Ouvrage Galgenberg

Ouvrage Galgenberg
Part of Maginot Line
Northeast France
135mm gun turret, Galgenberg, May 2001
Ouvrage Galgenberg
Coordinates	49°25′29″N 6°15′09″E / 49.42472°N 6.2525°E / 49.42472; 6.2525
Site information
Controlled by	France
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Preserved
Site history
Built	CORF
Materials	Concrete, steel, deep excavation
Battles/wars	Battle of France, Lorraine Campaign

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 Kobenbusch and petit ouvrage Oberheid. The ouvrage was tasked with controlling the Moselle valley and as such was called the "Guardian of the Moselle." Galgenberg did not see significant action in 1940 or 1944. After a period of reserve duty in the 1950s and 1960s it was deactivated. It is now a museum.

The Galgenberg site was surveyed by the Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées (CORF), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1930. Work began the next year, and the position became operational in 1935, at a cost of 48 million francs. The contractor was Verdun-Fortifications. The site occupies the heights of the Galgenberg.Ouvrage Sentzich is close by in the side of the Galgenberg massif, overlooking the town of Sentzich and the road to the north.

The ouvrage comprises two entries and six combat blocks:

Galgenberg has a small "M1" main magazine compared to other 'gros ouvrages.

The Observatoire de Cattenom is located behind Galgenberg, near the Casernement de Cattenom, which provided above-ground peacetime quarters for the garrisons of the nearby ouvrages. The observation point was armed with one GFM cloche and an observation cloche. Flanking Galgenberg to the north is the Casemate du Sonnenberg, armed with one JM/AC37 embrasure, one JM embrasure and one GFM cloche. None of these are connected to the ouvrage or to each other. All were built by CORF

The 445 men and 15 officers of the 167th Fortress Infantry Regiment (RIF) and the 151st Position Artillery Regiment (RAP) were under the orders of Captain Guillaume de la Teyssoniére. The units were under the umbrella of the 42nd Fortress Corps of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. The Casernement de Cattenom provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Galgenberg and other ouvrages in the area.

Galgenberg did not see significant action in the Battle of France in 1940, nor in the Lorraine Campaign of 1944. In 1940 Galgenberg fired on German infiltrators in the area. An accident with an 81mm mortar projectile damaged a mortar tube on 14 June 1940, which was repaired after three days. The Germans largely bypassed the valley of the Moselle, advancing along the valley of the Meuse and Saar 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. 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.