Maginot Line

Enlisted men's living quarters

The enlisted crews were hotbunking!!!!








MP's offices and cells.

 

Kitchens and Mess.


Officer's mess.






Officer's kitchen.



Potato storage.



Food storage.




Wine storage, the crews were entitled to a daily wine ration.




The enlisted crew had to eat in these corridors, there were foldable boards fixed on the walls that were used as a table while the crew was sitting on benches.




Electric cookers.




The food for the crews was passed out through this window.






Electric baking oven.








The butcher's shop.

 

The electric railway and the "Magasin munitions M1" = M1 Ammunition storage


Underground railway with armored blast doors.
















Inside the ammo storage to the left is the loading dock with the overhead hoists.






The shells were stocked in these steel racks that could be moved from the storage alveoles to the loading dock via the overhead hoists sliding on the rails.




The ammo was stored in the alveoles to the right. Today they present some fortress artillery in the old ammunition storage. This does not make up for a visit of the fighting blocks though.

 

The "Sous-station" = railway station and the "garage" = depot and repair shop

 

Enlisted men's casino. This room was where the enlisted crewcould spent their free time. Note the elaborate drawings on the walls.










Signs for orientation during blackout. When the fort was in fighting condition most of it's part were in total blackout.

 

Fortress weapons

"Matériels d'artillerie" = Artillery weapons

"Matériel de 75mm Modèle 1929 de Casemate" Model 1929 75mm Casemate gun.






I couldn't identify this piece, my best guess would be that it was a 135mm howitzer mounted in a turret.




"Matériel de 75mm Modèle 1932 de casemate" Model 1932 75mm Casemate gun.








"Matériel de 81mm Modéle 1932 de Casemate" Model 1932 81mm casemate mortar.






Burst Howitzers




These two artillery pieces do not come from a "Grand Ouvrage", they come from light artillery casemates, smaller bunkers that were spaced out inbetween the "Grand Ouvrages". E.g. "Casemate d'artillerie pour deux Matériels de 75mm Modéle 1897/1933" = Artillery casemate for two Model 1897/1933 75mm guns.


"Matériel de 75mm Modèle 1897/1933", this was an enhanced version of the next gun.




"Matériel de 75mm Modèle 1897"




"matériel d'Infanterie" Infantry weapons

On the left side, high up in the background is a ""Canon de 47mm Antichar Modèle 1934 de Forteresse" = Model 1934 47mm Fortress AT gun, these were in interchangeable mounts and could be switched for a twin MG mount.




"JM MAC31 Jumelage de Mitrailleuses sous Casemates" this was a double machine gun mount for casemates, there was also a variant of the same JM MAC31 for mounting into armoured cuppolas.




"Arme mixte de cloche Modèle 1934" = Model 1934 combined weapon for cuppolas, this was a combination of a 25mm AT gun with two MAC31 7,5 mm machine guns.




Different periscopes and artilelry control materials.




Air filtering equipment.

 

More fortress infantry weapons.

"Jumelage de Mitrailleuses MAC31", this mount was for casemates.




"Créneau FM sous béton Type B" = B type machine gun mount with integrated optics for casemate. This is a prototype that was installed in "Bloc 6" of the Simserhof during the winter of 1939/1940.




"FM Fusil Mitrailleur 24/49" with different mounting systems. The FM24/49 was mounted as well in the "Cloche GFM" cuppolas as in casemates.






"Mortier de 50mm Modèle 1935" = M1935 50mm mortar.
(N.B. many of these mortars were pilfered by the germans to be reinstalled in Tobruks on the Atlantik Wall, c.f. my post about "Stützpunkt Rommel" in the AW thread.)

"Modèle 1935" in a casemate mount.




"Modèle 1935" in a cuppola mount






"Arme Mixte MAC31 et Canon Anti Char 25mm" Mixed twin machinegun and AT gun weapon.




"Blockhaus de Défense intérieure" = Internal blockhouse defending an armoured door of the tunnel system. Important armoured doors were defended by these interior strong points as well as by hidden explosives that could be blown up to block the tunnels.




A rack with FM24/49's for use in case the ennemy manages to penetrate the tunnel system.



Armoured door.

 

Outstanding! Thanks for posting this wonderful collection.

It inspired me to watch disc 1, "France Falls" of The World at War just to revisit the footage contained there of the Maginot Line.

 

I'm very glad that you all like the thread!!!

That's all I have about the G.O. du Simserhof! I visited the place a few years back and haven't been there since then! So i do not have any pictures of the fighting blocks. I have photos of similar fighting blocks from the G.O. du Galgenberg and the G.O. du Hackenberg though! So don't worry, there is some very interesting stuff to come!

 

By all means do'nt hesitiate to post them in a new thread and thanks for all your efforts

 

Excellent stuff. Keep 'em coming!

 

Great collection of photos, SLD! It's a nice touch to add the older photos from the 44th ID. If I read correctly, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at Simershof and couldn't knock it out until they got the engineers up to dump a bunch of TNT down a vent. That was one heckuva fort!

 

AFAIK, the greatest fort ever built. Unfortunately, the age of the fort had passed.

 

These are three bunkers I found by chance while exploring the G.O. du Galgenberg near Cattenom.

The typology of the Maginot Ligne is way more complicated then the one of the Westwall and the Atlantikwall! I'm quite a neophyte and after a fruitless research I started last last summer, I asked for help on a french forum and finally got the answers I was looking for.

