After spending the morning with Bernard, I headed north through the Vosges Mountains towards Bitche. I passed through Goetzenbruck, looking for the tranformer station, but didn't find it.
I was scheduled to meet Martin around 1300 at the road leading to Ouvrage du Simsershof by the Camp Militaire de Legeret. I was a bit early so I stopped by Ouvrage de Schiesseck, a Gros Ouvrage consisting of 11 blocs. According to M. Wahl, the interior was kept in relatively good condidition and may still be so (I did not see the inside.)
I met Martin on schedule and we looked over the Legeret caserne ruins. They were mostly overgrown and crumbling. From there we drove directly south across D35 into the forest and followed a forest road which wound around the south crest of the ridge through the Fraumuehlerwald and between the Hochscheid and Kirscheid ridges. We followed the path for approximately 1.5 km - (It was not a good road - many holes and ruts). We passed the Abri du Legeret and stopped at the Abri Freudenberg. Further down is the Abri Reyerswiller and beyond that Bloc 9 of Ouvrage Schiesseck and another road leading to the Munitions Entrance.
Abri Freudenberg is very unique because it is linked at the rear corner of the caserne by a 500 meter tunnel to the Observatoire du Freudenberg. Freudenberg is an Abri Caverne, or underground shelter, as opposed to those that at surface level (Abri du Bois de Cattenom). You go in the entrance and then down a flight of stairs to the shelter below. The entrance has its own protection in the form of a a cloche GFM and probably a JM facing the road. It would also be protected by the casemate of Freudenberg and Legeret, and the guns of Simershof and Shiesseck (I know I would feel very secure with this kind of protection). The layout of the Abri is typical of an Abri Caverne - a front and back hallway with caserne area and power generating station in between. The tunnel to the Observatory is found at the corner of the back hallway and, like I said, is about 500 metres (I counted 500 paces) to another set of steps leading up to the Observatory. There is not much left of it, but it is still an interesting visit.
Our next destination was the camouflaged Bloc 3 of P.O. Welschoff.
