(A23) PO Hobling (A23)

R.F.Metz Secteur Boulay · Ligne Maginot · France

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Hobling was approved for construction by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1931 and became operational by 1935, at a cost of 14 million francs. The contractor was Gianotti of Nice. Block 1: Infantry block with two GFM cloches, armed with a JM bell cloche (twinning machine guns). Block 2: Infantry/entry and casemate flanking north with two automatic rifle cloches (GFM), one twin machine gun embrasure, and one 47mm anti-tank gun. Block 3: Infantry block with one GFM cloche and one retractable twin machine gun turret. Block 4: Observation block with one observation cloche (VDP) and one automatic rifle embrasure. Block 5: Planned but not built; equipped with an 81mm mortar turret, and an entry block at the end of a gallery of about 200 metres (660 ft) that was not built. In June 1940 the garrison comprised 115 men and 4 officers of the 164th Fortress Infantry Regiment (RIF). The commanding officer was Captain Boileau. The Casernement de Férange provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Hobling and other positions in the area. The units were under the umbrella of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. Hobling played no significant role in either the Battle of France in 1940 or the Lorraine Campaign of 1944, although there are signs of battle around. Hobling remained under Army control until after 1971.

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This is the Boulay Sector on Google Earth. It just shows how much there is and was of the Maginot Line in this area.

The following list details the ouvrages (fortified works) located within the Fortified Sector of Boulay:

Ouvrage Hackenberg (GO)
Ouvrage Mont des Welches (GO)
Ouvrage Michelsberg (GO)
Ouvrage Anzeling (GO)
Ouvrage Coucou (PO)
Ouvrage Hobling (PO)
Ouvrage Bousse (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)

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Block 2 — Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot:

This list provides a glossary of common abbreviations and terms used throughout the Hobling (A23) site documentation:

CORF: Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées
PO: Petit Ouvrage (a small fort)
GO: Gros ouvrage (a large fort)
X: Infantry fort (a barracks)
GFM: Guet-fusil mitrailleur (station for observation and automatic rifle cloche)
EH: Entrée des hommes (the troops entrance)
RIF: Fortress Infantry Regiment
EM: Entrée des munitions (munitions entrance)
AC: Anti char (anti-tank)

Google

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Petit ouvrage Hobling (A23) sits between GO du Michelsberg (A22), Huberbusch and Edling Nord/Sud (C60), PO du Bois-de-Bousse (A24), and GO Anzling (A25) (known now as Fort aux Fresques). This PO covers the road from Hobling with machine gun fire from its four blocks. The main entry block is B2. At B3 and B1, the cloches have been cut off for scrap value. B2 and B4 still have their cloches intact.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This was the road from Germany, marking the specific area that the Hobling fortifications were tasked with defending.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Le transformateur extérieur - Electrical sub-station. All Maginot forts used mains electricity and needed sub-stations to step down the mains power and send it into the ouvrage to another substation in the middle of the underground. Power was then stepped up or down as needed for each item used.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Le transformateur extérieur – Electrical sub-station.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Le transformateur extérieur — electrical sub-station. All Maginot forts used mains electricity and needed sub-stations to step down the mains power and send it into the ouvrage to another substation in the middle of the underground. Power was then stepped up or down as needed for each item used.

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Block 8 — Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot: Exterior Surroundings

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

A 1957 air photo of Hobling showing the barbed wire outer defenses.

Geoportail 1957

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Barbed wire pickets are still in place. There can also be short spikes that can stick into your feet; it can be very dangerous and you have to be very careful.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Steel picket and concrete base. These were buried into the ground and barbed wire hooked over the pigtail end.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This illustrates the wire secured on a picket post, part of the extensive outer defensive barriers designed to protect the Hobling position.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Safely parked up.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Looking into the woodland, one can see the overgrown remains of the defensive perimeters that once shielded the Hobling position.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This is the entrance to Block 2, which serves as one of the infantry and entry blocks for the Ouvrage Hobling.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Front face showing the firing embrasures.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Gun embrasures. To the left is a twin machine gun embrasure, and to the right is a 47mm anti-tank gun (JM/AC47) embrasure.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Machine gun embrasure covering the ditch. The metal trunking is to protect the mains electric entering the ouvrage.

