Forts of Metz
The forts of Metz are two fortified belts around the city of Metz in Lorraine. 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. These fortifications were particularly thorough given the city's strategic position between France and Germany. The detached forts and fortified groups of the Metz area were spared in World War I, but showed their full defensive potential in the Battle of Metz at the end of World War II. Context Before the invention of rifled artillery, the place de Metz was considered untakeable. In the 19th century, improvements in artillery forced French engineers to conceive a new defensive system around the stronghold of Metz, the first fortified belt. For this work marshal Adolphe Niel allocated a sum of twelve million gold francs, used for four detached advance forts, Saint-Quentin and Plappeville to the west, and the Fort de Saint-Julien and Fort de Queuleu to the east. This measure, conceived by colonel Séré de Rivières, was incomplete when war broke out in 1870. After the