Ouvrage Bois-du-Four is a lesser work (''petit ouvrage'') in the
Fortified Sector of the Crusnes
The Fortified Sector of the Crusnes (''Secteur Fortifiée de la Crusnes'') was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line extending eastwards approximately from Longuyon. The sector roughly follows t ...
of the
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...
. The ouvrage consists of a single large combat block without an underground gallery system, and is located between ''petit ouvrage''
Mauvais-Bois and ''gros ouvrage''
Bréhain
Bréhain (; german: Bruchheim) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Moselle department
The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle department o ...
, facing
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. A planned expansion, never carried out, was intended to enlarge Bois-du-Four into a fully equipped ''gros ouvrage''. Bois-du-Four saw little action in either the
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 Rep ...
in 1940 or the
Lorraine Campaign of 1944. It is preserved by the community of
Villers-la-Montagne and may be visited.
Design and construction
Bois-du-Four was approved for construction in May 1932. It was completed at a cost of 9 million francs by the contractor Monod of Paris.
[Mary, Tome 1, p. 52] It was designed as a unitary double casemate, occupying a prominent rise in a cleared area. In a second phase, Bois-du-Four was to be expanded to a plan that would result in a close resemblance to its neighbor Bréhain, with five additional blocks mounting artillery, as well as remote entrances for munitions and personnel, and an extensive network of deep underground galleries. The rise in tensions between France and Germany in the late 1930s prevented this second phase from being pursued.
[Mary, Tome 3, pp. 84–86]
Description
Only Block 1 of the proposed ''gros ouvrage'' was actually built, with five more combat blocks and two entry blocks deferred to a second phase that was never pursued. The large single block was arranged on two levels with a remarkably heavy armament.
The proposed ''gros ouvrage'' would have been one of the most heavily armed artillery positions in the Line.
The single existing block was armed as follows:
* Block 1: combined infantry/artillery/entrance block with three
automatic rifle cloches (GFM), one
observation cloche (VDP) and one machine gun turret, as well as seven light machine guns, two heavy twin machine guns, three machine gun/
47 mm anti-tank guns (JM/AC47), all in embrasures, and two 81mm mortars on the lower level.
This block would have been the most northerly of the fully constructed ensemble.
The planned additional blocks were:
* Block 2 (unbuilt): Artillery block with one twin 75mm gun turret and one GFM cloche.
* Block 3 (unbuilt): Artillery block with one twin 75mm gun turret and one GFM cloche.
* Block 4 (unbuilt): Artillery block with one twin 75mm gun turret and one GFM cloche.
* Block 5 (unbuilt): Artillery block with one twin 135mm gun turret, one
grenade launcher cloche (LG) and one GFM cloche.
* Block 6 (unbuilt): Artillery block with two GFM cloches, two
machine gun cloches (JM), two AC47/JM embrasures and two light machine gun embrasures.
* Personnel entry (unbuilt): two GFM cloches, one grenade launcher cloche, two AC47/JM embrasures and two light machine gun embrasures.
* Munitions entry (unbuilt): two GFM cloches, one AC47/JM embrasure, one heavy twin machine gun and two light machine gun embrasures.
If built as intended, Bois-du-Four would have resembled its neighbor Bréhain, apart from Bois-du-Four's unusual initial block. A compact arrangement of combat blocks would have been connected to separate munitions and personnel entrances via a long, deeply buried underground gallery of more than in length, with a utility area, barracks and an "M1" magazine located near the entries. The entries were to be located in a small ravine, giving shelter and allowing for simpler access to the level of the galleries.
[Mary, Tome 3, p. 84]
Casemates and shelters
A series of detached
casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
s and infantry shelters surround Bois-du-Four, including
* Casemate de Villiers-la-Montagne Ouest: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure, one 81mm mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
* Observatiore de Villiers-la-Montagne Centre: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and one GFM cloche.
* Casemate de Villiers-la-Montagne Est: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure, one 81mm mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
* Casemate de Verbusch Ouest: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and two GFM cloches.
* Casemate de Verbusch Est: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure, one 81mm mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
* Observatiore de la Ferme du Bois-du-Four: Observation block with one VP observation cloche and one GFM cloche, reporting to Bréhain.