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Fusil-mitrailleur Modéle 1924 -1929 Model1931D machine gunthe heavier barrel allowed for more sustained fire before overheating,

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

I think this allows foul air to be removed from gun rooms during sustained fighting.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This looks like ready ammunition niches in a fortress gun position, but here I have been informed they are to store spare mines and barbed wire.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Although the books say this ouvrage was not fought over, this looks like a shell crater to me.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Two GFM cloches.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: GFM cloche (Guet-fusil mitrailleur) — A station for observation and an automatic rifle cloche, used for observation by human eye and binoculars.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2:

GFM cloche no. 2.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Entrance into the ouvrage across what should be a drawbridge.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Armoured door. The fittings for the drawbridge have all been removed, but there are some fittings just below the door.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Entrance passage into the ouvrage. Note the painted walls; most of these ouvrages are painted this way.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: This is a plan of another ouvrage very like this B2, and I have slightly adjusted it to look about correct.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Continuing the descent into the fortification.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Side embrasure covering the defensive moat.

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Model 1924-1929D machine gun, the heavier barrel allowed for more sustained fire before overheating,

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Embrasure with all the fittings now missing and to the right a tube to drop grenades down into the moat. When the gun fires, spent cases run down a tube through the hole in the wall below and out into the moat.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: View out into the moat.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

The GFM cloche (Guet-fusil mitrailleur) serves as a station for observation and automatic rifle fire. Observation is conducted by human eye and binoculars. To access the cloche, one must either climb the ladder or lower the fighting platform floor by winding a handle connected to a large, motorcycle-style chain.

27 January 2018

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

The GFM cloche (Guet-fusil mitrailleur) served as a dedicated station for observation and provided a mount for an automatic rifle. In addition to using mechanical instruments, observation was conducted directly by the human eye and with binoculars.

Internet

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: GFM cloche (Guet-fusil mitrailleur station for observation and automatic rifle) and its associated embrasures.

27 January 2018 (A22) Artillerie Work Michelsberg

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2:

GFM cloche — Guet-fusil mitrailleur. This station was used for both observation and as an automatic rifle cloche. I am currently standing on the platform at the top.

27 January 2018 (A22) Artillerie Work Michelsberg

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Main fighting room. Two embrasures, one for a twin 7.5mm JM machine gun and one for a single 7.5mm JM machine gun. Also present is the Fusil-Mitrailleur Modèle 1924/M29.

Ammunition Capacity (JM Machine Gun):

Under cloche or niche: 140,000
By turret: 200,000

Ammunition Capacity (FM 7.5mm):

Under cloche or niche: 40,000 per FM
Entry defense FM: 1,000 per FM

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This is a very good illustration of a twin machine gun hinged back in the embrasure and the 47mm anti-tank gun on two large I-beams being brought into action.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: This embrasure is a twin mount where a machine gun can be hinged into the embrasure or hinged out (like a door); additionally, a 47mm anti-tank (A/T) gun can be brought into action on two large I-beams to replace it.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2:

The second embrasure.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: The main stairway down into the bowels of the earth. The square and round tubes are for the fresh air ducting.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Looking down the stairs. This also had a lift mechanism to lift ammunition from the magazines below to the fighting rooms and to deliver much-needed food and other supplies to the lower levels. There are four flights down to the second level.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 2: Second level. This is a crew room with a steel-reinforced wall and two levels of beds; the metal shields are between each sleeping soldier to allow some privacy.

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A room of about the same size with two layers of bunk beds.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: La Cuisine - Kitchens. We have now left the B2 and am in the underground gallery system.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: La Cuisine - Kitchens. Francois-Vaillant Vadonville (Meuse) cooker, used by the French military.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: La Cuisine - Kitchens.

In June 1940, the garrison comprised 115 men and 4 officers of the 164th Fortress Infantry Regiment (RIF), and they would all need to be fed.

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Two of the pots that fit into the cooker.

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Due to gas warfare being used in WW1, the French like all nations worried about gas attacks. So all their ouvrages were protected against gas attack. A large rubber seal was attached to all gas-tight doors. The next defence was to over-pressurise the ouvrage to above normal air pressure by means of large fans, sucking in air from outside and pumping it all around the ouvrage. The air then escaped through small apertures as embrasures and gun positions. This had two effects: one to obviate the gas problem, and also when a gun fired, it helped to remove the foul gases produced. The last defence against gas was to filter all air coming into the ouvrage, by passing the fresh or gas-tainted air through a filter system. The filters in ouvrages were enough for 12 hours and would need constant changing when a gas attack happened over a long period. That meant a group of men going to each filter case and replacing the inner filters; a gas life of about 2 to 3 hours per filter. The filtration system was manufactured by SNCF, the railway company, and all these filters seem to have dates of 1939 and 1940.

