"SCHOENENBOURG – LA LIGNE MAGINOT... " a Schoenenbourg Travel Page by mtncorg

The Maginot Line is one of the most famous fortified defense systems to have ever been erected. Crossing Lorraine and Alsace for more than 400 km, many strongpoints along the line – classified as a military secret until recent times – can be visited today. One of the easiest and best-known forts which are open is the artillery fort at Schoenenbourg just south of Wissembourg in the far northeast of Alsace.

Following the 1.4 million dead of World War I, France decided to build the Maginot Line to protect the new territories of Alsace-Lorraine, provide cover for potential surprise attacks by giving time for the French armies to mobilize behind the Line and to save on the amount of men needed to defend this region, thus allowing French commanders the luxury of building up a larger mobile army to send to other threatened areas … like Belgium. Historians have decreed that France wasted a lot of money in the building of the line when they could have modernizing their army. Actually, the French army was as modern as or more so than the German army when war came. The cost was over and done with mostly by 1935, though some construction lasted till 1937, so monies thereafter were continually available for the upgrading of the rest of the army. Many have said that the Maginot Line put the French into a dangerous defensive mindset, but those who conceived the idea of the Line were no longer in power in 1940. French failure in 1940 is better laid at the doorstep of both the French politicians and high command. The Maginot Line did what it was supposed to during the war. All of the forts held out past the Armistice except for a couple of small forts. Forces were freed up to march into Belgium and cover the non-fortified regions – it is estimated that a mere 22,000 men in the forts held off 240,000 Germans and 85,000 Italians.

The main strongpoints of the Maginot Line were known as Gross Ouverages and the Schoenenbourg, while not the largest, is a good example. Construction on the fort began took place from 1931-36, though improvements would continue up to 1940. The basic plan has a barracks, storehouse and electrical powerhouse area present in tunnels in amongst woods about one kilometer south of the combat bloc area. An underground railway set 18-30 meters deep provided the subterranean connection between the two areas. Volunteers have restored and set up an excellent self-guided tour that gives you a great view of how the fort was set up and functioned. After walking through the underground galleries, a visit to the topside of the combat blocs – just south of the first big bend in the Hunspach-Bremmelbach road which is directly north of Schoenenbourg – can bring together the function of the fort even better.

Gross Ouverages were designed to be covered by artillery fire from neighboring forts and in Schoenenbourg’s case, support fire was provided by the Fort Hochwald-Est near the Col du Pfaffenstick to the west, a fort still used by the French Air Force for flight control purposes over northeastern France. Most of the forts were used during the Cold War before being abandoned for years. Schoenenbourg was the last Gross Ouverage on the eastern end of the Maginot Line and during May-June 1940, it was the fort that was probably attacked the longest and hardest by the Germans. During the latter half of May, the fort came under fire from huge 420mm guns similar to those that had blasted away Franco-Belgian forts in 1914. Stukas repeatedly dropped bombs on the fort, but by the time of the Armistice, the fort was still intact and only emissaries from the French command were able to bring about the fort’s surrender.