The Four à Chaux fortress - Maginot line

The lime kiln was built between 1930 and 1935 by about 800 workers, mainly foreigners. The structural work was carried out by the Entreprise Générale d'Orléans, while the mechanisms such as the firing turrets and the ventilation system were carried out by specialist companies. The fort takes its name from a lime kiln which was in operation near the fortress until 1939, and which gave its name to the area surrounding the fortress. It also became its civilian name, its wartime code name having been A4. It is one of the 108 forts of the Maginot Line, spread over 750 km of borders. It belongs to the Fortified Sector of the Vosges.

Soldiers belonging to the Fortress Infantry Regiments (FIR) were mobilised several times before the Second World War, when Hitler annexed Austria, the Sudetenland and Bohemia. At the end of August 1939, these soldiers were mobilised for the last time to protect the country from the German invasion. During the "Drôle de Guerre", the soldiers had organised life in the work, set up a grocery shop in the well room, and collected cattle and barrels of alcohol in Lembach, an empty village, its inhabitants having been evacuated to the Haute-Vienne, in Droux. The spirit that reigned in the fort at the time testifies to the morale of the troops, which according to some accounts was relatively good.

They remained in the fortress until 1 July 1940, when the regiments were forced to surrender by the French High Command, having fought mainly in May and June 1940. Indeed, a few days after the Armistice of 22 June 1940, the Maginot Line was given to the German army, which had succeeded in invading France, particularly in the north of the country.

It is a work of medium importance, covering an area of 26 hectares, with 6 combat blocks, including 3 artillery blocks, and 4.5 km of underground galleries. The number of men was nearly 600.