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Fort De Plappeville
The Fort de Plappeville, or Feste Alvensleben, is a military fortification located to the northwest of Metz in the commune of Plappeville. As part of the first ring of the fortifications of Metz, it is an early example of a Séré de Rivières system fort. While it did not see action during World War I, it was the scene of heavy fighting between American forces and German defenders at the end of the Battle of Metz, in 1944. After Second World War it became a training center for the French Air Force. Fort 'Alvensleben' has been abandoned since 1995. Construction and renovations The Fort de Plappeville is part of the first ring of the Metz fortifications, built during the Second Empire by Napoleon III. The works began in 1867. It was designed by Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, who oversaw the initial stages of the Metz fortifications. The fort was not complete in 1870 when war was declared between France and Germany. The defensive system would be completed and improved by Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Séré De Rivières System
The system was an ensemble of fortifications built from 1874 along the frontiers, ridges and coasts of France. The fortifications were named after their architect, Brigadier-General Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières. The fortresses were obsolescent by 1914 but were used during the First World War. Background Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, France found itself seriously weakened and isolated from the rest of Europe, menaced by Germany and stung by the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. At the same time as the departure of the last German troops, France created the Defence Committee (), which was active between 1872 and 1888, whose mission was to reorganize the defence of the French frontiers and coasts. It was necessary to compensate for the lost territories of the north-east; to modernise old fortifications, which had been shown to be wanting in the last war and to create new fortifications proof against modern weaponry using new and more powerful explosives. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5th Infantry Division (United States)
The 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)—nicknamed the "Red Diamond", or the "Red Devils" —was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War, and with NATO and the U.S. Army III Corps. It was deactivated on 24 November 1992 and reflagged as the 2nd Armored Division. World War I Organization On 17 November 1917, the War Department directed the organization of the 5th Division with headquarters at Camp Logan, Texas, around a cadre of Regular Army troops that had been stationed at Camp Logan, Camp Forrest, Georgia, Camp Greene, North Carolina, Camp Johnston, Florida, Camp Stanley, Texas, and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Major General Charles H. Muir assumed command on 11 December 1917.''Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War'', Center of Military History 1988 The organization was a "square" division (i.e., there were four infantry regiments) with an authorized strength of 28,105 personnel. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
95th Infantry Division (United States)
The 95th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. Today it exists as the 95th Training Division, a component of the United States Army Reserve headquartered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Activated too late to deploy for World War I, the division remained in the Army's reserve until World War II, when it was sent to Europe. Renowned for fighting back fierce German counterattacks, the division earned the nickname "Iron Men of Metz" for fighting to liberate and defend the town. In April 1945, the 95th Infantry Division (United States) "Victory" division uncovered a German prison and civilian labor camp in the town of Werl. On April 7, the unit reported discovering a camp housing some 4,500 undernourished French officers and 800 enlisted men. The 95th provided the prisoners with emergency rations from the division's own supplies. After World War II, the division spent another brief period in reserve before being activated as one of the Army's training divis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Jeanne D'Arc
Fort Jeanne d'Arc, also called Fortified Group Jeanne d'Arc, is a fortification located to the west of Metz in the Moselle department of France. It was built by Germany to the west of the town of Rozérieulles in the early 20th century as part of the third and final group of Metz fortifications. The fortification program was started after the German victory of the Franco-Prussian War, which resulted in the annexation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France to Germany. The Fort Jeanne d'Arc was part of the ''Moselstellung'', a group of eleven fortresses surrounding Thionville and Metz to guard against the possibility of a French attack aimed at regaining Alsace and Lorraine, with construction taking place between 1899 and 1908. The fortification system incorporated new principles of defensive construction to deal with advances in artillery. Later forts, such as Jeanne d'Arc, embodied innovative design concepts such as dispersal and concealment. These later forts were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Driant
The Battle of Fort Driant was a constituent battle in the 1944 Battle of Metz, during the Lorraine Campaign and the greater Siegfried Line Campaign. The battle was on occupied French territory between the forces of the United States Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton and the forces of Nazi Germany under General Otto von Knobelsdorff and was given the code name ''Operation thunderbolt''. Location and fortifications left, 175px, Map of the defenses of Fort Driant Fort Driant was located southwest of Metz, just west of the Moselle River. Built in 1902 by the Germans and renamed in 1919 after Colonel Émile Driant, the fort was continually reinforced by both the French and German armies. Fort Driant was made from steel reinforced concrete; it was also surrounded by a deep dry moat and barbed wire. At the time of the battle it housed five main gun batteries of 150 mm guns, infantry trenches, and armored machine gun and observation posts. From its comma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Du Mont Saint-Quentin
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ("strong") and ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large cyclopean stone walls fitted without mortar had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician, general and war criminal in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. Reaching the rank of '' SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'', he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944. After the war, an American military tribunal convicted Dietrich of war crimes at the Malmedy massacre trial. Upon his release from Landsberg Prison in 1955, Dietrich became active in HIAG, a lobby group est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany. He is primarily known for being one of the main architects of the Holocaust. After serving in a reserve battalion during World War I without seeing combat, Himmler went on to join the Nazi Party in 1923. In 1925, he joined the SS, a small paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party that served as a bodyguard unit for Adolf Hitler. Subsequently, Himmler rose steadily through the SS's ranks to become by 1929. Under Himmler's leadership, the SS grew from a 290-man battalion into one of the most powerful institutions within Nazi Germany. Over the course of his career, Himmler acquired a reputation for good organisational skills as well as for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich. From 1943 onwards, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Weill-056-36, Metz, Heinrich Himmler, Ehrenkompanie
The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (, lit. "Federal Archive") are the national archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Claudia Roth since 2021) under the German Chancellery, and before 1998, to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. On 6 December 2008, the Archives donated 100,000 photos to the public, by making them accessible via Wikimedia Commons. History The federal archive for institutions and authorities in Germany, the first precursor to the present-day Federal Archives, was established in Potsdam, Brandenburg in 1919, a later date than in other European countries. This national archive documented German government dating from the founding of the North German Confederation in 1867. It also included material from the older German Confederation and the Imperial Chamber Court. The oldest documents in this collection dated back to the y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verdun
Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms—considered the foundation of Germany and France—was signed there. An episcopal principality of the Holy Roman Empire since the 10th century, Verdun was subjugated by France in 1552, during the "Voyage to Austrasia". Along with the other free cities of the Empire, Metz and Toul, it formed the province of the Three Bishoprics, which was attached to the Kingdom of France in 1648 by the Treaty of Münster (1648), Treaty of Münster. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is Bar-le-Duc, which is slightly smaller than Verdun. It is well known for giving Battle of Verdun, its name to the longest battle in modern history in the World War I, Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort De Saint-Julien
The Fort de Saint-Julien, renamed ' in German, is a military installation near Metz. It is part of the first fortified belt forts of Metz and had its baptism of fire in late 1944 in the Battle of Metz. Historical context The first fortified belt consisted of Fort Saint-Privat (1870) Fort de Queuleu (1867), Fort des Bordes (1870), Saint-Julien (1867), Fort Gambetta, Fort Déroulède, Fort Decaen, Fort de Plappeville (1867) and Group Fortifications of Saint-Quentin (1867); most of them were unfinished or still in the planning stages in 1870, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out. During the period of German control following this war, Metz had a German garrison of 15,000 and 20,000 men at the beginning of this period, and housed more than 25,000 men before the First World War,. gradually becoming the most important stronghold of the German Reich. Construction and facilities Fort Saint-Julien is located in the hills above Saint-Julien-lès-Metz and overlooks the city of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
