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Fort Jeanne D'Arc
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 ...
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Fortifications Of Metz
The fortifications of Metz, a city in northeastern France, are extensive, due to the city's strategic position near the border of France and Germany. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the area was annexed by the newly created German Empire in 1871 by the Treaty of Frankfurt and became a ''Reichsland''. The German Army decided to build a fortress line from Mulhouse to Luxembourg to protect their new territories. The centerpiece of this line was the ''Moselstellung'' between Metz and Thionville, in Lorraine.Clayton Donnell (2008), ''The German Fortress of Metz 1870–1944'', Osprey Publishing. Overview The fortifications around Metz consisted of casemates, concrete barracks, infantry strong points, and concrete batteries, equipped with rotating steel turrets (100–150 mm). Each position was surrounded by several ditches, or concrete trenches, with shelters and observation cupolas. A large barbed wire belt, defended by machine gun and rifle positions, completed the defens ...
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Caponier
A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' is a castrated male chicken). In some types of bastioned fortifications, the caponier served as a means of access to the outworks, protecting troops from direct fire; they were often roofless. Although they could be used for firing along the ditch, the flanks of the bastions were the main defence of the ditch by fire. In later polygonal forts, caponiers were often roofed, and were not intended as a type of ''covered way'', but as the main way of keeping the ditch clear of the enemy. History Originally the term referred to a covered passageway that traversed the ditch outside the curtain of a fortress. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. Thus the passageway was equip ...
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Battle Of Fort Driant
The Battle of Fort Driant was a constituent battle in the 1944 Battle of Metz, during the Lorraine Campaign and the greater Siegfried Line Campaign. The battle was on occupied French territory between the forces of the United States Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton and the forces of Nazi Germany under General Otto von Knobelsdorff. Location and fortifications left, 175px, Map of the defenses of Fort Driant Fort Driant was located five miles southwest of Metz, just west of the Moselle River. Originally built in 1902 by the Germans and renamed in 1919 after Colonel Émile Driant, the fort was continually reinforced by both the French and German armies. Fort Driant was made from steel reinforced concrete, it was also surrounded by a deep dry moat and barbed wire. It housed five main gun batteries of 150mm guns, infantry trenches, and armored machine gun and observation posts. From its commanding position, it could direct heavy fire in the Moselle Valley. ...
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1st Army (Wehrmacht)
The 1st Army (german: 1. Armee) was a World War II field army. Combat chronicle 1939 The 1st Army was activated on 26 August 1939, in Wehrkreis XII with General Erwin von Witzleben in command. Its primary mission was to take defensive positions and guard the western defences (West Wall) of Germany against Allied forces along the Maginot Line during the attack on Poland, making it the principal German combatant during the short-lived French Saar Offensive. 1940 During the Western campaign it belonged to the Army Group C and initially remained passive towards the Maginot Line. the 1st Army continued its defensive assignment on the French border until June 1940, when the Battle of France had turned decisively to Germany's favor. Starting on 14 June 1940, the 1st Army began the penetration of the Maginot Line, breaking through French defenses, it began concentrating its forces in the frontier sector south of Saarbrücken. Another penetration was conducted north of Wörth am Mai ...
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462nd Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht)
The 462nd ''Volksgrenadier'' Division (german: 462. Volksgrenadier-Division) was a ''Volksgrenadier'' division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1942 to 1944. Operational history The 462nd ''Volksgrenadier'' Division was originally formed in October 1942 as a replacement division in the French town of Nancy, in the French Region of Lorraine Province, under the command of ''Generalmajor'' Otto Schilling. It took responsibility for many of the units of the former 182nd Reserve Division and was expanded with various fortress and training troops stationed at Luxembourg, Saarburg and Metz. After D-Day it was designated as a ''Volksgrenadier'' division and reorganized for combat and was dispatched to the frontlines in August 1944. At the start of November 1944, now commanded by ''Generalleutnant'' Vollrath Lübbe, the division, less the 1216th Grenadier Regiment which had been transferred to the 19th ''Volksgrenadier'' Division, was defending the town of Me ...
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Fort François De Guise
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they ...
