Fort Ferte on the Maginot Line

Fort Ferte was the fort on the west end of the Maginot line.  It was a second rank fort, just 2 bunkers linked by a 350m tunnel.  The Germany Infantry Corps covering Guderian's left flank after he crossed Meuse at Sedan, about 20km west, attacked it and took it.  It was the only serious Maginot fort to fall before the campaign was decided elsewhere.

I was fortunate to arrive there in nice time to join up with some Dutch visitors for an English langauge tour.  The guide really knew his stuff and made it a great tour.  Fort Ferte lacked the size of Fort Fermont, but more than made up for it by informative commentrary and serious battle damage.

The German commander made a text book attack...a demoralising continuous bombardment for a couple of days while getting ready.  30 mins of every heavy gun Corps would give him.  30 mins of direct fire by 88's and anything else he had on the observation cupolas.  Send in the pioneers under a smoke barrage.   Take out the observation cupolas first.  Blow holes with placed charges, then drop grenades inside.  The poor frogs mostly died of asphixiation as the consequent fires sucked up the oxygen while the isolation doors were either blasted open by the explosions or left open by shell shocked troops.

Pic 2 is the rear entrance to one of the bunkers.

Pic 3 is inside a main firing camber.  There are 2 guns a 47mm and a twin HMG.  The 47 can be quickly swapped for a second twin HMG.

Pic 4 is inside showing a dividing wall blasted away by the blasted of explosives the German pioneers dropped down a breached cupolla.

Pic 5 is a twin 47mm pop-up turret.  It had been hit while being raised or lowered & jammed half-way up by a shell hit, then the pioneers finished the job.  You see the marks of charges impressed into the steel on the LH side.

Pic 6 is my fav.  The deep holes are 88mm.  The shallow ones are probably heavy artillery.  The square hole on the left is an observation slot blasted by an attached charge.

Fort Fermont on the Maginot Line

Fort Fermont was the westernmost major fort on the Maginot line.  It had a garrison of 600 men, with 7 fighting blockhouses connected underground to a support base, with the entrance protected by 2 more blockhouses.  It's about 50km north of Verdun & being well signposted is easy to find.

In 1940, the Germans tried to take it by pounding the crap out of it with artillery & an 88 then sending in the storm troopers.  They failed, losing 80 casualties.  The French lost only Pvt Piton who was in a cupola that took a direct hit from something big.

The fort was taken over as a flooded wreck by volunteers in 1977.  They have substantially restored the infrastructure of lifts & railways and conduct guided tours in groups of up to about 50 every afternoon in the high season.  The commentary is only in French, though you can buy a photocopied English guide that eventually makes some sense if you work on it.

The tour starts at the ammo supply entrance bunker.  The ammo lift drops the group 30m down to the main level.  After a walk around the ammo store, you pile onto a train (original ammo train, but with seats & safety cages welded on top).  You then rattle along endless tunnels to the base of a main turret & are shuffled up a lift to the turret.  From there they take you out on top to see what the Germans could see.  Then back down the lift & on the train back to the accomodation area.  After a tour of the amenities it's back up the lift to the entrance.  It takes about 2.5 hours, it's cold and exhausing, but fascinating. 

Driving to & from the fort, smaller bunkers were to be seen in the fields beside the road at regular intervals - still there after all these years, though you have to look hard for them - they tend to merge into the landscape among the windfarms. 

The perceived wisdom is that the Maginot line was a white elephant because the Germans went round it.  But the Germans went round it because they feared it.  Where they tried to break through it they failed.  (Only one minor fort was taken - the one at the end of the line they could surround).  The problem wasn't the Maginot line, it was the French command's failure to recognise its strength and to use it as a shield freeing troops for the rest of the line.  In 1940 much of the French army was left unused in reserve behind the Maginot line when it should have been supporting the Ardenne & Belgian fronts.  The French were all set up to fight WW1.2, while the Germans had upgraded to WW2.1

The pics are pretty self explanatory.  The first pic is one of the main encasements viewed from a distance.  The last is one of the little infill forts I saw beside the road.  There's an 88 the Germans abandoned in 1944 out the front of the entry bunker - relevant because one of them almost got through a bunker by firing at one spot for a morning.  They gave up only a few cm short.

