The Feste Leipzig, renamed Group Fortifications Francois-de-Guise after 1919 by the French, is a military structure located in the municipality of Châtel-Saint-Germain, close to Metz.
It was part of a wider program of fortifications called "Moselstellung", which encompassed fortresses scattered between Thionville and Metz in the valley Moselle.
Based on new defensive concepts, such as dispersal and concealment, the fortified group was to be, in case of attack, an impassable barrier for French forces.
From 1899, the Schlieffen Plan of the German General Staff designed the fortifications of the Moselstellung, between Metz and Thionville, to be like a lock for blocking any advance of French troops in case of conflict.
[4] This concept of a fortified line on the Moselle was a significant innovation compared to Système Séré de Rivières developed by the French.
From September 6, 1944, the Group Fortification Francis de Guise serves as a forward base on the front line for German units of the 462th Volks-Grenadier-Division.
On the morning of September 9, 1944, the American artillery rained shells on identified German positions, paving the way for the infantry and the tanks of Task force McConnell.
The 3rd Battalion of the Task force, in charge of the right flank of the attack, fell on the fortified farmhouse of Moscou,[note 1] a veritable redoubt between the German fortifications, before being taken under heavy fire from Gravelotte.
The 2nd Battalion Task force, which was heading towards Vernéville with relative ease, was finally stopped by gunfire from a sunken road, west of Fort Francis de Guise.
On September 11, 1944, at 6:30 am, the tanks were headed for Pierrevillers, wiping the passage with sporadic gunfire, they finally came across a roadblock, with fire coming from anti-tank guns, which were camouflaged and difficult to locate.
[9] Despite several counterattacks by the 462th Infanterie Division, American troops arrive to take over the land in the late afternoon, after a rolling artillery barrage targeting fortifications in the sector, and which uses smoke shells for cover.
[9] The 1st Battalion Task force, hard hit by the shelling of the 462th Volks-Grenadier-Division and specific small arms fire, had to withdraw with difficulty behind a screen of smoke rockets, more than five hundred meters from Amanvillers.
American bazookas were not effective on the concrete bunkers, and tanks, followed by armed sections of flamethrowers, throw themselves on the first German lines, neither reaching them, nor neutralizing them, nor taking them.
Seeing that the Americans gradually ate away at their lines, the German artillery redoubled its fire, managing to contain the two regiments, and raising fears with General McLain of a new counterattack.
On November 9, in preparation for the offensive on Metz, the Air Force sent no less than 1,299 heavy bombers, B-17s and B-24s, to drop 3,753 tons of bombs, and 1,000 to 2,000 books on fortifications and strategic points in the combat zone of IIIrd army.
After two deadly counterattacks against the men of Major Voss by the 462th Volksgrenadier division, German troops soon fell back to the Group Fortification.
[13] Under pressure from the American artillery, and armored troops, the German units of the 462th Volks-Grenadier-Division eventually fell back on a more limited basis, before shutting themselves in the fort, West of Metz during the final assault on the old city of Lorraine.
[14] The objective of the German staff, which was to stall US troops for the longest possible time at Metz before they could reach the front of the Siegfried Line, was largely achieved.