Fort de Manonviller: A French Stopping Fort in the Séré de Rivières System
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page14 sections
History
Fort de Manonviller is a French fort at Manonviller, France, built between 1879 and 1882 in the Séré de Rivières system, the network of forts and batteries constructed chiefly after the Franco-Prussian War to defend France’s eastern frontier. It was an isolated stopping fort, intended to block an unfortified gap and control important routes, particularly between the fortified places of Toul and Épinal.
Construction and defensive purpose
The fort formed part of French plans to protect the Charmes Gap, a 59-kilometre-wide opening between the Chanot work near Toul and Fort de Dogneville near Épinal. Five isolated forts were built to make an offensive through this space more difficult, with particular attention to the railway routes crossing the region. Fort de Manonviller stood 12 kilometres east of Lunéville and about nine kilometres from the former Franco-German border.
The original plan for the Manonviller area called for three mutually supporting forts forming a small fortified place around Lunéville. Only Fort de Manonviller was ultimately constructed. Its first reinforcement followed soon after completion, with two Mougin Model 1876 turrets added between 1881 and 1883. These were heavily armoured artillery turrets, each carrying two 155-millimetre guns.
Modernization before 1914
Advances in artillery created the late-nineteenth-century “torpedo-shell crisis,” a defensive problem caused by powerful high-explosive shells that could penetrate or collapse older masonry fortifications. In response, Fort de Manonviller underwent successive modernization between 1890 and 1913. The work introduced concrete strengthening, new armoured artillery, observation equipment, electrical installations, and revised ditch defences.
A 30-metre-wide belt of barbed wire was installed from 1890 to 1895. The wartime barracks were encased in concrete, while the four original caponiers, covered works projecting into the ditch for fire along its length, were replaced by four counterscarp coffers. These were fortified chambers on the outer side of the ditch. The masonry counterscarp was also replaced by a 4.5-metre-thick concrete wall containing a gallery serving the coffers.
Two retractable Galopin Model 1890 turrets were installed between 1892 and 1894. Two retractable Bussière turrets, five armoured observation posts, and nine armoured parapet sentry boxes followed in 1894–1895. A mobile generator for a searchlight was added between 1894 and 1898, and a retractable GF3 machine-gun turret was installed in 1895–1896. Four more armoured observation posts were added in 1905, two searchlight turrets in 1912, and an electrical plant between 1911 and 1913.
The two subsidiary batteries, known as the Northeast Battery and East Battery, were removed between 1895 and 1905. Explosive niches were placed in the piers of the Marainviller bridge so that the railway crossing could be cut if necessary. These measures reflected the fort’s role in controlling movement through the Charmes Gap as well as its direct artillery function.
The siege of August 1914
At French mobilization in 1914, the garrison consisted of 433 infantrymen from the 167th Infantry Regiment, 275 artillerymen from the 6th Foot Artillery Regiment, and 28 engineers from the 26th Engineer Battalion. The total was 766 men, commanded by Battalion Commander Jean Rocolle. The fort entered the French mobilization-covering system on 31 July 1914. Cavalry regiments of the 2nd Cavalry Division were stationed nearby at Lunéville, while the 11th Infantry Division deployed on the Grand Couronné of Nancy.
French defeats at Morhange and Sarrebourg on 20–21 August 1914 forced a retreat, and Fort de Manonviller was isolated on 23 August. That evening, two German infantry regiments of the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Brigade and two pioneer battalions encircled it.
German bombardment began on 25 August, when concealed batteries opened fire with 210-millimetre explosive shells. Their positions prevented effective French counter-battery fire. One 155-millimetre turret was disabled during the first day, and an ammunition store holding 2,200 shells for 57- and 80-millimetre weapons exploded.
On 26 August, two more 155-millimetre turrets were put out of action. An ammunition store containing 800 155-millimetre shells also exploded. From 4:20 a.m. on 27 August, two German 420-millimetre howitzers joined the attack. The last 155-millimetre turret was blocked, and conditions inside the fort caused the garrison to be asphyxiated.