Montmedy Fortress

My holiday in France has moved on to fertile pastures in Lorraine.  This morning I discovered the fortress of Montmedy only 13 km from our digs on my way to the Maginot line. 

It is on a lump of rock in a valley contolling a main route from Luxemburg into Lorraine. 

It's big seige was in 1657 when Louis XIV took it from the Hapsburgs.  The French attacked with about 12,000 men v. a garrison of 736.  It cost them 4,000 casualties. 

Subsequently Vauban repaired & strengthened it into what has survived remarkably intact today.

Nick in Launceston

Flames of War game -- 1750 pts Late war -- Nick (US) vs Darren (German).  Breakout scenario.

Nick was smashed by Darren.  At the end the Germans had lost 4 tanks, the US had lost 9 tanks, 1 artillery battery, and two infantry platoons, and everything else was close to morale failure.  Darren did nothing wrong, except maybe for the final assault against some infantry in the woods, but even that worked when his pre-assault MG fire killed both bazookas, and caused the infantry to take a morale check (that failed).

Gaming Garage

A quiet one at the Gaming Garage, with just two games.

Flames of War - Nick vs John.  1750 points late war.  Nick had a German Sperrverband.  John had some nasty combination of cossacks and T34-85.  A hold the line scenario.  The Russians attacked in a solid wave of nasty troops.  German shooting was ineffective, and before you knew it the Germans were down a Stug III and all four Hetzers.  A Pak40 ambush wiped out the T34/85's.  The Cossacks charged the Pak 40's, but John misdirected his charge, and the Germans were able to hold the cossacks off with defensive fire.  At this point John had to go.  The game was still on a knife edge.

Hail Caesar, Athens (Tony) vs Sparta (Nick).  Nick rolled an unholy number of 6's, but even that couldnt hold off the better strategy of Tony, who used his cavalry to roll around the Spartan flank and hit a Hoplite phalanx in the rear.  The game was fast and quick -- good fun!

Hail Caesar & 28mm at Camp Cromwell

After some 15mm trials, Hail Caesar looks like becoming the Ancient Rules of choice at Camp Cromwell.  While the old 15mms work fine for Hail Caesar, and we intend to continue using them, 28mm is the flavour of the month/decade and it is the scale that new wargamers are building.  28mm figures are arguably easier and more satisfying to paint than 15's, are cheap and readily obtainable from Area 52.  And there is no doubt that 28mm battles look great.  So some of the group have, or are working on, 28mm ancients, though as yet none of us have enough to make up a whole army.

Hail Caesar is ideal for group play with each player commanding a division or two of his own figures. So if enough of us chip in and paint a division or two we will soon be able to fight reasonably sized battles in 28mm without anyone having to make a huge investment in time or treasure.   Jim will be back from Gaul in mid August which gives us a nice time frame for those interested to paint up their division (or more if they like) ready for kick-off in late August.  The era we are working on is from the Punic Wars to the conquest of Britain (which is the era covered by the plastics stocked at A52).   So far we have Steve Page working on Romans & Numidians, Steve Jendrich on Romans, Munt on Hoplites (close enough to Carthaginian spearmen) and Jim is recruiting Gauls in Gaul.

If you want to join in, either painting up new 28's or using some you already have please let us know.  The more people we have involved the better.

Nick in Launceston

Nick vs Rob -- A US training exercise, with both players trying out 1750 late war US lists.  Nick beat off Rob's assaults, but couldnt counterattack before time ran out.  A draw - but both players learned a lot. 

Daniel vs Shane.  Shane is a new convert, and has dived in to Panzer lehr.  There were Panthers and Panzer IV's everywhere.  But Daniel had Russians with Sturmovicks, and there seemed to be a lot of burning Panthers from the air strikes.

Pic is Rob deciding on his next devilish move.

Report from Languedoc

There aren't any notable battlefields in Languedoc, though Hanibal did pass this way.  No detectable wargaming clubs or shops either.  But there are compensations:  Plenty of time to read the good supply of books I brought along.  And painting Gallic cavalry on the terrace with a glass of exellent E3 plonk, baguette, jambon & fromage ain't bad.