Fixed upper rings
The celebrations upper Gent rings ( French Fort de Guentrange ) is a 1900's built fortifications in what was then the German Reich belonging Thionville (Thionville) in Lorraine , Moselle , in northeastern France .
task
After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71, parts of Alsace-Lorraine became part of the German Empire. In order to secure these new areas, the fortresses built by the French in the cities of Metz , Thionville and Strasbourg were expanded. With the “Highest Cabinet Order” of December 3, 1885, Thionville was declared a class of fortresses that were primarily to be preserved and strengthened under all circumstances. The Feste Obergentringen represented the northernmost point of the Moselle position , which was very important for the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan , and was expanded accordingly. On the right bank of the Moselle, the Illingen Fortress was also built between 1905 and 1911 and the Königsmachern Fortress between 1908 and 1914 .
Planning and construction
On June 3, 1897 a first proposal was made to the War Ministry to fortify the height of Obergentringen (318 m above sea level , 4 km northeast of the Moselle ). Four companies of infantry and two companies of foot artillery were to be accommodated. Umbrella mounts were initially intended as the main armament. Construction began on April 5, 1899. In the meantime, the plan had been changed to two armored batteries with four armored turrets each. From December 10th to December 12th 1900 the tank battery south was shot in, correspondingly the battery north between 17th and 19th June 1901. Finally, the transfer of the fortress to the current entertainment took place on April 1st, 1906. The experiences from the Russo-Japanese War - in particular the battles around the Port Arthur fortress - made a further expansion necessary in order to better protect the entire complex against infantry attacks. From 1912 to 1916, a second wire fence was built with five trench strokes . Extensive clearing and drainage measures on the hill preceded the construction of the huge facility of around 45 hectares . Frequent landslides made additional support structures necessary, which greatly increased the overall costs. Ultimately, over 17 million gold marks were invested.
Structure of the plant
As a fortress, Obergentringen is a very special type of fortress developed in Germany. The core of the complex is the main or war barracks. With a length of 140 m, a height of 15 m and a width of 20 m, it was the largest building in German fortress construction until 1914. Three floors offered space for over 1,100 soldiers. The power center is on the ground floor. Eight Deutz diesel engines (1 cylinder, 25 hp at 120 / min) with 110- V - DC alternator generated electrical energy for the supply of the entire system with lighting, ventilation and the kitchen appliances. Furthermore, a large coal-fired heating system was installed here. In addition to accommodation, the first floor consisted of a hospital ward with an operating room , a bathroom and the control center for the parties. The main part of the teams was accommodated on the second floor. The soldiers slept there in hammocks. Finally, there were septic tanks and three huge cisterns for the water supply in the basement . The entire building complex is built into the natural slope, so only the 3 m thick concrete ceiling and the rear are visible. This initially consisted of a 1.5 m thick brick wall with about 80 cm wide window openings, which were secured against fire by iron shutters. Only in the second construction phase was the rear front closed with a double concrete wall, apart from a few ventilation openings. The war barracks mainly housed the foot artillery as well as pioneer, intelligence and supply troops.
Two additional barracks in the north and south of the facility could each accommodate around 270 infantry troops. There were also appropriate supply rooms and cisterns there.
Also distributed in the north and south are two tank batteries with four turrets each. The 10 cm cannon with a 2 m long barrel (Kz. 10 cm PT) installed here had a range between 7750 and 9700 m at a rate of fire of around nine rounds per minute. The total weight of a tower (approx. 3 m diameter with 15 cm thick steel armor) with the armor was over 60 t . The ceiling and the wall facing the enemy are made of three meters of concrete .
The entire complex was surrounded by a barbed wire barn about 30 m wide. Behind it there are seven standby rooms, each with an armored observation post for the alarm units. These as well as the three barracks and the two batteries are connected by underground passages. In the second construction phase, the fortress was considerably expanded to protect it even better against infantry attacks. Three additional ready rooms came in front of the wire barriers and several concrete trenches were built. A casemate each for a rapid fire cannon in the north and south sections improved the flank protection. Above all, however, a second barbed wire belt around 2500 m long and 30 m wide was laid in front of the existing ones. This was protected at the corners by five concrete trenches with one or two heavy machine guns. A sixth now also covered the rear of the main barracks. The pranks are equipped with an armored observation post and an extendable mast with spotlights for lighting the apron. All newly built fasteners were connected to the existing underground corridor system. It now has a length of about 1.8 km. Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the festival three times until 1914.
