The Séré de Rivières was a response to the increasing power of explosive artillery, abandoning vertical masonry walls for more blended fortifications that served as artillery emplacements, defended by machine guns and small arms.

In the 1880s, with the development of high explosives, much of the masonry construction of the forts became obsolete and was rebuilt using concrete and earth coverage.

The fortified camp of Toul anchors the end of the fortification curtain of the Hauts de Meuse.

The 1874 Declaration of Public Utility that authorized construction envisioned four forts: Ecouvres, Dongermain, St.-Michel and Villey-le-Sec.

Villey-le-Sec was planned to protect the southwestern approach to Toul, located on the plateau of Haye, supported on the south by the bluffs along the Moselle.

The fort was originally planned to be about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) further west, where the Chaudeney redoubt is located.

Another, in the Bois de l'Embanie, was used as a training area for s[4] In 1912 work began to equip the fort with a battery of two Mougin turrets with 155 mm guns.

At the beginning of the war, after the French defeat at Morhange, the German troops moved rapidly to the west.

From mid-September, after the Battle of Grand Couronné at Nancy, the front was stabilized within a few tens of kilometers along an axis Saint-Mihiel - Pont-à-Mousson - Nomeny - Moncel-on-Pail - Arracourt.

Because the village already occupied the best site, the fort was built to limit the cost and difficulty in moving the occupants.

Constructed at the southwestern angle of the village 48°39′29″N 5°58′26″E / 48.65806°N 5.97389°E / 48.65806; 5.97389, the réduit (a rallying point or center of resistance) forms a square, 180 metres (590 ft) on each side.

[6] Situated between the north and south batteries 48°39′36″N 5°58′46″E / 48.66000°N 5.97944°E / 48.66000; 5.97944 on the opposite side of the village from the redoubt, the redan is equipped with a 75mm gun turret and two armored observatories.

The redan was overlooked by a water tower and the steeple of the village church, which were dynamited in 1914 to prevent the Germans from using them to sight artillery.

In 2002 the preservation association pumped w to 2.5 meters of water from the works, allowing access to the barracks and turret.

[9] The southern battery was used by the National School of Applied Geology and Mineral Exploration (École Nationale Supérieure de Géologie Appliquée et de Prospection Minière) in Nancy to store a radioactive mineral collection.

Actual construction began in December 1875, predating the "panic" forts built after April–May 1875, when German chancellor Otto von Bismarck implied that Germany might initiate a pre-emptive war.

The pentagonal position featured a Haxo casemate and a 164.7mm naval gun, protected by an earth rampart and masonry walls.

A raised position 100 metres (330 ft) behind the batteries shelters ammunition niches and conceals the 60 cm military railway from direct vision.

[15] A Péchot system rail line using a gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) was used to supply the fort.