Ouvrage du Hochwald
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| Ouvrage Hochwald | ||
| Type: | Artillery plant | |
| Fortress section : | Haguenau | |
| Crew: | about 1100 men of the 23e RIF a . 155e RAP including 50 officers | |
| Commander: | Lieutenant Colonel Miconnet | |
| construction | ||
| Inputs: | 2 × for teams (1 × on the back of the system and 1 × in the middle of the main tunnel) 1 × for ammunition |
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| Combat blocks: |
6x artillery casemates , 3x artillery bunkers , 2x infantry bunkers |
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| Power supply: | West power plant: 4 × Sulzer units with 265 hp each. East power plant 4 × Sulzer units with 165 hp each |
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| Ammunition and armament | ||
| No details known | ||
| Ammunition storage: | Main ammunition storage M1 at the west entrance | |
| Block 1: | 1 × 13.5 cm tower , 1 × 13.5 cm casemate , | |
| Block 2: | 1 × 8.1 cm tower , 1 × GFM bell,
1 × JM bell |
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| Block 3: | 2 × 7.5 cm casemates , 2 × 4.7 cm PAK / JM 2 × GFM bells, 2 × 50 mm grenade launchers (preparation) | |
| Block 5: | 1 × machine gun turret | |
| Block 6: | 3 × 7.5 cm casemates , 1 × LG bell , 1 × JM bell, 1 × GFM bell | |
| Block 7: | 1 × 7.5 cm tower , 1 × GFM bell | |
| Block 12: | 2 × 7.5 cm casemate, 1 × GFM bell,
1 × VDP bell |
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| Block 13: | 1 × 13.5 cm casemate, 1 × 4.7 cm PAK / JM,
1 × JM casemate, 2 × GFM bell |
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| Block 14: | 1 × 13.5 cm tower, 1 × GFM bell,
1 × VDP bell |
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| Block 15: | 1 × machine gun turret, 1 × GFM bell | |
| Block 16: | 2 × 7.5 cm casemates, 2 × 4.7 cm PAK / JM 2 × GFM bells, 2 × 50 mm grenade launchers (preparation) | |
The Ouvrage Hochwald was an artillery work of the French Maginot Line in Alsace. It is located in the former Secteur Fortifié de Haguenau near the village of Drachenbronn-Birlenbach and was intended to defend northern Alsace. The plant consists of an east ( ⊙ ) and a west ( ⊙ ) block, each of which is preceded by a common anti-tank trench. The Ouvrage Hochwald is the largest artillery plant on the Maginot Line in Alsace. What is unique about this artillery plant is that the original plans included a raised rear battery with long-range 145 mm or 155 mm turrets.
construction
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The artillery plant consists of eleven combat blocks and three entrance blocks: six combat blocks in the east (1-7) and five in the west (12-16) as well as an ammunition entrance and a crew entrance in the west and a second crew entrance in the middle of the main tunnel.
The main tunnel with a length of about two kilometers runs from the west entrance to the east block; Another tunnel with a length of a good one kilometer connects the west entrance with the west block. There are two underground barracks and two power stations; they are each arranged near the two entrances.
The eleven combat blocks are six artillery casemates (blocks 1, 3, 6, 12, 13 and 16), three artillery bunkers (blocks 2, 7 and 14) and two infantry bunkers (blocks 5 and 15). To the north of the east and west blocks runs an anti-tank trench with nine additional casemates.
History of the plant
Hochwald was one of the most active plants during the Sitzkrieg from September 1939 to June 1940. On October 8 and 9, 1939, there was fire support for French patrols. Defects in the attachments of the guns and the ammunition were found. German mine-layers were shot at in November. During the western campaign in 1940, the complex remained undisturbed until June 16. Then Hochwald shot at German troops who were marching against Lembach . In return, they responded with artillery fire and Stuka attacks. The attacks were repeated on June 20, and Hochwald provided fire protection for the Lembach Ouvrage . More air strikes followed on June 22nd. The air raids, during which 140 aircraft bombs weighing up to 1,000 kilograms were dropped, did not cause any significant damage to the plant.
After the armistice of June 22, 1940 , the crew initially refused to evacuate the plant. The handover of the work took place on July 1st, after a written order from the French high command was received. The soldiers became prisoners of war ; Some of the Alsatian prisoners of war were forced to serve in the German Wehrmacht in 1942 . Parts of the plant were used as a weapons factory during the German occupation.
At the end of the war, the Hochwald ouvrage was liberated by American troops at the end of 1944. At the company Nordwind , a German offensive in early 1945, the factory was recaptured by German troops. Before the second German retreat, many bunkers were destroyed by explosions. Large parts of the plant were repaired between 1950 and 1955.
The artillery plant today
In 1957 the French Air Force set up a radar station at the plant. Today the plant is part of Air Force Base 901 (BA 901) in Drachenbronn and is used as a fortified command center. It is therefore not open to the public, with the exception of the “Pierre Jost Museum”, which is open on national commemoration days. The equipment of the plant from the time of the Maginot Line was partly given to museums that were built in other artillery works.
Mont Agel, an artillery plant on the Maginot Line in the Alps in southeastern France, had a function similar to Hochwald.
literature
- Jean-Bernard Wahl: Then and Now. The Maginot Line. Northern France - Lorraine - Alsace. History and travel guide. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0685-8 .
- William Allcorn: The Maginot Line 1928-45. Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-84176-646-1 .
- JE Kaufmann, HW Kaufmann: Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II. Praeger Security International, Westport, Conn 2006, ISBN 0-275-98345-5 .
Map with all coordinates: