Fort Jeanne d'Arc, also called Fortified Group Jeanne d'Arc, is a fortification located to the west of Metz in the Moselle department of France. It was built by Germany to the west of the town of Rozérieulles in the early 20th century as part of the third and final group of Metz fortifications. The fortification program was started after the German victory of the Franco-Prussian War, which resulted in the annexation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France to Germany. The Fort Jeanne d'Arc was part of the Moselstellung, a group of eleven fortresses surrounding Thionville and Metz to guard against the possibility of a French attack aimed at regaining Alsace and Lorraine, with construction taking place between 1899 and 1908. The fortification system incorporated new principles of defensive construction to deal with advances in artillery. Later forts, such as Jeanne d'Arc, embodied innovative design concepts such as dispersal and concealment. These later forts were designed to support offensive operations, as an anchor for a pivoting move by German forces into France.
The Feste Kaiserin, as Fort Jeanne d'Arc was called by the Germans, with seven other Metz forts, assured the protection of Metz against French attack. It is one of the largest of the Metz forts. Positioned to the rear of the principal lines of combat in the First World War, the fort never saw combat in that war, but was captured by advancing American forces in the Lorraine Campaign of World War II after resisting for nearly a month.
Design and operational concept
Metz is surrounded by two rings of fortifications in addition to the medieval and Vauban-era fortifications of the central city. The inner ring of eleven forts was built in a manner similar to the French Séré de Rivières system forts, as a defined, walled and ditched perimeter with a concentration of artillery positions. The later positions, including Jeanne d'Arc, did not have walled perimeters. The infantry positions, fortified barracks and artillery batteries were dispersed and concealed in natural and constructed topography.
From 1899, the Germans viewed Metz and Thionville as a secure position that could provide an anchor for a pivoting movement into France from the Low Countries. This strategy, which would become known as the Schlieffen Plan, required that the Moselstellung deter an advance by French forces into Lorraine while the German forces mobilized.
Description
Fort Jeanne d'Arc is located about to the west of Metz. It was designed for a garrison of 1900 men and armed with six 100mm guns in two batteries, six 150mm howitzers in two batteries and four 77mm guns in casemates. Four separate fortified barracks housed troops, with underground galleries connecting the battery, barracks, and infantry positions. In addition, four bastion-like points on the north, south, east and west housed infantry strongpoints. Barbed wire entanglements were swept by 77mm guns firing from bastions or counterscarp positions. The east and west strongpoints were separately enclosed with barbed wire entanglements and had their own barracks, while the west point additionally had an earthwork rampart with a caponier. A total of seven reinforced barracks had a capacity of 2580 troops.
The fortified barracks were built into a hillside so that their rears are shielded by earth, while the tops and fronts are protected by three or four metres of concrete, and are surmounted by parapets. The batteries are similarly constructed and linked to the barracks by tunnels at an average depth of to metres, extending over . The whole was surrounded by deep networks of barbed wire, which were swept by fire from small perimeter blockhouses, also linked via the tunnel system. The interior of the position was equipped with trenches for infantry. The barracks and batteries were further armoured with reinforced concrete and armored windows. A variety of blockhouses and infantry shelters were also built in the intervals between forts. The fort's surface extends over
The dispersed, un-walled nature of the later Moselstellung was a significant innovation. Compared to the French Séré de Rivières system forts of the same era, German fortifications were scattered over a large area and enclosed chiefly by barbed wire. While certain individual elements presented imposing walls to an attacker, these walls were not continuous. The dispersed nature is evidenced by the official French name: the Groupe Fortifié Jeanne d'Arc (Fortified Group of Jeanne d'Arc). These arrangements were studied and improved upon by the French in the construction of the Maginot Line.