The white flag was raised at about 3:30 p.m. on 27 August 1914. The besiegers had fired 979 rounds of 150 millimetres, 4,596 of 210 millimetres, 134 of 305 millimetres, and 59 of 420 millimetres at and around the fort. The surrender cost the defenders five dead and 28 wounded. It led to a trial, but the governor was not convicted.
Destruction and later history
German engineers began demolishing the fort’s armoured installations, counterscarp coffers, and ammunition magazines with explosives on 27 August. French troops retook the area on 13 September 1914. An inspection on 18 September found extensive structural damage.
The fort was sold to M. Fleurent in 1935. During the Second World War, German occupying forces stripped it of its equipment. After fighting in autumn 1944, the United States Army used the military ground for several years.
A memorial was inaugurated on 30 August 1964 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the fighting in 1914. During the 1960s, the fort’s galleries and rooms were used for mushroom cultivation. The HCF Haxo association, whose name means “Honour to the Combatants of Fort Haxo,” has since carried out clearance and safety work and organized visits and events connected with the fort.
Remains
Fort de Manonviller occupies a hill reaching 316 metres, overlooking the Amis stream valley to the north and the Vezouze valley to the south. The site lies between the Parroy state forests and Mondon. The Strasbourg–Paris railway passes 840 metres north of the fort, while National Route 4 is 2.7 kilometres to the south. National Route 59 and the Saint-Dié–Lunéville railway lie eight kilometres south in the Meurthe valley.
Fort layout and original defences
Central fort and ditches
The fort is a Séré de Rivières work with a central-mass plan. Its ditches form an irregular pentagon covering 8.2 hectares. Artillery platforms were arranged around the central barracks mass and separated by traverses-shelters, earthen structures intended to protect positions and personnel from fire.
The ditches were defended by rifle fire from the parapet. Four caponiers originally projected into them: three single works at the gorge salient and flank salients 2 and 4, and a double caponier at head salient 3. The caponiers were later replaced by four counterscarp coffers. The rebuilt counterscarp became a 4.5-metre-thick concrete wall with a gallery serving these defensive chambers.
Artillery platforms and batteries
The armament recorded in 1882 comprised 36 rampart guns, six mortars, and ten additional flanking pieces. The principal artillery later included ten 155-millimetre guns, nine 120-millimetre guns, five 95-millimetre guns, two 270-millimetre mortars, and four 220-millimetre mortars.
The Northeast Battery and East Battery added five 120-millimetre guns and seven 95-millimetre guns before both subsidiary batteries were removed between 1895 and 1905. The piers of the Marainviller bridge contained explosive niches intended to support the interruption of the railway crossing.
Armoured installations and electrical equipment
Mougin and Galopin turrets
The two Mougin Model 1876 turrets were rotating, non-retractable cast-iron structures, each armed with two 155-millimetre guns. The later Galopin Model 1890 turrets were retractable, allowing their guns to be lowered below the fort’s surface when not firing. Each carried two 155-millimetre guns.
Bussière, machine-gun, and observation turrets
The two Bussière turrets were retractable and together carried two 57-millimetre Nordenfelt guns. A retractable GF3 turret carried a Gatling gun. Nine armoured observation posts were installed in all, with five added in 1894–1895 and four more in 1905. Nine armoured sentry boxes were also placed along the parapet in 1894–1895.
Searchlights and power plant
Two searchlight turrets were added in 1912. An earlier mobile generator, installed between 1894 and 1898, supplied a searchlight, while a permanent electrical plant was installed between 1911 and 1913.
Bombardment damage and surviving fabric
By 1914, the fort had four large artillery turrets and was among the most heavily armoured French forts. The August bombardment disabled or blocked all four 155-millimetre turrets. Explosions and deliberate demolition then destroyed or damaged much of the armoured equipment, magazines, and defensive installations.
The inspection of September 1914 recorded large breaches in the masonry vaults, demolished facades, and craters where the turrets had stood. The wartime barracks had been encased in concrete during modernization, and the counterscarp had been rebuilt with its internal gallery and coffers. The galleries and rooms were later used for mushroom cultivation during the 1960s, while subsequent clearance and safety work altered the portions of the physical remains that can be accessed.
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