Germany Trip (10-23 Jul) - Day 11 - Maginot Line (20 Jul)

 The plan today was to start the long drive back home from Bern. Our end goal was Trier, an old Roman city part way up Germany. It was a town I was excited to see, as it is famous for its Roman heritage. I was also hoping to stop in at the Ramstein Airbase (A US airbase in Germany and the naming inspiration for the band Rammstein).

We didn't really succeed in any of this, for a few reasons, which I will explain below.

My first lesson on this trip, learnt passing Berlin and on the way down to the Romantic Road, was reinforced - while German roads have a high speed limit, roadworks or accidents will grind them to a halt.  A drive that should take 4 hours in a few instances has taken 7 due to roadworks and/or accidents causing congestion. There are few things more frustrating than spending 12km in a 120km/h+ zone going 30km/h.

The first thing that came to our attention was that the route we programmed as the shortest route, took us into France. This was a new thing to us as in Australia you never switch over into a different country to speed up your travels. Due to the Schengen rules there were no border controls and passport checks, just a sign and suddenly we were in our sixth country for the trip.

Once I checked where we were heading I realized that we had a great opportunity to tick off a bucket list item - visiting the Maginot Line.  This meant that we might not have enough time to get much done in Trier, but it was too much of an opportunity to pass up.

The Maginot Line was a series of bunkers and fortifications created between near the French border with Germany to protect France from an attack from the Germans. The simple view of the end result is that the Maginot Line failed quite spectacularly. The line itself was successful in that it was never taken by force, however the Germans pushed through Belgium instead and maneuvered around the fortifications to attack France from behind.

This was partially expected by the French and while it did defeat the purpose of the fortifications, it served the following purposes:

1) Avoided a surprise attack - unlike the rapid attacks on Austria, Poland, Norway etc) France had some warning that Germany was coming

2) Belgium was neutral, and Germany was forced to break this neutrality and Britain (who had been resisting entering the war) would have to react.

3) The Alsace-Lorraine industrial area was protected and Hitler was forced to bypass it in order to attack from behind.

4) Because the eastern front was protected, more troops were freed up to defend the Northern border with Belgium.

Unfortunately the French did not take into consideration the speed and organisation of the German's attack and there have been some discussions about the permissiveness of the French government to Nazi control.

In the end, the fortifications were never taken by the enemy, however they were handed over as part of the 1940 armistice, when France surrendered to Germany.

The part of the Maginot Line that we visited was the Fortress of Schoenenbourg. This fortification was finished in 1935. It was fully occupied in 1939, 10 days before the declaration of war at the end of August 1939.

The first shot from the 75mm guns were fired in September 1939 as part of a 20 shot test salvo. IN Jan 1940 the 81mm turret also fired its first test shot.

On May 14th 1940 the fort fired upon enemy forces and the Germans returned fire with 13 280mm shells. The next day more shells were fired damaging the fort's rail network. The shells made holes in the ground that were 7m wide and 3m deep.

In total the fort was attacked by air and land:

The whole bunker tour took about two hours, and the underground section was a constant 12 degrees Celsius, which was a bit chilly after the last few days of thirty degrees.

There were two entrances to the bunker - the ammunition entrance and the men's entrance. The men's entrance was detonated by the Germans when they retreated, but has since been rebuilt.  We entered the ammunition entry:

This entrance was protected by an embrasure with twinned machine-guns and a 47mm anti-tank gun, three embrasures for light machine-guns, two GFM (Guetteur et Fusil-Mitrailleur - Lookout and rifle/machine gun port) - the two domes on top of the bunker in the picture above) and a light machine gun blockhouse inside.  There are two services lifts to lower the ammunition into the bunker, one capable of 2.5 tons and the other 5 tons. The motors are housed at the bottom of the shaft to protect from damage.

