Ouvrage Immerhof, also known as Ouvrage Ferme-Immerhof, is one of the largest ''petit ouvrages'' 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 ...

of north-east,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Located near the community of

Hettange-Grande Hettange-Grande (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Grouss-Hetténgen'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The town gives its name to the Hettangian age, the earliest age of the Jurassic period of the geologic ...

, it is 7 km north of

Thionville Thionville (; ; german: Diedenhofen ) is a city in the northeastern French department of Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionville was settled as early as the time of th ...

between the ''gros ouvrages'' of Molvange and Soetrich, the closest ''ouvrage'' to the

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 ...

frontier. It was part of the

Fortified Sector of Thionville The Fortified Sector of Thionville (''Secteur fortifié de Thionville'') was the French military organisation that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line immediately to the north of Thionville. The sector describes an arc of about , ...

, in the

Fortified Region of Metz The Fortified Region of Metz comprised the central and most heavily fortified portion of the Maginot Line. The region was established in 1926 as a military organization for the French fortifications along the frontier with Luxembourg and Germany to ...

, the strongest portion of the Line. Apart from its function as a communication post between the neighbouring ''gros ouvrages'', Immerhof also controlled the road and railway routes from Luxembourg, which pass in the immediate vicinity. In addition, Immerhof protected other Maginot works in the vicinity: the casemates of Kanfen, the infantry shelter of Stressling, the observation point and shelter of Hettange-Grande, and a number of nearby

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s constructed during the

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germ ...

. Built between 1930 and 1935, Immerhof saw little action. After a renovation for continued use after World War II, the position was sold to the nearby community of Hettange-Grande in 1974 for use as a museum.

Design and construction

The Immerhof farm site was surveyed by CORF (''Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées''), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1930. Work by the contractor Duval of Nancy began in 1931,Mary, Tome 3, p. 90 and the position became operational in 1935,Kaufmann 2006, p. 25 at a cost of 31 million francs.Mary, Tome 1, p. 52 Immerhof was the only ''ouvrage'' to be built using entirely

cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

techniques, with no tunnelling, due to poor soil conditions. A high water table meant that the drinking water well was only deep; no deep drain could be constructed under the galleries due to the shallow water table.Kaufmann 2011, p. 214 The position was constructed entirely in reinforced concrete, as opposed to unreinforced mass concrete, causing a significant cost increase. It was named after a nearby farm.

Description

The ''ouvrage'' consists of four closely grouped combat blocks. The underground barracks is arranged in a unique two-level configuration. *Block 1: Infantry block with two

GFM cloche The GFM cloche was one of the most common defensive armaments on the Maginot Line. A ''cloche'' (bell) was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant. By comparison, turrets could be rotat ...

s and one machine gun turret. *Block 2: Infantry block with two

s and one machine gun turret, mirroring Block 1. *Block 3: Infantry block with one GFM cloche, one 81 mm mortar turret, four machine gun embrasures and one machine gun/ 47 mm anti-tank gun embrasure (JM/AC47), with an emergency exit. *Block 4: Entry block with two GFM cloches, one grenade launcher cloche, four machine gun embrasures and one JM/AC47 embrasure.

Casemates, observation points and shelters

The Observatoire de la Route du Luxembourg is located to the east, very close to Soetrich, in a position to watch the main road to Luxembourg. It was equipped with an observation cloche and a GFM cloche. Just to the south is the Abri de la Route du Luxembourg, which sheltered a section of infantry that supported the observatory and the flank of the ''ouvrage''. While in close proximity to Soetrich, these fortifications actually reported to Immerhof. Several other casemates, observatories and infantry shelters are located around Soetrich, including * Observatoire de Hettange-Grande: One observation cloche and one GFM cloche. * Abri d'Hettange-Grande: Surface shelter for two infantry sections and a command post, with two GFM cloches. * Abri du Stressling: Surface shelter for one infantry section, two GFM cloches. * Abri de l'Helmreich: Subsurface shelter for two infantry sections and the quarter command post, two GFM cloches. None of these are connected to the ''ouvrage'' or to each other. All were built by CORF. The Casernement de Hettange-Grande provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Immerhof and other ''ouvrages'' in the area.

History

:''See

for a broader discussion of the events of 1940 in the Thionville sector of the Maginot Line.'' A10 Immerhof Entrée & barbelés

Immerhof saw little action during 1940, at most seeing harassing fire, resulting in the death of Corporal Andé Rabu on 14 June. German forces bypassed the area in the days leading up to the

Second Armistice at Compiègne 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, ...

. The Immerhof garrison, under the command of Captain Réquiston, surrendered to the German occupiers on 30 June 1940. In the 1950s the French government became concerned about a possible 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 ...

through Germany. Immerhof and many of the larger positions were renovated for further use. By 1953, Immerhof had become a part of the fortified ''môle de Rochonvillers'' along with Molvange, Rochonvillers and

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 ...

. After France's withdrawal from the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

integrated command structure, the ''ouvrage'' was abandoned. In 1974 the position was sold to Hettange-Grande as a museum.

Current status

The ''ouvrage'' has been maintained as a museum since 1975.Kaufmann 2011, p.181 It remains in a good state of preservation, a condition attributed to the unusual attention given to drainage of groundwater while the site was open to the sky for construction, something not possible in tunnelled positions.

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.