Ouvrage Kobenbusch
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Ouvrage du Kobenbusch is a ''gros ouvrage'' of the
Maginot Line The Maginot Line (; ), named after the Minister of War (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, France in the 1930s to deter invas ...
, located in the Fortified Sector of Thionville in the
Cattenom Cattenom (; ; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography It lies about 8 kilometres north of Thionville. The localities of Homeldange, Husange (aka ''Hussange'') and Sentzich are incorporated in ...
Forest. It possesses seven combat blocks and two entrance blocks, one for ammunition and the other for men. It is located between ''petit ouvrage'' Bois-Karre and ''petit ouvrage'' Oberheid, and was named for the surrounding Kobenbusch Forest. The position saw little action during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Its deep passages have been flooded by the construction of a cooling water lake for a nearby
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...
, but its surface features are being developed with an interpretive path through the surrounding forest.


Design and construction

The Kobenbusch position forms the point of the Cattenom salient, where the east-west defensive line turns to the south. The site was surveyed by CORF (''Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées''), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1930. Work by the contractor Verdun-Fortifications began in 1931,Mary, Tome 3, p. 94 and the position became operational in 1935,Kaufmann 2006, p. 25 at a cost of 65 million francs.Mary, Tome 1, p. 52 Kobenbusch was served by a 60 cm-gauge narrow-gauge railway, which enters at the munitions entrance and runs all the way out through the galleries to the combat blocks. On the surface, the railway connects to supply points to the rear and to other ''ouvrages''.


Description

Kobenbusch is a relatively compact ''gros ouvrage'', with a short main gallery leading from the munitions and personnel entrances past to underground barracks to the combat blocks. Unusually for a ''gros ouvrage'', it possesses no "M1" main ammunition magazine. * Ammunition entrance: Shaft entry, two automatic rifle cloches (GFM), 3 FM embrasures and a machine gun/ 47 mm anti-tank gun (JM/AC47) embrasure. * Personnel entrance: Shaft entry, one GFM cloche and one JM/AC47 embrasure. * Block 1: one machine gun turret and GFM cloche. * Block 2: one machine gun embrasure (JM), a JM/AC47 embrasure and two GFM cloches. * Block 3: one observation cloche (VDP) and a GFM cloche. * Block 4: one machine-gun turret, a machine gun cloche (JM) and a GM cloche. * Block 5: one 75 mm turret and a GFm cloche. * Block 6: one 50 mm mortar turret and a GFM cloche. * Block 7: three 75 mm gun embrasures, two GFM cloches and a grenade launcher cloche (LG). .


Casemates and shelters

The Abri du Bois-de-Cattenom is nearby to the west, and may be visited.Kaufmann 2011, p. 221 There are no other casemates, observation points or shelters associated with Kobenbusch, although the ''petit ouvrage'' Oberheid is close at hand on the east.


Manning

The manning of the ''ouvrage'' in 1940 comprised 513 men and 14 officers of the 169th Fortress Infantry Regiment and the 151st Position Artillery Regiment. The units were under the umbrella of the 42nd Fortress Corps of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. The ''commandant de l'ouvrage'' in 1940 was Commandant Charnal. The Casernement de Cattenom provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Kobenbusch and other ''ouvrages'' in the area.


History

:''See Fortified Sector of Thionville for a broader discussion of the events of 1940 in the Thionville sector of the Maginot Line.'' Kobenbusch did not see significant action in the
Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
in 1940, nor in the Lorraine Campaign of 1944. Kobenbusch provided suppressing fire against German infiltrators on the surface of Oberheid. About the same time, a party of Germans infiltrated the area of Kobenbusch Block 5.Mary, Tome 5, p. 208 The Germans largely bypassed the area, advancing along the valley of the
Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...
and
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rivers, threatening the rear of the Thionville sector. An order to fortress troops by sector commander Colonel Jean-Patrice O'Sullivan to prepare for withdrawal on 17 June was reversed by O'Sullivan. The garrison therefore remained in place. Following negotiations, the positions on the left bank of the Moselle finally surrendered to the Germans on 30 June 1940.


Present status

While the entry and combat blocks remain visible, the underground galleries, barracks, ammunition magazine and utility areas, which lie at an average depth of below the surface,Mary, Tome 2, p. 35 have been flooded by the cooling water lake of the nearby
Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant The Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located in Grand Est in the Cattenom commune, France, on the Moselle River between Thionville (7 km upstream) and Trier (48 km downstream). It is close to the city of Luxembou ...
. The site has been owned by
EDF EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, their Belgian subsidiary * Environmental Defense Fund, ...
since the construction of the power plant in 1981.Kaufmann 2011, p. 181 It is maintained by the ''Association Ligne Maginot du Secteur Fortifié du Bois de Cattenom'', which manages Bois Karre, the Abri du Bois de Cattenom,
Ouvrage Sentzich Ouvrage Sentzich is part of the Fortified Sector of Thionville of the Maginot Line. The ''petit ouvrage'' for infantry is located to the south of ''gros ouvrage'' Ouvrage Galgenberg, Galgenberg, on the edge of the main road to Luxembourg near the ...
and
Ouvrage Galgenberg Ouvrage Galgenberg forms a portion of the Fortified Sector of Thionville of the Maginot Line. It is situated in the Cattenom Forest, near the ''gros ouvrage'' Ouvrage Kobenbusch, Kobenbusch and ''petit ouvrage'' Ouvrage Oberheid, Oberheid. The ...
. A pedestrian path through the surface installation is under development, and the Abri du Bois de Cattenom may be visited at times.


See also

* List of all works on Maginot Line *
Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall (= western bulwark)'', was a German defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than from Kleve on the border with the ...
*
Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...
*
Czechoslovak border fortifications First Republic of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia built a system of border fortifications as well as some fortified defensive lines inland, from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany. The objective of ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

*Allcorn, William. ''The Maginot Line 1928-45.'' Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. *Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W. ''Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II'', Stackpole Books, 2006. *Kaufmann, J.E., Kaufmann, H.W., Jancovič-Potočnik, A. and Lang, P. ''The Maginot Line: History and Guide'', Pen and Sword, 2011. *Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 1.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2001. *Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 2.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003. *Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 3.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003. *Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 5.'' Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009.


External links


Kobenbusch
at Ligne Maginot du Secteur Fortifié du Bois de Cattenom (LM SFBC)


The Maginot Line

Kobenbusch
at fortiff.be
Ouvrage du Kobenbusch
at wikimaginot.eu
L'ouvrage du Kobenbusch
at alsacemaginot.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobenbusch, Ouvrage KOBEN Maginot Line