Ouvrage Hackenberg is a fortress of the Maginot Line on the border. It is near the French town of Veckering. The fortress has been partially restored and is open to the public for tours. Tours take three hours due to the enormous size of the fortress. Details can be found below.
In popular memory the Maginot Line is a regarded a military folly and white elephant. It is often claimed (by people who don't know what they're talking about) as one of the reasons for France's defeat by Germany in 1940. This understanding is a based on a misunderstanding of French defensive strategy in the interwar period.
The Great War was devastating for France and left the nation deeply scarred. Not only were more than a million men killed and wounded, France's most important industrial and agricultural regions of Alsace, Lorraine and Flanders had been thoroughly destroyed. The French had received billions in reparations from Germany, it would take France decades to rebuild. The French were determined that they would never again fight a future war with Germany on French soil.
The border between France and Germany had long been fortified, going right back to the 1840s. Fortifications, such as those at Verdun, had been successfully defended against the Germans, often with very small garrisons. The French decided to expand and update the line of fortifications along the border. The Maginot Line was not intended to prevent a German invasion, only to slow it down sufficiently to allow the French army to be mobilized.
One of the claimed weaknesses of the Maginot Line was that is did not carry forward along the Luxembourg and Belgian border, allowing the Germans to simply outflank the Line. However, this was part of the strategy. The French were firmly wedded to the idea of attack as the best form of defence so a fully fortified border did not make sense. The French strategy was therefore to pin the Germans at the Maginot Line and swing their mobile army through Belgium to sweep down the Germans in a reverse Schleiffen Plan.
When push came to shove in 1940 the French implemented their strategy. French and British forces pushed into Belgium to confront the German invasion. However, the French strategy was so well known that it was inevitable that the Germans anticipated this move. The Germans slipped a force through the Ardennes Forest, flanking the French and British invasion force, ultimately trapping the British and French expeditionary forces in Belgium and defeating them in detail.
The fortresses of the Maginot Line held out until France capitulated. Few were taken by assault. Hackenberg was surrendered after several months of siege.
They will not pass
Entry to Hackenberg is today via the supply (rear) entrance. A small electric railway runs from a nearby railway siding to the the gate and then continues into the fort. The gates defenses are visible here. Modern metal gates replace the forts original blast doors. On either side of the gate are two pairs of machine gun emplacements. The guns are placed such that they cover both direct and flanking assaults. Up on the hillside, hidden in the trees are other machine gun positions. The forts retractable turrets could also lob shells into this area.
Visitors enter through the supply gate. Huge blast doors prevent entrance, but assuming one gets through them one finds oneself in closed atrium. A machine gun port (left) covers the room, turning the space into a killing zone. Assuming you could get past the gun you face another foot thick steel blast door.
Detail of the machine gun emplacement. Note the stepped embrasure. A smooth embrasure would funnel any shells and splinters towards the gun.
A map of the site. Ouvrage Hackenberg has almost 3 kilometres of tunnels. Only two blocks are open.
Having passed through the first two gates, the tunnel opens into a wider atrium, sealed at the end with another foot thick blast door and covered by a machine gun emplacement (right).
The fortress is so large that bikes were used to get around.
The body shell of a Renault FT17 light tank. The FT17 was developed as a light tank during the First World War. It was a popular vehicle and widely exported. Although obsolete as a fighting vehicle by the time of the Second World War, a few were still in service with the French army as a command vehicle. These were not armed. This one is missing its tracks and wheels.
One of the forts electric trains. These were used to move ammunition and supplies through the kilometres of tunnels.
Due to the distances involved, visitors travel to the blocks by the electric train. These little trains were used to transport ammunition from the stores to the guns.
Endless tunnels
Generator room. The fortress was self sufficient, generating its own electricity. It also had an air filtration system to protect against the use of poison gas.
One of the arsenals.
More tunnels. Being basically within a mountain and several hundred metres below ground, it's VERY cold.
The kitchens
Within the corridors are folding tables for the crew to eat at and relax. During peace time crews were rotated in the fortress during which time they were sealed in. Boredom was an issue.
After the war NATO decided that the Maginot Line fortresses could be used against a possible Soviet invasion. Hackenberg was restored and received new equipment. This diesel generator was installed in the 1960s.
More tunnels.
Electrical transformers.
Fortress surgery
"Yes, what do you want?"
In the garrison quarters there was a display of uniforms and arms. These are French uniforms from 1915.
German uniforms.
German PAK 37mm anti tank gun. In 1940 this was one of the Wehrmacht's principal weapons. Although relatively small, it fired a high velocity shell that was more than sufficient to deal with most British and French tanks (except the Char B heavy tank). The gun was also the main weapon of the Panzer III.
Above ground it's hard to see anything of the fortress. The gun emplacements are well concealed within the landscape.
Block 8 of three 75cm cannons featured on Hackenberg's crest. The fortress resisted the German invasion in 1940 but the Germans wisely gave it a wide berth. After the Fall of France the Germans occupied the fort. In 1944, these western facing guns were turned on General Patton's Third Army. Patton was aware, but dismissive of the Maginot Line and attempted to rush the fortress. The battery put up a such a withering and accurate fire that the Third Army were forced to pull back. A frontal assault with tanks failed, as did and attempt to blast open the rear doors of the fortress. The Americans did not know however that the fort was only lightly manned and the crew were only able to man one block at a time. While the Americans could not breach the doors, their flanking attack convinced the garrison that they would not be able to hold out and they decided to surrender.
Inside one of the gun emplacements in Block 7.
When the German garrison decided to surrender in 1944, they set charges in the magazines, closed the blast doors and evacuated. The blast wave was so strong that it blew the enormous blast doors off its hinges. The effect of the pressure wave is clearly apparent in this photo. The door is about 5 metres tall.
Map of the attack on Hackenberg in 1944.
A schematic of Block 6's 135mm retractable turret. The design of these retractable turrets was based on lessons from the First World War. The turret was recessed into a concrete emplacement, usually places on the top of a hill or ridgeline. Even when raised for firing they would be difficult to see and almost impossible to hit, except by plunging fire. Spotting done from armoured observation posts distributed around the fortress.
Block 2 featured a rotating and retractable turret with 75mm guns.
The turret in operation.
The retractable turret mechanism. The loaders and gun crew would be in this chamber.
One of the observation turrets for Block 2's rotating turret.
A view down the hill from the top of Block 7. In the distance you can see the observation cupola and machine gun emplacement for Block 2's turret.
One of the infantry blockhouse south of the rear entrance.
Monument at the entrance gate.
OUVRAGE DU HACKENBERG
Monsieur Claude POESY
61 bis Grand Rue
57920 VECKRING
https://www.maginot-hackenberg.com/?page=home&lang=en
Our visit to the Ouvrage de la Falouse near Verdun in 2013. https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2020/04/ouvrage-de-la-falouse-maginot-line.html
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