page_title: Fort de Mutzig
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Fort de Mutzig / Description
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Fonds de carte pour les combats de 1914 sur le front Ouest, avec l'indication des foritifications. English: The border between France and Germany, French (blue) fortifications (the main at Verdun, Toul, Epinal, Belfort, Langres) and German (brown) fortifications (the main at Thionville, Metz, Mutzig, Strasbourg), 1914.
context_page_description: The Fort de Mutzig, also known as Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, is located near the town of Mutzig, in the Bas-Rhin department of France. It is one of the fortifications built by Germany at the end of the 19th century to defend Strasbourg.
  It was the first new fortification built in what was then German territory after the invention of high explosives, which rendered earlier masonry fortifications obsolete.
context_section_description: The fortifications comprise three main portions. The newest section, and the place used for tours, is located in the northwestern fort. The 1895 west fort is located somewhat to the south, and the eastern fort about one kilometer to the east of the western fort. Together they comprise a Feste, or fortification, a concept which was later developed in the construction of the French Maginot Line fortifications.
  In 1914, the 254-hectare (630-acre) fort comprised 50 buildings, with an underground space of approximately 40,000 square meters (400,000 square feet). With 22 turrets equipped with 10 cm and 15 cm howitzers at a maximum rate of fire of 6.5 tons of shells per minute, Mutzig was one of the strongest forts in Europe. 8,000 troops of the German army manned the defenses of Strasbourg at the time. Forces were disposed in the ring of forts around Strasbourg, as well as the Vosges mountains for defense against French forces around Belfort.
  The fort's armament included:
  8 x 150 mm howitzers in turrets with a range of 8,500 metres (27,900 ft)
  14 x 105 mm guns in turrets, of two models, with a range of up to 13,000 metres (43,000 ft)
  8 x 57 mm guns in mobile turrets
  12 x 53 mm guns in embrasures
  12 armored observation points, two with periscopes, and 7 infantry observation positions
  Three concrete barracks for the garrison and 18 concrete shelters for infantry were provided, along with four wells, bakeries and other support facilities distributed around the fortification.
caption: Franco-German border, 1914
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