Ouvrage Métrich

Ouvrage Métrich
Part of Maginot Line
Northeast France
135mm gun turret, gros ouvrage Métrich Block 11, September 2004
Ouvrage Métrich
Coordinates	49°23′27″N 6°17′37″E / 49.39083°N 6.29361°E / 49.39083; 6.29361
Site information
Owner	Private
Controlled by	France
Site history
Built by	CORF
In use	Abandoned
Materials	Concrete, steel, deep excavation
Battles/wars	Battle of France, Lorraine Campaign

Ouvrage Métrich located in the village of Kœnigsmacker in Moselle, comprises part of the Elzange portion of the Fortified Sector of Thionville of the Maginot Line. A gros ouvrage, it is the third largest of the Line, after Hackenberg and Hochwald. It lies between petit ouvrage Sentzich and gros ouvrage Billig, facing Germany. Located to the east of the Moselle, it cooperated with Ouvrage Galgenberg to control the river valley.

Métrich was approved for construction by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in November 1930 and became operational by 1935, at a cost of 127 million francs. The contractor was Construction Générale.

Métrich is a typical large Maginot gros ouvrage with separate ammunition and personnel entry blocks. It has a particularly heavy artillery component, with seven 75mm guns, two 135mm guns and four 81mm mortars, making it the third most heavily armed unit in the Maginot Line. More than 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) of underground galleries connect the entries to the farthest blocks 4 and 5, at an average depth of 30 metres (98 ft). An "M1" magazine, arranged with a horseshoe-shaped perimeter gallery connected by cross galleries between the legs, is located close to the ammunition entrance, while the underground barracks and utility areas are just inside the personnel entry. The gallery system was served by a narrow-gauge (60 cm) railway that continued out the ammunition entry and connected to a regional military railway system for the movement of materiel along the front a few kilometers to the rear. Several "stations" along the gallery system, located in wider sections of gallery, permitted trains to pass or be stored. Several 60 cm wagons, which had remained at Métrich, were recovered in 1983 and were moved to the Maginot museum at Ouvrage Schoenenbourg.