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Fort Driant
The Battle of Fort Driant was a constituent battle in the 1944 Battle of Metz, during the Lorraine Campaign and the greater Siegfried Line Campaign. The battle was on occupied French territory between the forces of the United States Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton and the forces of Nazi Germany under General Otto von Knobelsdorff. Location and fortifications left, 175px, Map of the defenses of Fort Driant Fort Driant was located five miles southwest of Metz, just west of the Moselle River. Originally built in 1902 by the Germans and renamed in 1919 after Colonel Émile Driant, the fort was continually reinforced by both the French and German armies. Fort Driant was made from steel reinforced concrete, it was also surrounded by a deep dry moat and barbed wire. It housed five main gun batteries of 150mm guns, infantry trenches, and armored machine gun and observation posts. From its commanding position, it could direct heavy fire in the Moselle Valley. ...
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90th Infantry Division (United States)
The 90th Infantry Division ("Tough 'Ombres") was a unit of the United States Army that served in World War I and World War II. Its lineage is carried on by the 90th Sustainment Brigade. World War I *Activated: August 1917. *Overseas: June 1918. *Major Operations: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne. *Casualties: Total-7,549 (KIA-1,091; WIA-6,458). *Commanders: Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen (25 August 1917), Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Gaston (23 November 1917), Brig. Gen. William Johnston Jr. (27 December 1917), Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen (1 March 1918), Brig. Gen. Joseph P. O'Neil (24 November 1918), Maj. Gen. Charles H. Martin (30 December 1918). *Returned to U.S. and inactivated: June 1919. Order of battle * Headquarters, 90th Division * 179th Infantry Brigade ** 357th Infantry Regiment ** 358th Infantry Regiment ** 344th Machine Gun Battalion * 180th Infantry Brigade ** 359th Infantry Regiment ** 360th Infantry Regiment ** 345th Machine Gun Battalion * 165th Field Artillery Brigade ** 343rd Fie ...
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5th Infantry Division (United States)
The 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)—nicknamed the "Red Diamond", or the "Red Devils" —was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War, and with NATO and the U.S. Army III Corps. It was inactivated on 24 November 1992 and reflagged as the 2nd Armored Division. World War I Organization Units associated with the division included: The Fifth Division (Regular) was organized in December 1917, with headquarters at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, as a part of the program for the expansion of the armed forces for service in World War 1. No specific date was designated for the division's activation but the initial personnel assigned to the division had a reporting date of December 1. * Headquarters, 5th Division * 9th Infantry Brigade ** 60th Infantry Regiment ** 61st Infantry Regiment ** 14th Machine Gun Battalion *10th Infantry Brigade ** 6th Infantry Regiment ** 11th Infantry Regiment ** 15th Machine Gun Battali ...
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Armistice Of 22 June 1940
The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel, a senior military officer of the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces), while those on the French side held lower ranks including General Charles Huntziger. Following the decisive German victory in the Battle of France (10 May – 21 June 1940) during World War II, this armistice established a German occupation zone in Northern and Western France that encompassed about three fifths of France's European territory, including all English Channel and Atlantic Ocean ports. The remainder of the country was to be left unoccupied, although the new regime which replaced the Third Republic was mutually recognized as the legitimate government of all of Metropolitan France except Alsace-Lorraine. The French were also permitted to retain control of ...
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Battle Of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Republic, France during the Second World War. On 3 September 1939, France French declaration of war on Germany (1939), declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland. In early September 1939, France began the limited Saar Offensive and by mid-October had withdrawn to their start lines. German armies German invasion of Belgium (1940), invaded Belgium, German invasion of Luxembourg, Luxembourg and German invasion of the Netherlands, the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Fascist Italy (1922-1943), Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an Italian invasion of France, invasion of France. France and the Low Countries were conquered, ending land operations on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front until the Normandy l ...
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Third Army (France)
The Third Army (french: IIIe Armée) was a Field army of the French Army, which fought during World War I and World War II. Commanders World War I *General Ruffey (Mobilization – 30 August 1914) *General Sarrail (30 August 1914 – 22 July 1915) *General Humbert (22 July 1915 – Armistice) World War II *General Charles-Marie Condé (2 September 1939 – 20 June 1940) See also * 3rd Army Corps (France) * List of French armies in WWI List of armies — List of French armies in World War I This page is a list of French army formations existing during World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest glo ... External links Robert Thibault, 3rd Army, 8th Infantry Division, 12ème Régiment d'Artillerie, 1939-1940 Field armies of France in World War I 03 Military units and formations of France in World War II Military units and formations established in 1914 1914 establishments in France ...
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