After entering the bunker we first across the heavy metal blast doors and the firing points protecting them:

The doors into the bunker - the total door weight is 7 tonnes

Warning lights

The smaller of the doors

The doors leading to the two elevators

Reinforcements in the roof

Tom testing out one of the twinned machine-guns

Gun placement

Ammunition drums for the twinned machine-guns

Anti-tank gun

Twinned Machine-Gun Barrel

Twinned Machine-Gun

Gun port

Fire Sign

In case of fire shout "Fire" activate the pump buckets. The nearest extinguishers or nozzles. Notify the telephone exchange using the nearest device

Corridor to the gun emplacements

The map of the fort above shows the separation between the firing ports and the entrance - approximately 1km.  The reason for this was to allow the entrances to be behind the defensive line and to make the weapons and barracks much harder to breach.

Because the distance from the ammunition entrance to the firing blocks was so far, a train runs through the tunnel, powered by 600V DC, provided by the power distribution centre through overhead lines.

After heading down to the lower level of the fort (30m below surface) we started the walk to the kitchen and barracks.

Train lines from the elevators

Tool rack and service area

Tunnel from the elevator

The first stop was the Barracks and kitchen, at the base of the elevator:

Ammunition and Explosive Storage

Gun Emplacement at the 'Men's Entrance'

Storage area in the kitchen

Service area and menu

Walking into the magazine storage area

Ammunition storage

Schoenenbourg Fort held the following ammunition when fully stocked:

- 4,000 rounds for each 75mm gun (16,000 rounds),

- 3,200 rounds for each 81mm gun (6,400 rounds)

- 600 rounds for each 47mm gun

- 140,000 cartridges for each twinned machine gun (The circular canisters shown in the first few photos)

- 200,000 cartridges for each turret machine gun

- 40,000 cartridges for each light machine gun cupola

- 1,000 cartridges for each light machine gun post

Also a number of F1 grenades that could launched or sent down grenade chutes and  other light ammunition such as small explosives. 

Chapel in the barrack

The washing area for the kitchen

Drawings in the barracks

Pantry

Kitchen

The kitchen held three cooking pots that functioned as slow cookers, an oven, a coffee perculator, two water boilers and a potato peeler.

Alcohol store

At the end of the barracks and kitchen area and just inside the men's entrance was the power plant. The fortification was fed with 22,000V current that was normally provided from the civil supply. If this power supply is lost, four 160hp Sulzer generators, each controlling 165kVA alternators would provide the supply (135kVA each). Any number of these generators could be run, depending on the need, but one was always kept as a reserve.

The incoming power was converted to 440VAC to be distributed by the power house.  The power house sent power to the substation at 3000V and would then transform it to 440VAC for supply, to supply 600VDC for the train (narrow-gauge railway) and 120VDC to control the turret motors.

Warning sign that untrained personnel are forbidden from entering the 'factory'

Some of the warning labels

The massive wrench

Engineer's Workshop

Meters outside the Power room - Volts, KW (power) and KVAR (Reactive Power)

Fire-fighting equipment

Water Cooling Cistern - used for cooling the engines. The heated water could then be used for washing or heating.

The next area managed to air inflow. This was important to prevent an enemy from filling the fort with poisonous gases and to evacuate the fumes from the firing of the weapons.

The intake air is sent through seven filtering drums. There were 28 filters in total. In the case of an extreme gas or chemical attack, the combat blocks can be sealed and self-sufficient using their own ventilators.

Each filter consisted of charcoal and filter paper layers alternating

Officers' Mess Room

Bunk room for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)

Bunks for Troops - 36 beds in total, stacked three high

Layout of the Troop Barracks

Corridor with desks

Officer's pantry and kitchen

Officers dorm

Decontamination Showers - although they look more like contamination showers currently

Sick Room

Sick Room

Medical Store

Ward

Surgery

Path to pharmacy

The barracks were set up with operating theatre and sickrooms to allow for emergencies in wartime. There were a few casualties in the base, one soldier was hit by a shell when on watch and a gunner was killed when his turret gun exploded.

Illustration outside the infirmatory

The train

One of the interesting parts of the fort was the emergency escape tunnel.  It was made up of two sections as can be seen in the picture below.  The first (and leftmost) tunnel consisted of a ladder up to the top right section. The top right section was completely filled with gravel.  In an emergency, the trap door (red on the map) could be opened and the gravel will drain into the pit revealing the top most ladder and allowing the troops to escape.

