Fortifications of Saint-Quentin
| Feste Prinz Friedrich Karl/Fort Saint-Quentin | |
|---|---|
 Feste Prinz Friedrich Karl/Fort Saint-Quentin
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| Coordinates | 49°04′19″N 6°04′44″E / 49.072°N 6.079°E |
| Type |
Séré de Rivières (Ostfort), Von Biehler (Von Manstein) |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1870 |
| Fate | unused |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 600 men |
The Fortifications of Saint-Quentin, or Feste Prinz Friedrich Karl form a fortification group in the Scy-Chazelles municipality located northwest of Metz on the Mont Saint-Quentin. Constituted by forts Diou and Girardin, the group is part of the first fortified belt of forts around Metz and had its baptism of fire in late 1944, when the Battle of Metz occurred.
The fortified group of forts known as Saint-Quentin belongs to the first fortified belt of Metz designed during Second French Empire by Napoléon III. The first fortified belt consists of Fort Saint-Privat (1870), Fort de Queuleu (1867), Fort des Bordes (1870), Fort de Saint-Julien (1867), Fort Gambetta, Déroulède, Fort Decaen, Fort de Plappeville (1867) and St. Quentin (1867), most of them unfinished or in skeletal form in 1870, when the Franco-Prussian War began. During the annexation, Metz oscillate between a German garrison of 15,000 and 20,000 men at the beginning of the period and will exceed 25,000 men just before the First World War, gradually becoming the premier stronghold of the German Reich.
The fortified group Saint-Quentin is one of "detached forts", a concept developed by the engineering lieutenant colonel Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières in France and Hans Alexis von Biehler in Germany. The goal was to form a discontinuous enclosure around Metz with strong artillery batteries spaced with a range of guns. The fortified group spans 77 hectares on a west-facing plateau. With 72 buildings and a built area of 25,600 square meters, it is one of the largest fortified wholes of the first belt. Saint-Quentin was initially not designed as a fortified group, but this resulted from the combination of two strong classical forts, Fort Diou and Fort Girardin. It was partially built by the French between 1868 and 1871 and extensively developed by the Germans between 1872 and 1892. Its topographic position on Mont Saint-Quentin overlooking the city of Metz made it a major strategic position for the French and German staffs. It is separated from Fort de Plappeville by the commune of Lessy.
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