* Casemate de la Ferme Thiéry: Single block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and two GFM cloches.
* Casemate de Bourène Ouest: Block with one mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
* Casemate de Bourène Est: Double block with two JM/AC47 embrasure, two JM embrasure and two GFM cloches.
None of these are connected to the ''ouvrage'' or to each other. The Casernement de Morfortaine provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Bois-du-Four and other positions in the area.
Manning
The 1940 manning of the ''ouvrage'' under the command of Lieutenant de Mecquenem comprised 135 men and 2 officers of the 139th Fortress Infantry Regiment. The units were under the umbrella of the 42nd Fortress Corps of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. de Mecquenem would go on to fight in Tunisia and eventually at
Dien Bien Phu, retiring as a brigadier general.
History
:''See
Fortified Sector of the Crusnes
The Fortified Sector of the Crusnes (''Secteur Fortifiée de la Crusnes'') was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line extending eastwards approximately from Longuyon. The sector roughly follows t ...
for a broader discussion of the events of 1940 in the Crusnes sector of the Maginot Line.''
In June 1940, the German 183rd Division considered a plan to penetrate the Maginot Line between Bois-du-Four and Mauvais-Bois, eventually rejecting it in favor of operations farther to the east. Bois-du-Four saw mostly harassing attacks through June. After the
22 June 1940 armistice brought an end to fighting, the Maginot fortifications to the west of the Moselle did not immediately surrender. They maintained their garrisons through a series of negotiations. Bois-du-Four, along with Mauvais-Bois,
Bréhain
Bréhain (; german: Bruchheim) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Moselle department
The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle department o ...
and
Aumetz surrendered on 27 June.
[Mary, Tome 5, p. 228] The German occupiers stripped Bois-du-Four of its furnishings and equipment. The area of Bois-du-Four saw little action during the
Lorraine Campaign of 1944.
During the 1950s and 1960s the Maginot Line was kept in readiness for possible use in the event of an invasion by the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
. After the establishment of the French nuclear strike force, the importance of the Line declined, and in 1970 Bois-du-Four was lowered in importance, allowing the use of formerly reserved areas around the ''ouvrage''. During the 1970s the majority of the Maginot ''ouvrages'', including Bois-du-Four, were sold to the public.
[Mary, Tome 5, pp. 174-175]
Present
Bois-du-Four is maintained by the Association Ouvrage A5 Bois du Four of Villiers-la-Montagne, which took over the property in 1992. It is open to the public in summer months June to September open every Sunday. Departure of visits 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Special weekends in June, August, September and December (see official website).
See also
*
List of all works on Maginot Line
*
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the west ...
*
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...
*
Czechoslovak border fortifications
Czechoslovakia built a system of border fortifications as well as some fortified defensive lines inland, from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany. The objective of the fortifications was to prevent t ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*Allcorn, William. ''The Maginot Line 1928-45.'' Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003.
*Degon, André; Zylberyng, Didier, ''La Ligne Maginot: Guide des Forts à Visiter,'' Editions Ouest-France, 2014.
*Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W. ''Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II'', Stackpole Books, 2006.
*Kaufmann, J.E., Kaufmann, H.W., Jancovič-Potočnik, A. and Lang, P. ''The Maginot Line: History and Guide'', Pen and Sword, 2011.
*Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 1.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2001.
*Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 2.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003.
*Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 3.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003.
*Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 5.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009.
*Séramour, Michaël. ''L'ouvrage A5 Bois du Four ou Histoire du phénix de la ligne Maginot : 1932-2012'' Metz, Edition des Paraiges. 2012.
External links
Official siteOuvrage du Bois du Fourat Chemins de mémoire
Ouvrage Bois-du-Fourat wikimaginot.eu
Bois du Four (petit ouvrage A5 de) at fortiff.be
at lignemaginot.com
Ouvrage du Bois-du-Four, at alsacemaginot.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bois-du-Four, Ouvrage
BOFO
Adolfo Bautista Herrera (born 15 May 1979), also known as "Bofo", is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
Bautista is remembered for his powerful shot, creative ball control, and acrobatic moves, as ...
Maginot Line
World War II museums in France