The first ladder

After the emergency exit, we started the 1km walk to the second part of the base, the headquaters and the combat blocks.

The long tunnel. The ridges on the side were cable management

Incoming telephone cables

Cable routing

Sentry post with gun port

Another of the features of the tunnel was the ability to collapse it in case of attack.  Two metal doors were fitted into the wall with tunnels behind them, running parallel with the tunnel. These were filled with explosive and could be detonated to block the tunnel as a last ditch defence.

The tunnel

This section was a bout half down down the main path, so we had plenty more distance to cover:

Next stop was the headquarters, consisting of the Fort Command, Infantry Command, Artillery Command as well as the telephone exchange.

Comms room with beds

Fort Command Room

Maps

Observation Board

Commander's Room

Another magazine storage area

From September 1939 to May 1940 there was a period called the "Phoney War" a time where war had been declared, but there were no land operations on the western front. In order to keep busy, some of the troops took to illustrating the walls.  A few of the pictures featured earlier, but since some are in non-accessible areas, the preservation group has created a gallery displaying the pictures near the HQ:

After the gallery, we visited the telephone exchange:

And a display of the different periscopes, binoculars and Episcopes used to view from the turret bunkers:

Back in the HQ, we were able to tour the Artillery Command, otherwise known as the S.R.A (Service de reseignments de l'artillerie - Artillery Information Service).

A series of telephone operators remain in contact with the observation posts through the fortification. When one of the observation sites spies an enemy they report to the Artillery Command. This information is document on the contact boards and the Artillery Commander decided what to do. If an attack is warranted the Commander informs the Gunnery Director of the orders. The Gunnery Director will consider the capability of the combat blocks and then issue order to the appropriate combat block. That block is then put into direct communication with the observer and firing can begin in less than three minutes from first sighting.

Surveys - Temperature, Pressure and Wind

General information chart

Information charts

Telephone operator desks

Recreation of the switchboard

After this, it was down the tunnel again towards the combat blocks:

At the start of the combat blocks were two displays, the first was of the weaponry and ammunition, the second was of the electrical componentry.

Turret mounted 75mm guns

Different sizes of shells - the middle two were as tall as Tomas (~6')

135mm casement howitzer (range 5,600)

81mm fortress casement mortar (range 3,500m)

75mm 1932R type fortress turret guns (9000m range)

50mm mortar rounds

Ammunition cases on the overhead rail

The ammunition magazine shown above can hold fifty shells for the 75mm shortened guns. When the turrets needed to be loaded, the attendants would use the hoists to raise the casings then push them along the overhead rail into the elevator that would raise them to mid-level where they would be loaded. 

There was also a chart listing the attacks that the fort was subjected to:

- 280mm caliber shells x30  (each shell weighing 246kg)

- 355mm and 420mm caliber shells x50 (shells weighing between 575kg and 1,160kg and 1.5m long)

- Aircraft bombs x160

- 105mm and 155mm caliber shells x 2,000 (tank and artillery caliber)

The electrical components on display were quite interesting too:

One of the generators opened up, with a piston on the right side

The last part of the tour was the artillery turret for block 3.  This block consisted of rooms for crew, equipment for filtering air and the turret itself - a 12m tall, 100 ton gun.  The gun could be raised and lowered by a counterweight at the back and rotated a full 360 degrees.

Model of the gun and turret

Elevator for ammunition loading

Looking up at the gun turret internals

Drawings showing the gun configuration

The turning mechanism

Controls and junction box

And then it was back down the tunnel to return

Having finished at the Maginot line, we needed to continue north to reach our next stop - Trier.

On the way, we briefly stopped at the Ramstein Airbase to try to find a photogenic area for a photo, but the base was crazy busy, we were running out of time and all the gates needed ID to enter (as expected for a military base):

This was as close as we got

The plan was to then continue on to Trier and, despite the delay we had by exploring the Maginot line, to head out and check out the town.  But the German traffic had other ideas.  After over 40km of roadworks, two car breakdowns, an overturned trailer that had torn the rear section off a car and random other delays, the drive ened up taking until around 6pm.  By this point we gathered the keys to the property, bought and cooked some food for dinner and crashed out.