Guentrange Fortress

FESTEN OF MOSELSTELLUNG 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. Operational in 1906, the Feste Obergentringen was designed for a garrison of about 2,000 men. Although it played a major strategic role, the fort was never attacked during the First World War. 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.