Fortified Group of Guentrange

What do you mean the soldiers used to sleep in hammocks? So these small hooks are not for hanging the enemy? Ah, so in fact it was built by the Germans! Right, of course, we are in the throes of the German annexation between 1899 and 1906! Imagine, there’s even a bread oven that still works! And I won’t even mention the diesel engine and the 10 cm gun turrets. Showers, toilets, everything there is to be discovered! And let me tell you, German soldiers were very fortunate!

Getting there

FESTEN

OF MOSELSTELLUNG

In anticipation of a new conflict with France, in 1896 German engineers devised a plan to build fortifications. About 10 km from the gates of Metz and the surroundings of Thionville. The works were divided into fortified groups called Festen. These forts served as defence bases for the German army during the fighting for the Liberation of Moselle in 1944. Guentrange Fort, the construction of which started in 1899, included three barracks: a large central structure and two secondary blocks to the north and south standing 200 metres above Thionville.

DEFENSIVE BASE

OF THE GERMAN ARMY

Operational in 1906, the Feste Obergentringen was designed for a garrison of about 2,000 men. Kaiser Wilhelm II took a great deal of interest in these new structures. He came to inspect the works at Guentrange four times.

Although it played a major strategic role, the fort was never attacked during the First World War.

FROM THE MAGINOT LINE

TO TOURIST SITE

After becoming French at the Armistice in 1918, Guentrange Fort joined the Maginot Line in the 1930s to provide second line logistics support. In 1940, the Germans seized it back and used it as a warehouse and workshop without keeping a garrison there. The American army in turn took control of it in 1944 and destroyed the artillery.

The building has not been used for military purposes since 1971. Thanks to the efforts of the Amicale du Groupe Fortifié de Guentrange and the Municipality of Thionville, it is an essential and unmissable part of military history tourism in the Grande Région.

MUSEUM

OF THE HISTORY OF THIONVILLE

Apart from its technical facilities, Guentrange Fort is also a military history museum devoted to Thionville. Information boards and collections allow visitors to immerse themselves in the rich past of what was a leading stronghold and one of the precursors of the forts along the Maginot Line.