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Mercury barrometer, to check the air pressure inside the overage. From (A24) Bois de Bousse (Fort aux Fresques).

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

An electric motor drove a large fan to produce overpressure in the ouvrage. There is no manual override that could produce the energy to replace the electric motor.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: La Salle des Filtres - Gas filtration room. This area serves as the input from the electrical supply to the filtration system.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: La Salle des Filtres - Gas filtration room. Located behind the door is a light switch.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

The panel is upside down and off the wall, and I think it controlled the motors. Lights inside show up what is or is not working.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

I am unsure what the marking says on door number 22.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

A large steel blast door is installed to prevent an internal explosion from traveling through the tunnels.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique (Power Plant).

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique. Here I believe was one Renault diesel engine to run all the electrics throughout Hobling (A23)'s ouvrages. An electrical plant with two diesel generator sets of 50 horsepower Renault ensured power in case of the suspension of the civil network.

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Michelsberg 1 engine, the green bottle is an oxygen bottle to pressurise a one engine cylender to turn it over to start. The Control panel on the right.

An8 hp (Lille Company of Motors) for emergency intended for the lighting of the engine room and the recharging of the bottles of compressed air necessary for the starting of the engines.

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground:

L'usine Electrique: The engine block of a 50 horsepower Renault.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

The exhaust pipe outlet; there is probably a pipe outlet somewhere above.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique. Alternator/dynamo producing, I think, 440v AC to power the whole of Hobling's (A23) ouvrage.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Électrique. Tool cabinet and work table.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique.

Looking back at the entrance.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

A narrow corridor where shelves and cabinets held spare parts, probably for the whole of the ouvrages. The mechanic could repair nearly any mechanical item, and an electrician, the electrics.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique. More shelving.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: L'usine Electrique. Diesel fuel tanks about three. 185,000 litres of fuel would have been stored here with a reserve off site of 4,800.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Continuing on. The cabinet is a fire cabinet and would have had fire hoses inside, and they seem to be a standard design all the way through the Maginot ouvrages.

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Fire cabinet showing the colours it would have been painted.

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: Caserne - Barracks. More men's barrack room.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Cabling and pipe work on one side were duplicated on the other side for safety.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

There were no dining halls or recreation rooms, so the men had to sit at folding tables and on small metal stools.

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Two table one folded away and the other out.

Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

These are the gas-tight doors designed to protect the underground sections of the ouvrage from chemical warfare, a primary concern for the French military following their experience in World War I.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Possibly the officers' room.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

We did not venture any further; behind these two steel doors is a brick, not concrete, tunnel used as an escape.

Underground: Central Telephonique.

Telephone number: 0 688
Cdt de l'ouvrage (Commanding Officer): Cne Boileau
Off adjoint (Adjutant Officer): Lt Blangille
Bloc 2: Asp Krause
Bloc 4: Lt Durand

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Underground: Central Téléphonique (Communications Room).

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This room, designated SRO, features a small aperture for passing information and a folding table mounted to the wall, suggesting it likely served as a senior officer's room or command post.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

SRO (Senior Room Officer): A small hole in the room allowed for information to be passed through, and there is a folding table on the wall. This was possibly the senior officer's room.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This fresh air vent was part of the fort's ventilation system, which drew clean air from outside to maintain positive pressure within the ouvrage, effectively mitigating the threat of gas attacks.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

This was possibly the radio room, as indicated by the remaining shelving and cabling. Radios were intended for use as a last resort if the main communication cables were severed; however, the smaller units were only equipped with receivers and were unable to transmit.

Block 1: This GFM cloche has been cut off, but you can see how thick it was and how deep down it goes into a very watery hole.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 1: GFM cloche cut off or torn out. This is the second example.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 1: JM cloche for jumelage de mitrailleuses, or twin machine guns.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

JM cloche for jumelage de mitrailleuses two machine guns..

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Clive is looking toward the rear of the Block 1 infantry position, which was armed with a JM two machine guns.

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Hobling (A23), Ligne Maginot

Block 4: Observation block with one observation cloche (VDP) and one automatic rifle embrasure. It is very hard to see the cloches through the trees today.

27 January 2018