page_title: Ouvrage Hochwald
section_title: Anti-tank ditch and casemates
hierarchical_section_title: Ouvrage Hochwald / Description / Anti-tank ditch and casemates
caption_attribution_description: Maginot Linie Public Domain ARC Identifier: 292568 American soldiers standing at battery 8 location that is one of the 75 mm gun batteries of the Hackenberg fortications of the Maginot Line nea Metz France. This battery was used by the Germans to shell the advancing American 3rd Army of General Patton.
context_page_description: Ouvrage Hochwald is a gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line, one of the largest fortifications in the Line. Located on the Hochwald ridge in the Fortified Sector of Haguenau in the community of Drachenbronn-Birlenbach in the Bas-Rhin department of northeastern France, it was designed to protect the northern Vosges region of France. Ouvrage Hochwald is sometimes considered as two ouvrages because of its separation of the western and the eastern portions of the ouvrage. Uniquely, the original plans for the position included an elevated battery to the rear with long-range 145 mm or 155 mm gun turrets of a new kind. Hochwald is used by the French Air Force as an armoured air defense coordination center.
context_section_description: A chevroned ditch runs over the ridge between the east and west wings with a series of casemates located to sweep the ditch with fire. The casemates are not connected to each other or to the ouvrage.
  Casemate 1: Single-sided, firing to the west with one JM embrasure, one JM/AC47 embrasure and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 2: Single-sided, firing to the west with two JM embrasures, one mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 3: Single-sided, firing to the west with four JM embrasures and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 4: Double-sided, firing east and west with four JM embrasures on two levels, two mortar cloches and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 5: Single-sided, firing to the east with two JM embrasures, one mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 6: Single-sided, firing to the east with four JM embrasures on two levels and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 7: Single-sided, firing to the east with two JM embrasures, one mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
  Casemate 8: Single-sided, firing to the east with two JM embrasures and two GFM cloches.
  Casemate 9: Single-sided, firing to the east with one JM embrasure, one JM/AC47 embrasure, one mortar cloche and one GFM cloche.
caption: American soldiers at Hochwald West, Block 13 in 1944
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