Ouvrage Hackenberg

Former ammunition entrance - now visitors entrance

The Ouvrage du Hackenberg (French, German Fort Hackenberg ) near Veckring / Lorraine ( Moselle department ) is one of the largest bunker systems on the Maginot Line in France and served as a prototype for other fortifications on this line of defense.

construction

Originally a longer construction phase was planned, but with the increased arming of the German army , the facility was completed in just five years.

It consists of two entrance blocks - one for ammunition and one for the crew - and seventeen combat positions. The multi-storey bunkers are connected underground with an electric casemate railway or a narrow-gauge subway with a track length of over 4 km. This was mainly used to transport ammunition - a total of more than 10 km of tunnels were carved into the rock. The above-ground systems were built with blue concrete , a very resistant concrete mix .

With a crew of 1000 men and 43 officers , the fortress could be defended. There were nine 7.5 cm cannons, five 13.5 cm howitzers, four 8.1 cm grenade launchers under retractable domes, 36 5 cm grenade launchers, seven 3.7 cm anti-tank guns, 32 sMGs, 29 hand grenade launchers and 59 lMGs. A power plant with four MAN diesel generators (output is sufficient for a city with 10,000 inhabitants), a large kitchen and a hospital with an X-ray system and operating room made the fortress almost self-sufficient . Since the water in the rock could not be used due to pollution, it had to be brought in via special water tank cars with the small train.

Fighting

Because of the bypassing of the Maginot Line by the German combat units, there was no fighting at Fort Hackenberg during the occupation of France in World War II . When the Wehrmacht occupied Paris, the French defenders surrendered the fortress without a fight. Only one soldier committed suicide because he did not want to go into German captivity without a fight. The German occupation forces used the tunnel system to set up underground factories. Industrial products were produced here, but no weapons.

It was not until 1944, when the German Wehrmacht withdrew from France, that a German troop occupied Block No. 8 and fired at the Allied troops from there with artillery (maximum range approx. 13 km) . Since a French officer of the former occupation team, who had been released from captivity due to illness, was able to inform the Allies about the construction of the facility, they were able to bypass Block No. 8 and with several tanks from a chain of hills that was not in the direction of fire shoot at. After four days of bombardment, the German troops fled and blew up ammunition depot No. 3. The massive blast wave caused an eight-ton, 30-cm-thick reinforced concrete door to be severely bent. The Allies found only the body of a German soldier in Block 8.

For a long time it was not known whether there were survivors of the German squad until around 2000 a Berliner reported to the association "AMIFORT" who had belonged to the German squad as a 19-year-old. He was the youngest member of the crew of about 30 men, mostly made up of highly decorated soldiers, who had come from the Siegfried Line and wanted to prevent a quick Allied advance into Germany. After the fort was blown up, they fled through an emergency exit.

sightseeing

Most of the complex is very well preserved because of the minor war damage. The French army left the facility to decay until the “AMIFORT” association committed itself to maintaining it. The association has made the facility accessible to the public since 1975. German-language tours take place from April to October inclusive on Saturdays and Sundays and on French public holidays at 2:30 p.m. Sometimes the tour is also held in German during the week if required. The tour lasts approx. 2.5 hours, a visit is only possible as part of a guided tour. The fort has a constant temperature of 12 ° C, which is why warm clothing is recommended for viewing.

A small military museum is operated inside . During the tour you get an insight into the daily life of the crew; Large kitchen, engine room, hospital and museum are part of the tour. You take the narrow-gauge subway and see how an armored turret works . The tower has been serviced and can be rotated, lowered and raised. An elevator is also in operation.

Numerous personalities visited Fort Hackenberg, u. a. Muhammad V the Sultan of Morocco , King George VI. and Sir Winston Churchill .