Date of the exploration : May 2016
Hello, this is my first report. I've been to this place just twice during daytime and +/- 5 times during night time. This complex is huge and I couldn't go through every part even in 3 hours ( mainly because it was getting dark and rainy pretty quick).
The photos are raw, no editing, so sorry if they are bad quality or something you are not used to see, but it's my first photo report as I usually don't take photos.
The Fort de Plappeville, or Feste Alvensleben, is a military fortification. While it did not see action during WW1, it was the scene of heavy fighting between American forces and German defenders at the end of the Battle of Metz, in 1944. After Second World War it became a training center for the French Air Force. Fort 'Alvensleben' has been abandoned since 1995.
During the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany, the fort was renamed Feste Alvensleben and became a training camp for Prussian officers. From 1914 to 1918 it was used as a rest station for soldiers traveling along the front, particularly from Verdun. Its military equipment was upgraded to the standards current at the time. In November 1918, the fort was reoccupied by the French army.
After the armistice of 1940 the fort was occupied by German forces.
On 7 September Heinrich Himmler reviewed the troops of the 1st SS Division ( Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler) in the fort's place d'armes (Picture number 9).The fort later became a disciplinary camp for the Wehrmacht.
After the Second World War, in 1949, the fort was transferred to the French air force and became a military instruction center for new recruits.
Abandoned since 1995, the fort has been vandalized.
To begin with, you have to walk through the forest in order to get to one of the main gates. As you can clearly see, there is no space to get through the bars and the gate is chained up and locked. But on the right side of it, when you walk a little back in the bushes, there is a whole part of the gate missing so you can enter the road to get to the main gate.
1.
Once you've passed the gate on the left hand side you can see part of the fortification.
2.
3.
There is a road leading to the main gate. As you can see, the main gate is welded up with iron plates and chained up so nobody can enter through there. Last year, there were no plates, so you could get in through some missing bars in the gate, when i went back a couple of months ago, we had to find another way in because of those plates.
4.
5.
Once you manage to get in, there is a bridge that lead up to the fort itself.
6.
7.
You enter the domain on the left and as you can clearly see, it is huge. You can't see the parts that are offside the main square.
8.
9.
On the left of the domain, in the back, there are old storage rooms.
10.
11.
On the right side of the domain there is a generator room, it still smelled like gasoline.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Not far away from the generator room there was another complex, don't ask me what it was used for, but it was the cleanest.
16.
17.
18.
19.
To enter the main domain, there are a couple of iron bridge.
20.
21.
View of the main entrance from the ground up.
22.
Here a some shots from the inside, as you can see, there is not much light coming in, some rooms are in really bad shape (burned) and there are things hanging from the ceiling.
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24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
You can see the rest of the photos on my flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskzVaUNK
Thanks for reading!
Hello, this is my first report. I've been to this place just twice during daytime and +/- 5 times during night time. This complex is huge and I couldn't go through every part even in 3 hours ( mainly because it was getting dark and rainy pretty quick).
The photos are raw, no editing, so sorry if they are bad quality or something you are not used to see, but it's my first photo report as I usually don't take photos.
The Fort de Plappeville, or Feste Alvensleben, is a military fortification. While it did not see action during WW1, it was the scene of heavy fighting between American forces and German defenders at the end of the Battle of Metz, in 1944. After Second World War it became a training center for the French Air Force. Fort 'Alvensleben' has been abandoned since 1995.
During the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany, the fort was renamed Feste Alvensleben and became a training camp for Prussian officers. From 1914 to 1918 it was used as a rest station for soldiers traveling along the front, particularly from Verdun. Its military equipment was upgraded to the standards current at the time. In November 1918, the fort was reoccupied by the French army.
After the armistice of 1940 the fort was occupied by German forces.
On 7 September Heinrich Himmler reviewed the troops of the 1st SS Division ( Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler) in the fort's place d'armes (Picture number 9).The fort later became a disciplinary camp for the Wehrmacht.
After the Second World War, in 1949, the fort was transferred to the French air force and became a military instruction center for new recruits.
Abandoned since 1995, the fort has been vandalized.
To begin with, you have to walk through the forest in order to get to one of the main gates. As you can clearly see, there is no space to get through the bars and the gate is chained up and locked. But on the right side of it, when you walk a little back in the bushes, there is a whole part of the gate missing so you can enter the road to get to the main gate.
1.
Once you've passed the gate on the left hand side you can see part of the fortification.
2.
3.
There is a road leading to the main gate. As you can see, the main gate is welded up with iron plates and chained up so nobody can enter through there. Last year, there were no plates, so you could get in through some missing bars in the gate, when i went back a couple of months ago, we had to find another way in because of those plates.
4.
5.
Once you manage to get in, there is a bridge that lead up to the fort itself.
6.
7.
You enter the domain on the left and as you can clearly see, it is huge. You can't see the parts that are offside the main square.
8.
9.
On the left of the domain, in the back, there are old storage rooms.
10.
11.
On the right side of the domain there is a generator room, it still smelled like gasoline.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Not far away from the generator room there was another complex, don't ask me what it was used for, but it was the cleanest.
16.
17.
18.
19.
To enter the main domain, there are a couple of iron bridge.
20.
21.
View of the main entrance from the ground up.
22.
Here a some shots from the inside, as you can see, there is not much light coming in, some rooms are in really bad shape (burned) and there are things hanging from the ceiling.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
You can see the rest of the photos on my flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskzVaUNK
Thanks for reading!
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