The three bunkers are of the "RFM 39" type. RFM stands for " Région fortifié de Metz" = Metz regional fortifications command.
They were built during the "MOM" Blockhaus program. "MOM" stands for "Main d'oeuvre militaire" = military work force. Those were small bunkers built inbetween 1935 and 1940 by military units stationed in the sector. They were meant to close gaps inbetween the stronger "Gros-Ouvrages", "Petits-Ouvrages" and "Casemates".
There was a myriad of different types of "MOM" bunkers, some types developed by the local regional fortifications commands, some by the "STG", "Service technique du génie" = Engineer technical service. There were even "BEF" types built by the British expeditionary forces......and so on!



The first RFM 39 bunker was armed with a 25mm AT-gun. It covered the approach to the entry blocks of the "G.O. du Galgenberg".






The rearside of the blockhaus with a quite large entry, to allow for the AT-gun.






The firing port.




The interior of the bunker.




The second and the third bunker were armed with Hotchkiss machine-guns. They were meant to reinforce the northern fighting blocks of the "G.O. du Galgenberg".

The second bunker.








The entrance.




The firing port.




Remnants of trenches.




The third bunker.




The entry.




The firing port.

 

Great pictures once again, I wasn't aware of these particular abandonned bunkers

 

The "Ouvrage de Sentzich" was a "Petit ouvrage d'infanterie monobloc" = small monobloc infantry fortress. Built in 1930 it had a crew of 66 men.
It lies just a few hundred meters to the south-east of the eastern bloc of the "Gros ouvrage du Galgenberg", in the entrance of the village of Sentzich, covering the road coming from Luxembourg.
It had two firing chambers, one facing to the south and one facing to the north, each one had identical armament:
1 X"créneau mixte pour JM/AC47" = interchangeable embrasure for twin machineguns and 4,7cm AT-gun
1 X "créneau pour JM" = double machine gun firing port
1 x "cloche GFM" = spotter and machine gun cuppola
on top of the bloc was one:
1 X "tourelle de mitrailleuses éclipsable" = retractable machine gun turret

The "PO de Sentzich" was equipped with two 36 hp "Baudouin" diesel engines.


The fighting compartment covering the southern approaches.




Old barbed wire entanglement next to the road from Luxembourg.




I think those niches were used to store obstacles to bloc the road!






The "créneau pour JM" = double machine gun firing port.






The"créneau mixte pour JM/AC47" = interchangeable embrasure for twin
machineguns and 4,7cm AT-gun.




An armoured searchlight, note the wire meant to open the armoured cover from the inside of teh bunker!






The entrance armoured door.






The "cloche GFM" = spotter and machine gun cuppola.




The "tourelle de mitrailleuses éclipsable" = retractable machine gun turret.








The northern firing chamber.

 

Hello,
Very nice topic. Extremely complete with beautiful photos.
The Maginot Line, it is my home. I immersed since childhood. Let me supplement this with more photos of large structures (bunkers)
Regards,
Eric

 

I would be extremely pleased, this is no private thread, the more people contribute, the better it will be! Go on Eric!

 

This is another Gros Ouvrage d'Artillerie. It lies just a few hundred meters to the north-west of the P.O de Sentzich.




It was built from 1931 onwards and was not finished! Alltough six fighting blocks were finished and fully operational, another three blocs and additional tunnels were planned. But when the war started in may 1940 the construction work on the last three blocks had not started yet. The fortress didn't see any combat action in the summer of 1940. The G.O. du Galgenberg was meant to give fire support and be supported by the neighboring G.O. de Soetrich and G.O. du Kobenbusch.
There was a crew of 15 officers and 430 enlisted men, made up of specialised troops, from three different regiments. The 167éme Régiment d'infanterie de forteresse = fortress infantry, the 151 Régiment d'artillerie de forteresse = fortress artillery and the 2éme Régiment du génie = engineers.




The logistic section was made of the following elements:


EH : "Entrée des hommes" = entry for personnel, Bloc 10.
The personnel entry was of the same system as the one of the Simserhof, a "entrée en puits" = well entry, which means the access was through a vertical shaft via stairs and lift, it.This entry block was defended by:

1 X "créneaux mixtes pour JM/AC 47(Jumelage Mitrailleuses/Anti Char 47" = interchangeable embrasure for twin machineguns and 4,7cm AT-gun
2 X "cloches GFM (Guetteur Fusil Mitrailleur)" = spotter and machine gun cuppola









The old transformator station next to the "Entréee des homes" through this station the GO was connected to the public electricity grid during peace time.



EM: "Entrée des munitions" = ammunitions entry. Bloc 11.
It was, again identical to the Simserhof system, an "entrée de type A de plein pied" = A type horizontal entry. The ammunitions entry was on the same level as the tunnel system! This entry block was defended by:

1 X "créneaux mixtes pour JM/AC 47(Jumelage Mitrailleuses/Anti Char 47" = interchangeable embrasure for twin machineguns and 4,7cm AT-gun
1 X "cloches GFM" = spotter and machine gun cuppola











Again there are some old barbed wire obstacles still in place.




égouts: waste water drainage.

magasins: Storage for food and all materials except ammunitions.

magasin munition M1: M1 ammunitions storage

usine: power station.

caserne: barracks and living quarters.

garage: railway depot.

sous-station: railway relay station

(N.B. I didn't find a plan of the Galgenberg, on the overlay for google earth only the M1 and the Caserne are marked!)