By Clayton Donnell
Following the defeat of France within the Franco-Prussian battle of 1870-71 and the absorption of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine into the newly shaped German Empire, the German military made up our minds to build a castle line from Strasbourg to Luxembourg to guard their new territory and counter the good castle process that used to be being outfitted from Switzerland to Belgium, the center-piece of which used to be the nice Moselstellung (Moselle place) of Metz/Thionville.
The fort consisted of concrete batteries that fired 10 and 15cm weapons from metal turrets, concrete barracks, infantry robust issues with ditches defended via casemates, and urban trenches with shelters and metal commentary cupolas. the whole place was once surrounded through a large belt of barbed twine entanglements that have been defended by way of laptop gun and rifle positions, and hidden from the view of the attacker. Illustrated with images and whole colour cutaway paintings, this ebook examines the layout and improvement of the citadel and analyzes its use in wrestle, focusing relatively at the half it performed in retaining up basic Patton's 3rd Army's improve throughout France in 1944
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Extra info for The German Fortress of Metz 1870-1944 (Fortress, Volume 78)
Sample text
The passive shelters – barracks, observation posts and combat shelters – were also dispersed to make them more difficult to strike, and to fulfil their functions as troop shelters and combat support for the armoured batteries and infantry works. Command and control was assured by a system of observation and redundant communications. Observatories were placed on the high points of the fort in armoured cupolas equipped with the latest optical equipment – binoculars, periscopes and telemetry scopes.
Existing fortifications could no longer give the batteries sufficient overhead protection to permit them to survive against artillery combat with mobile field artillery. Major Schumann, in his treatise Die Bedeutung drehbarer Geschützpanzer “Panzerlaffeten”, written at the Krupp proving grounds at Magdeburg in 1884, proposed the use of armoured batteries with steel turrets to protect the guns and crew. A radical reform of permanent fortifications was needed. Schumann argued that the way to obtain the desired results was the employment of guns in rotating armoured turrets in place of fixed guns behind ramparts.
Troops manned the picket shelters, blockhouses and counterscarp casemates at all times. While they didn’t stand all day in front of an embrasure with rifle at the ready, since there would be ample time to move to that position in case of alarm, they stayed in the vicinity of their post, ready to respond to any warning. The daily routine was tedious, mostly consisting of sitting and waiting. If the troops were lucky, the commander would give them practice drills and alerts, and based on the written record, this was done quite often in the Imperial Army.
