The Fortified Site of Cattenom.
The salient of the Cattenom Forest, north of Thionville, is one of the most heavily fortified sectors, if not the most heavily fortified, of the Maginot Line.
Along a stretch of 7 km between the Route de Luxembourg and the Moselle River lies, in an arc stretching from SE to N to W, the P.O. of Sentzich, the G.O. of Galgenberg, the P.O. of Oberheide, the G.O. of Korenbusch, P.O. Bois Karre, and, although not included in the system, the G.O. of Soetrich. Two miles beyond that is the Ouvrage d'Immerhof and the large forts of Molvange and Rochonvillers, guarding he plateau of Aumetz. On the other side of the Moselle are the huge forts of Metrich and one of the largest of all, Hackenberg. The concentration of forts in the area is incredible, making Thionville the true center of the fortifications of the RF Metz.
Firepower Includes

  • 2 135mm turrets
  • 3 75/32 turrets
  • 2 81mm turrets
  • 2 81mm casemates
  • 3 75/32 casemates
  • 16 47mm anti-tank guns
    This does not include JM and Lance Grenade cloches.
    This area also includes:
  • 5 Abris
  • 4 Interval Casemates
  • 2 Observatories
  • Numerous MOM Blockhouses
  • Several PC Abris for interval infantry
  • Trenches

    One could literally spend a week here.
    We met Phillipe Schmalz, secretary of Association A 15, which both Martin and I joined. Our first stop was the Casemate of Sonnenberg, between Galgenberg and P.O. Oberheide. The road to Sonnenberg was not good, little more than a tractor trail, deeply rutted and pitted. Fortunately the heavy rains of the previous days had cleared and the track was dry.
    I have nicknamed this casemate "Spiderberg" because, for some reason, as we were about to enter, Martin mentioned that there were very large spiders on the ceilings of the casemates. I found this to be true of Sonnenberg and found myself looking up all too often. We had to climb across a tree branch to reach the entrance and there wasn't much to see inside.
    From Sonnenberg we moved on to P.O. Oberheide. This particular ouvrage is well hidden in the woods — the nearby Bois Karre, also a monobloc, and Sentzich are in much better condition. Oberheide had two entrances along its 60 metre facade — the cloches and TM were visible on the top. Both entrances were blocked with dirt. The interior is in bad condition.

    We retraced our steps to the main forest road and headed into the woods. The northeastern flank of the salient is full of blockhouses and trenches. Several of these small infantry Abri/PCs can be found in front of the trench/blockhouse line.
    PC Abri Bois de Cattenom PC Abri Bois de Cattenom

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