de Metz et Thionville . Brussels 1995.
  • G. List: The German fortification system in the Thionville (Diedenhofen) area in the period of annexation - 1871/1918 . In: Fortification . No. 1 , 1986, pp. 8-14 .
  • Rudi Rolf: The development of the German fortress system since 1870 . Tweede Exloërmond 2000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Rudi, p. 260 and 262.
  2. ↑ Horstheider man : Godesberger industrial history I . In: Godesberger Heimatblätter: Annual issue of the Association for Home Care and Home History Bad Godesberg eV , ISSN  0436-1024 , Issue 48 (2010), Association for Home Care and Home History Bad Godesberg , Bad Godesberg 2011, pp. 96-134 (here: p. 132 ).
  3. ↑ Cf. G. Fischer u. B. Bour: Die Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II. Mutzig 1980, p. 142.
  4. ↑ See List, p. 10.
  5. ↑ Cf. P. Truttmann: La Muraille de France ou la ligne Maginot. Thionville 1992, p. 150 u. 566.
  6. ↑ Cf. Voigt, Günther: Deutschlands Heere bis 1918, vol. 8, field artillery and foot artillery, p. 600 u. 606.

Coordinates: 49 ° 22 ′ 47 "  N , 6 ° 15 ′ 28"  E