It is located on the territory of the communes of Hunspach, Schœnenbourg and Ingolsheim, in the French département of Bas-Rhin, forming part of the Fortified Sector of Haguenau, facing Germany.

At the east end of the Alsace portion of the Maginot Line, its neighbour is the gros ouvrage Hochwald.

After the war it was fully repaired and placed back into service as part of a programme to use Maginot fortifications to resist a potential Warsaw Pact advance through Europe.

The gros ouvrage[nb 1] was intended to receive an additional turret in a second phase of construction, never pursued.

Schoenenbourg is arranged as a typical gros ouvrage, with separate entrances for munitions and personnel almost 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) behind the closely grouped main combat blocks.

Construction uncovered difficulties with the foundations, resulting in the widespread use of piles under the blocks to stabilise their support, a unique solution in the Line.

The ouvrage was served by electrified 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow-gauge railways that branched from a line paralleling the front and connecting to supply depots.

[16][17] The nearby Casernement de Drachenbronn provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Schoenenbourg and other positions in the area.

Schoenenbourg's turrets were retracted to receive the heavy shells, and raised during the lengthy reloading period for counterbattery fire.

[26] No fighting took place in the area of Schoenenbourg during the American advances of 1945, but the retreating Germans of the 245th Infantry Division caused extensive damage in March, using explosives to wreck the entrances and turrets, along with a number of nearby casemates.

In 1951, Lembach, Four-à-Chaux, Hochwald and Schoenenbourg were designated the Môle de Haguenau, a point of resistance against a potential invasion by forces of the Warsaw Pact.

Schoenenbourg was not manned or maintained after the early 1970s[25][29][30] The gallery system was used by the army for training until 2001, and the surface hosted three field emplacements for anti-aircraft missiles.