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The Battle of Metz was fought during World War II at the French city of Metz, then part of Nazi Germany, from late September 1944 through mid-December as part of the Lorraine Campaign between the U.S. Third Army commanded by Lieutenant General George Patton and the German Army commanded by General Otto von Knobelsdorff. [1]
The siege of Metz was a battle fought during the Franco-Prussian War from August 19 to October 27, 1870 and ended in a decisive allied German victory.. The French Army of the Rhine under François Bazaine retreated into the Metz fortress after its defeat by the Germans at the Battle of Gravelotte on 18 August 1870.
The Feste Leipzig, renamed Group Fortifications Francois-de-Guise after 1919 by the French, is a military structure located in the municipality of Châtel-Saint-Germain, close to Metz. It is part of the second fortified belt of forts of Metz and had its baptism of fire in late 1944, when the Battle of Metz occurred.
It was during the defense of this town from repeated German attacks that the division received its nickname, "The Iron Men of Metz." [1] On 1 November, elements went over to the offensive, reducing an enemy pocket east of Maizières-lès-Metz. On 8 November, these units crossed the Moselle River and advanced to Bertrange.
By November, during the battle of Metz, the German troops had managed to get about 50% of the guns operational in most of the forts listed below. These batteries were lacking range tables, missing sights and other equipment to make the guns fully operational. Below is a list of the fortifications that exist around the area of Metz.
The Feste Mercy, renamed Feste Freiherr von der Goltz in 1911 and then The Group Fortification Marne in 1919, is a military installation near Metz, in the woods between Jury, Mercy and Ars-Laquenexy. It is part of the second fortified belt of forts of Metz and had its baptism of fire in late 1944, when the Battle of Metz occurred.
The forts of Metz are two fortified belts around the city of Metz in Lorraine. [note 1] Built according to the design and theory of Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières at the end of the Second Empire—and later Hans von Biehler while Metz was under German control—they earned the city the reputation of premier stronghold of the German reich. [1]
On 2 September 1944, at the beginning of the Battle of Metz, the old city fortress is declared a fortress of the Reich by Hitler. The fortress must be defended to the last by German troops, whose leaders were all sworn to the Führer. [4] The German command integrates Fort Gambetta into the defensive system set up around Metz.