Fort Goeben

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Entrance to Fort Goeben / Queuleu

The Fort Goeben (French 1871 and then again from 1919: Fort de Queuleu ) is a fortification at Metz . It was part of the inner belt around the Metz Fortress and was not involved in combat operations.

history

The fortifications around Metz still planned by France, the designs of which were mainly due to General Séré de Rivières , were not yet completed when the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870. After Alsace-Lorraine fell to the German Reich as a result of the war , the Prussian military authorities immediately proceeded to further fortify the city of Metz. Great efforts were made to build both those still planned by France and new fortifications.

The so-called first or inner ring (in contrast to the second, or outer ring, built later) consisted of the forts

location

Fort Goeben is located southeast of Metz on a flat hilltop east of the Saille valley. The right flank of the fort covered this valley as far as Augny , the left flank secured the plateau from Borny to Colombey , the front faced Courcelles-sur-Nied . The field of vision to the south is limited by the heights of Haute-Bevoie and Mercy-lès-Metz, which also hide the railway line to Strasbourg from there. The aim of the entire construction work was to lay a ring around the city of Metz itself, from which strong artillery forces could be deployed at regular intervals. By an imperial decree of November 9th, 1867 it was ordered that it was in the general interest to acquire the necessary land in order to build the fortifications of a fortification belt around Metz. The construction work began on the forts "Gambetta", "de Plappeville", "du Saint-Quentin", "Decaen", "de Queuleu" and "de Saint-Julien" in 1867. The two forts "de Saint-Privat" and "des Bordes" were started in 1870. However, due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War , construction work was stopped in 1870.

Building

The earthworks for the fort began in 1867 and work on the structures began the following year. The building plans could not hide the strong influences of the French fortress builder Vauban from the 17th century (bastionary system). It had the shape of a regular pentagon with a left and a right flank, and a right and left face. Each of the five corner points was reinforced by a bastion . For three of the resulting four curtains a hornwork was in front of it. Each of these sections was 350 meters long. The throat facing the village of Queuleu was broken inward and protected by a throat trunk . It extended over a total of 750 meters. The two-story barracks were made of concrete and clad with limestone . The interiors were equipped with vaulted ceilings . The armament consisted of 122 guns , most of which were positioned free-standing on the ramparts.

After the takeover by the German Reich, extensive renovation and modernization measures were carried out until 1890. As far as possible, the work was adapted to the Biehler system. The above-ground buildings were partially reinforced with concrete and an annex battery was added to the left flank bastion . A steel mesh fence was erected in the dig. During this time, Metz was occupied by a garrison of up to 20,000 men and was the strongest fortress in Germany.

use

At the beginning of 1890, the occupation was replaced by the troops of the XVI, who was in Metz and Diedenhofen . Army Corps secured. After it was returned to France in 1919, it was renamed “Fort de Queuleu” and was initially deactivated. During the time of the so-called seat war (drôle de guerre) between Germany and France (the period between the declaration of war and the start of the German offensive) it then served as a command post for the troops of the Maginot Line .

In 1940 it was taken over again by the Germans, first in a detention camp and in 1943 in the special camp "Feste Goeben" used as an interrogation camp . From October 12, 1943 to August 17, 1944, between 1,500 and 1,800 people were imprisoned here. 36 prisoners died, four prisoners broke out and escaped. After the liberation, the fort was again used as a prison and between December 1944 and March 1946 German prisoners and other persons classified as dangerous (dangereux) were imprisoned. During this period, more than 8,000 people were crammed into the facility. It was no longer used militarily.

In 1971 the "Association des anciens déportés de Queuleu" (Association of Former Deportees from Queuleu) was established. A museum and a memorial stone for the French resistance fighters and the deportees were set up according to the plans of the architect R. Zonca and inaugurated on November 20, 1977 in the presence of the State Secretary for the Affairs of the former fighters, Jean-Jacques Beucler.

Today there is a fitness course on the deck of Fort Queuleu. It can be reached from Metz via Avenue de Strasbourg and Rue des Déportés.

Naming

The renaming in honor of the Prussian general of the infantry August Karl von Goeben (1816-1880) took place on September 1, 1873. The fort therefore carried the name "Fort Goeben" from this point in time until Lorraine was reintegrated into France in 1919 and was then given the original name again. After it was taken over by the German Wehrmacht in 1940, the plant was renamed “Feste Goeben”.

literature

  • Léon Burger: Tragédies mosellanes, le fort de Queuleu à Metz. Metz 1973, OCLC 461455395 .
  • Léon Burger: En Moselle, Résistance et tragédies pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Metz 1976, OCLC 3446001 . (Léon Burger est le frère de Jean Burger , chef du groupe Mario.)
  • Charles Hoeffel: Heroes and martyrs of the Lorraine resistance movement in the SS. Fort Queuleu-Metz special camp. Imprimerie ICAL, Strasbourg-Meinau, Metz 1946, DNB 574026630 , p. 159.
  • JM Moire, F. Nicolas: Un camp de concentration en Moselle: le fort de Metz-Queuleu, 1943–1944. CDDP, Metz 1983, OCLC 691749785 , p. 16.
  • Uwe Bader: Special camp “Feste Goeben” in Metz. In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 9: Labor education camps, ghettos, youth protection camps, police detention camps, special camps, gypsy camps, forced labor camps. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-57238-8 , pp. 534-547.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Named after the commanding general of the VIII Army Corps in the battle of Spichern and Gravelotte in 1870, August Karl von Goeben .
  2. ↑ Les chemins de la mémoire N ° 145
  3. ↑ Mairie de Metz. Visite guidée de Metz ( Memento of June 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) - Metz, autres quartiers. Le fort de Queuleu.
  4. ↑ René Bour: Histoire de Metz. 1950, p. 227.
  5. ↑ François Roth: Metz annexée à l'Empire anglais. In: François-Yves Le Moigne: Histoire de Metz. Private, Toulouse 1986, p. 350.
  6. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldatisches Führertum . Volume 7. Hanseatic Publishing House Hamburg. o. JS 316.

Coordinates: 49 ° 5 ′ 44 ″  N , 6 ° 12 ′ 15 ″  E