Fort de Mutzig

About

The fort of Mutzig, by its original name Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II. ("Empereur William II Fortified Group"), is a military structure built from 1893 by the German Empire on the town of Mutzig in Alsace (now in the department of Bas-Rhin). The manoeuvring field extends around the fort, north of Mutzig and the neighbouring municipalities of Molsheim and Dangolsheim.

This work was the most important fortification of the German Empire when World War I broke out because of its expanse and firepower, but because of the turn of the Schlieffen Plan and its distance from the front, it played only a minor role. The first military work built after the "crisis of the torpedo shell", it was the subject of experiments that would lead to the new type of fortified works used among others in the Maginot line.