PO Boussé (A24)

After World War I, Maginot returned to the Chamber of Deputies and served in a number of government posts, including Minister of Overseas France (20 March 1917 – 12 September 1917¸11 November 1928 – 3 November 1929), Minister of Pensions starting in 1920 and Minister of War (1922 – 1924, 1929 – 1930, 1931 – 1932). He believed the Treaty of Versailles did not provide France with sufficient security. He pushed for more funds for defence and grew more distrustful of Germany during a period when few in France wanted to think about the possibility of another war. Maginot came to advocate building a series of defensive fortifications along France's border with Germany that would include a combination of field positions and permanent concrete forts. He was influenced in this decision by his observations of successful fortifications employed at Verdun in World War I. He was also probably influenced by the destruction of his home in Revigny-sur-Ornain, which made him determined to prevent Lorraine from ever being invaded again. In 1926 Maginot was successful in getting the government to allocate money to build several experimental sections of the defensive line. During a debate concerning the budget in 1926, André Maginot lobbied heavily for the money needed to construct the enormous line of fortifications. He was finally able to persuade Parliament to allocate 3.3 billion francs for the project (the upper house voted 274 to 26 in favour of the project a few days later). Work on the project progressed rapidly. Maginot visited a work site in October 1930 and expressed satisfaction with the work. He was especially pleased with the work in Lorraine, site of the home where he spent his childhood, and fought for more funding for construction in that area. Though Maginot was the main proponent for the project, most of the actual designs for the Maginot line were the work of Paul Painlevé, Maginot's successor as Minister of War. Wikipedia

This is the Boulay Sector on Google Earth. It just shows how much there is and was of the Maginot Line in this area. Fortified Sector of Boulay Ouvrages • Ouvrage Hackenberg (GO) • Ouvrage Mont des Welches (GO) • Ouvrage Michelsberg (GO) • Ouvrage Anzeling (GO) • Ouvrage Coucou (PO) • Ouvrage Hobling (PO) • Ouvrage Boussé (PO) • Ouvrage Bovenberg (PO) • Ouvrage Berenbach (PO) • Ouvrage Denting (PO) • Ouvrage Village de Coume (PO) • Ouvrage Annexe Nord de Coume (PO) • Ouvrage Annexe Sud de Coume (PO) • Ouvrage Mottemberg (PO)

Commander - Cne Ramoud. Regiment - 162° RIF. Compliment - 4 Officers & 138 Men. Power - 3 x SMIM 55Kwa generators.

This is a British (Allied) Army plan of the Boulay Sector of the Maginot line dated around 1944.

A Classe 4 type fort designed and built before budgetary restrictions, has an entrance behind the combat blocks, which is rare for a structure of its size. It has 3 combat blocks with a machine gun turret and two 47/JM casemates. As the turret is on a casemate, the third block is an observatory. The work was covered by the 5 turrets of 75 mm of the ANZELING, the MICHELSBERG and the MONT DES WELCHES. Its mission, with HOBLING, was to ensure the continuity of infantry fire between the first two. Its crew was 140 men from the 162° RIF. Plan of the fort showing the mixed entrance, that means that it is the infantry and ammunition entrance On bigger forts they had two individual entrances. Half way from the entrance is the ammunition magazine, then a large barrack, kitchen area. Then three individual Blocks.

Entrée Mixte. In the Maginot terminology, Mixte means both troops and ammunition entrance. On larger forts there are separate entrances for troops and ammunition.

The fossé (ditch) in front of the facade has several roles. As a ditch to stop attackers and allowing rubble from explosions to fall down and not to cover the entrances or the embrasures. Another is as a container for fired shell and machine gun cases. The guns have small tubes allowing the cases to travel down and out of the fort into the fossé. Thus not littering the floors in the firing chambers.

Ambulance crew, Officers and men in front of A24.

Looking back along the entrance drive. This would be the entrance where all the men would march down and where lorries would bring food, ammunition and any other stores into the fort.

GFM Cloche. Guetteur et Fusil-Mitrailleur (lookout and rifle-machine-gunner),

The smaller green cloche is a Lance-Grenade (grenade launcher)

Mixed entrance and drawbridge. Each Maginot fort has either one or two entrances. The smaller forts have a mixed, Infantry & Ammunition. Where as a larger has its own Infantry entrance and an Ammunition entrance. The draw bridge can be hinged and lift up or can be drawn back in, on rollers called a sliding bridge.

Mixed entrance sliding drawbridge.

Mixed entrance sliding drawbridge and rear of the armoured door. The bridge would be withdrawn and the door closed on a rubber seal around the door frame making it gas tight. The rifle embrasure would be closed and it too would have had a thick paper type gasket to make it gas tight. Then if the embrasure had to be opened then the internal gas filtration system would create a pressure inside and air would leak out and no gas could get in.

The yellow lever could be used to pull in the draw bridge.

The next armoured door and in the wall a close combat embrasure where an automatic rifle could fire to cover the area if attacked.

Entrance gun room, the very nice volunteer who guided us around. Thank you very much.

Attached to the gun would have been a flexible tube to take the spent ammunition from the breach down to the tube set into the wall and out into the fossé.

Mitrailleuse MAC 31 F model 1931, a pair of guns set side by side. They fire alternately and ammunition is stored in two round magazines. Spare magazines would be kept close at hand and a man would be permanently in battle filling empty magazines.

Mitrailleuse MAC 31 F model 1931,the spare machine guns in the iron pot. The pot would be filled with water and when the guns became hot, they could be removed and placed in the pot to cool down and another taken out to replace it.

50mm Lance-Grenade (grenade launcher). A 50mm mortar firing out of a cloche that is up the ladder. I think how it works is that a mortar bomb is placed into the aperture (red arrow) and it is passed up the column to the gun fitting at the top. There it is retrieved by the operator at the top and placed into the mortars breach. Then aimed and fired.

Goulotte lance-grenades. The button is pressed on the left side and the handle right pulled down, allowing the top to pivot down. A grenade is then placed in the the tube and the handle lifted to the upward position. The grenade is then released out into the fossé to dissuade any attacker from using this route to attack the fort. Lance translates to Launcher.

Rifle rack, spare ammunition magazines, another embrasure for a rifle/machine gun. At the far end a steel cabinet for small arms ammunition and an armoured door to access the rest of the fort.

Ammunition lift to the lower levels. This is not a human lift, or should not be used that way. I am sure it did and still is at times. Here the lower level is just one floor down, on others it can be ten or more meters down.

The stairs down and one of the air filters. We did not manage to get down to the other levels as it was a working day for them.

Machine gun embrasure.

Skips and narrow gauge railway to remove spoil from the making of the casemates.

 

Electrical connection.