Ouvrage Schiesseck

Ouvrage Schiesseck is a gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line, located near Bitche in the French département of Moselle. Schiesseck is adjoined by gros ouvrage Simserhof and petit ouvrage Otterbiel, all part of the Fortified Sector of Rohrbach, and faces the German frontier. Schiesseck saw comparatively little activity during the Battle of France, surrendering with other positions in its sector on 30 June 1940. During the Lorraine Campaign of 1944 Schiesseck was occupied by German forces and presented a point of resistance to American advances, requiring heavy bombardment and infantry assaults by engineer units to capture. The area was abandoned during the Battle of the Bulge, but was recaptured in March 1945. In the 1950s Schiesseck was repaired as part of a program to re-arm the Maginot Line against a potential advance by Warsaw Pact forces. It was abandoned in the early 1970s. Schiesseck is on military land and is not visitable by the public.Design and constructionThe site was surveyed by CORF, the Maginot Line's design and construction agency; Schiesseck was approved for construction in June 1931, after several proposals had been rejected. The gros ouvrage is of the typical fort palmé form for a large position. The fort palmé is a distributed fortification, with its entrances and underground support areas more than a kilometer to the rear, connected to the combat blocks by a long underground gallery. The "palm" is composed of the grouped combat blocks, linked by galleries to the main trunk.