After the loss of the First World War , the facility passed into the possession of the French, completely undamaged. A commission examined and assessed the festivals as far superior to their own French works. A large number of the technical innovations from this were later used in the construction of the Maginot Line . Between 1932 and 1934 the French exchanged the eight short gun barrels for the 3.20 m long version so that the fortress could cover the fortifications of the Maginot Line in Metrich and in the forest of Cattenom with the range of its guns increased to about 13,100 m . The originally German cannons now fired the French 105 mm shells. The last construction project ever was the connection to the public power grid.
Occupation and war effort
Overall (there are different information available) the fortress was designed for a war garrison of around 2,000 men. There is evidence that in 1902 the 8th and 9th companies of the 8th Rheinische Fußartillerie-Regiment were on the Festen Obergentringen. From 1907 to 1912 parts of the III. Battalion of this regiment. Parts of the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Lorraine Foot Artillery Regiment then moved in as the actual war crew for the First World War. As early as 1915, however, the individual companies were gradually assigned to the front. Until the end of the war - the fortress was not involved in any combat operations in the First World War - only a small guard team remained on the site.
In the 1930s, the fortress was part of the Thionville fortress sector of the Maginot Line. Parts of the 168th RIF (infantry) and the 4th battery of the 151st RAP (artillery) were stationed there. During the Second World War , the French crew abandoned the facility on June 14, 1940, without, however, having made the guns unusable beforehand. Shortly afterwards, German gunners were able to set fire to the Maginot plants in Immerhof and Soetrich with the two tank batteries. Even towards the end of the German occupation there was no fighting over the fortress. On September 12, 1944, the German troops on the left of the Moselle stopped all resistance around Thionville. The parts of the 559th Volksgrenadier Division previously stationed in Obergentringen were withdrawn shortly before the Moselle bridge was blown up. The 2nd Battalion of the 357th US Infantry Regiment then occupied the fortress. The next day, the US troops managed to advance to the Luxembourg border. Due to the ongoing fighting over the fortress of Metz , several units had to be withdrawn from the Thionville area and relocated there. Due to this weakening, however, a possible reoccupation of the upper rings by German troops was now conceivable. Therefore, American pioneers blew up all eight turrets or the gun barrels of the tank batteries.
The fortress today
After the Second World War, there was no repair work on the guns, but the French 25th Artillery Regiment only used the fortress as an ammunition depot until 1971. The facility then remained unused and the vegetation spread more and more. It has only been possible to visit the fortress since July 1986, after a private association had carried out a considerable amount of clearing work. A museum has been set up in the main barracks. The power plant, the heating system, the kitchen and a turret gun were restored. In 2009 the area was overgrown and overgrown again.
literature
- Hugh M. Cole: The Lorraine campaign (= United States Army in World War II. The European theater of operations. Vol. 1). Historical Division, Department of the Army, Washington DC 1950 (English).
- Christian Dropsy: Les fortifications de Metz et Thionville . Self-published, Brussels 1995 (French).
- Rémi Fontbonne: Les fortifications allemandes de Metz et de Thionville, 1871-1918 . Serpenoise, Metz 2006, ISBN 2-87692-671-7 (French).
- Anja Reichert: A cultural asset that the war created. The structural legacy of the fortification and defense systems in the SaarLorLux area from the 16th century to the Second World War. Possibilities and problems of its valorization with special consideration of leisure and tourism-oriented forms of use . Trier 2005, p. 268 ff . (Trier, Univ., Diss., 2004, online ).
- Rudi Rolf: The development of the German fortress system since 1870 . Fortress Books, Tweede Exloërmond 2000, ISBN 90-76396-08-6 .
- Philippe Truttmann, Michel Truttmann: Thionville. Fort de Guentrange - Festivities Obergentringen . Klopp, Thionville 1991.
Web links
- Description of the fortress Obergentringen
- Website for the Obergentringen Festival (French)
- Two photos of the underground passage and bunker room
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Truttmann, o. P.
- ↑ The exchange of the gun barrels increased the range to 10800 m (see G. Fischer, B. Bour: Die Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II. (1893–1918). = La position de Mutzig. Société d'Histoire de Mutzig et Environs, Mutzig 1980, p. 142), the use of the ammunition for the French 105 L Schneider modèle 13 gun increased the range to 13,100 m (cf. Philippe Truttmann: La Muraille de France ou la ligne Maginot. 3. édition. Klopp, Thionville 1992 , ISBN 2-906535-12-5 , p. 150).
- ↑ See Günther Voigt: Germany's armies until 1918. Volume 8: Field artillery and foot artillery. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1987, ISBN 3-7648-1495-0 , pp. 552, 600 u. 606.
- ↑ See High Command of the Army, Department Evaluation of Foreign Fortifications (Ed.): Memorandum on French fortifications. Reichsdruckerei, Berlin 1941, p. 65f.
Coordinates: 49 ° 22 ′ 33 " N , 6 ° 7 ′ 58" E