Photo By Lt. Col. Adam Hallmark | Leaders with 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment and 4th Infantry Brigade...... read more read more
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ILLKIRCH-GRAFFENSTADEN, France - The bakery no longer smells of fresh bread and its power plant stands silent. Sawdust on the carpentry shop floor has long since been swept away and it’s anyone’s guess when someone last drank from its on-site source of fresh water.
Although its guns have been quiet for exactly 100 years and nary has a soldier slept in its bunks since 1940, Fort de Mutzig in Mutzig, France, remains a work of military wonder to behold.
To see firsthand what makes Fort de Mutzig such a wonder, senior leaders with 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, traveled to the Alsace-Lorraine region of France Dec. 13-15 to conduct a staff ride related to World War I events.
“Staff rides present a unique opportunity for leaders to immerse themselves in places where historical events actually took place,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Federovich, 1-40th Cavalry’s commander and whose squadron is currently serving as a part of NATO’s Multinational Battle Group-East in Kosovo.
“We were presented the chance to visit the Alsace-Lorraine [region of France] by our [Kosovo Force] German partners, so we capitalized on it by turning it into a staff ride to a place most American officers never get to see,” Federovich added.
Conducted since the late 19th century, U.S. Army staff rides are in-depth case studies by which officers and noncommissioned officers study and walk the actual terrain of a historical battlefield in order to study leadership under fire and the employment of combined arms by opposing commanders.
At Fort de Mutzig, 1-40th Cavalry leaders got a taste of such employment from the vantage point of German soldiers serving in Kaiser Wilhelm II’s army.
Originally called Feste (Fortress) Kaiser Wilhelm II by the Germans, construction of Fort de Mutzig began in 1893 as part of a network of existing fortifications to protect nearby Strasbourg, which falls on the present day French side of the Rhine River.
In 1893, however, Strasbourg fell within the newly-created German Empire, as the Alsace-Lorraine region had been annexed by Germany following France’s loss in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. As this region created a natural buffer zone between Germany and France, Kaiser Wilhelm II sought to fortify it as French sentiment over its annexation remained less than favorable.
“You must understand,” said Heinrich Leo Golz, a former German Luftwaffe pilot and diplomat who served as the guide for 1-40th Cavalry’s staff ride, “this fort was as much a projection of German military prowess at the end of the 19th century as it was a practical means of defense.”
By the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Fort de Mutzig had cost the German government some 15 million Marks to construct, roughly equivalent to U.S. $83 million in today’s money.
“The fort was the most sophisticated, technologically advanced fortification in the world at the time,” said Golz. “It was the first fort in the world to be built entirely of concrete and the first to feature electricity, powered by its own internal power generation plant - it was completely self sufficient.”
Comprising 400,000 square feet of underground works, Fort de Mutzig also featured three barracks to house its 7,000 German defenders during an all-out engagement along with a bakery, galley, hospital and other necessities to sustain the garrison, if need be, for three months without re-supply.
As the tour of the fort’s underground labyrinth progressed, it didn’t take long for 1-40th Cavalry’s leaders to realize what an impregnable fortification it really was.
“Can you imagine trying to clear this thing?” asked U.S. Army Capt. Jason Waidzulis, commander of Chaos Troop, 1-40th Cavalry, as he discussed the application of infantry tactics with his troop first sergeant. “You’d literally have to toss a hand grenade around every corner.”
Fortunately for everyone involved, no one - attackers and defenders alike - would have to experience such a close-quarter fight.
“During Fort de Mutzig’s entire career, the fort witnessed only one engagement,” said Golz as he led the group of officers and NCOs to Battery Number 1, a line of four 150 mm howitzers that saw the fort’s only action.
Golz explained that it was within sight of Battery Number 1 that on Aug. 18, 1914, less than a month after World War I began, a battalion of French infantry approached Fort de Mutzig from the northwest near the village of Flexbourg approximately 4 kilometers away.
Not anticipating they were within range of the German guns, the French battalion did not attempt to conceal their position as they prepared to move on Fort de Mutzig. Their decision proved fatal.
“Having pinpointed the French positions, Battery Number 1 opened fire for a solid two minutes,” said Golz. “During that time, all four guns combined fired a total of 291 rounds.”
After Golz described the brief engagement, U.S. Army Maj. Dale Terrill, operations officer for 1-40th Cavalry, broke the brief silence that ensued.
“Doing some quick math, four guns, 291 rounds in two minutes ... that’s about two rounds a second. Assuming all four guns fired an equal amount of rounds, that’s roughly 70 rounds per gun and each firing once about every second or so,” Terrill said. “Unreal.”
The effects of the German barrage, however, were very real. The French battalion and the village were annihilated and neither the French army nor any other Allied force would attempt to take Fort de Mutzig or the surrounding area for the remainder of the war.
Despite the initial success of Fort de Mutzig’s German defenders on that August day in 1914, the fort’s days were numbered.
Four years later, Germany’s successive failures along the Western Front spelled ultimate defeat for the young empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on Nov. 9, 1918, and went into exile. Germany surrendered two days later and thus ended World War I.
As for Fort de Mutzig’s German defenders, they quietly abandoned the fort following Germany’s surrender and slipped east across the Rhine River. Fort de Mutzig was then occupied by French troops along with the rest of the Alsace-Lorraine region, which became French soil once again.
The French Army continued to occupy Fort de Mutzig during the interwar period as it was tied into the post-war Maginot Line. However, after the German Blitzkrieg of 1940, the fort was abandoned, never to be occupied or used again militarily.
Today, at 121 years old, Fort de Mutzig stands in remarkably good shape, a testament to the ingenuity and technical know-how of its architects. Its long, gray corridors of concrete and incandescent bulbs are a reminder of a bygone era of warfare and one that the leaders of 1-40th Cavalry have a newfound appreciation for.
| Date Taken: | 12.27.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2014 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 151145 |
| Location: | ILLKIRCH-GRAFFENSTADEN, 67, FR |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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