Fortified Sector of Colmar

[1][2] The riverbank fortifications were of a basic nature, with protection only up to 155mm caliber, machine gun armament and no electrical system.

[4] The sector includes, in order from west to east, the following major fortified positions, together with the most significant casemates and infantry shelters (abris) in each sub-sector.

Peacetime barracks and support: 28th Fortress Infantry Regiment (28e Régiment d'Infanterie de Forteresse (RIF)), Lt.

Colonel Roman Peacetime barracks and support: The French Rhine defenses did not see significant action until the middle of June 1940.

The casemate lines along the Rhine were not supported by significant mobile forces or field artillery, which had been diverted to more urgent tasks.

German forces, under General Dollmann, amounted to seven divisions of the Seventh Army, supported by about three hundred artillery pieces.

[8] In most locations the French were unable to mount a serious defense, lacking artillery support and mobile forces.

The strongest resistance was posed by Casemate Schoenau Sud, which caused the 218th ID to suspend a portion of its crossing operations.

[8] Heavy fighting took place around Neuf-Brisach, where the German 554th ID's 623rd Infantry Regiment encountered Casemate Fort-Mortier and its supporting troops from the 28th RIF.

The artillery bombardment and infantry attack destroyed most French positions, with only Casemate Rhinau Sud holding out through the day.

German fire on the 15 June forced many riverside casemate garrisons out of their positions, followed up by aerial bombardment the next day One the 18th the regiment retreated, the first battalion to Hohneck and the second to the Markstein and the Petit-Ballon in the Vosges.

On 17 June the regiment retreated to Kaysersberg in the Vosges, fighting an action against the Germans at the Col du Surceneux.

[12] As Allied forces approached the Rhine in November 1944, the Germans destroyed many of the bankside fortifications that had escaped damage in 1940.