Ouvrage Molvange

Ouvrage Molvange
Part of Maginot Line
Northeast France
Ammunition entry, Gros Ouvrage Molvange, March 2004
Ouvrage Molvange
Coordinates	49°24′40″N 6°05′01″E / 49.41111°N 6.08361°E / 49.41111; 6.08361
Site information
Owner	Retained by French military
Controlled by	France
Open to the public	No
Site history
Built	1930-35
Built by	CORF
Materials	Concrete, steel, deep excavation
Battles/wars	Battle of France, Lorraine Campaign

Ouvrage Molvange is a large work, or gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line. The fortification complex faces the France-Luxembourg border from a height near Entrange in the Moselle département. The complex, armed and occupied in 1935, is located on the heights of Entrange, at an altitude of about 400 meters (1,300 ft). Molvange is flanked by the even larger Ouvrage Rochonvillers to the west and smaller petit ouvrage Immerhof to the east, part of the Fortified Sector of Thionville. Molvange was not involved in significant combat during World War II, but due to its size it was repaired and retained in service after the war. During the Cold War Molvange's underground barracks and former ammunition magazine became a hardened military command center.

The Molvange site was surveyed by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1930. Work by the contractor, Quintin & Lesprit, began the same year, and the position became operational in 1935, at a cost of 106 million francs.

Molvange occupies the lip of a wooded height that runs roughly perpendicular to the fortified front, sloping steeply on the east side. Compared with Rochonvillers, its companion to the west, Molvange's entries are closer to the front. They were, however, linked to the rear via a 60 cm narrow-gauge railway, which continued through the ouvrage to the combat blocks.

The ouvrage includes two entries and nine combat blocks. As a large ouvrage, Molvange has an "M1" ammunition magazine near the entries, in the vicinity of Block 10. The underground barracks are farther out the main gallery on the other side of Block 10. These spacious subterranean facilities would become useful as command centers after the war. The main gallery extends 1,750 meters (5,740 ft) out to Block 1, at an average depth of 30 metres (98 ft). All blocks are within a security zone and are not accessible to the public.

In 1939 a plan was proposed to connect Molvange to Rochonvillers via an underground galley to the Abri du Bois d'Escherange, then to the Abri du Grand Lot, and on to Rochonvillers through the existing connection. The plan never came to fruition.