The Höckerlinien Trail

To protect the western border of the Reich, the German government had the Westwall built between 1938 and 1940. It was meant to be a counterpart to the Maginot Line on the French side. However, it was by far not as strongly developed as its French counterpart. The main wall stretched along the right bank of the Saar, coming from Saarbrücken, then over Konz near Trier, following the Sauer to the north.

In the area at the three-country corner, this line of fortifications made a twelve-kilometer-long branch. It was intended to prevent penetration into the Saar-Moselle triangle at a distance of four to six kilometers from the French border. Later, this section between Orscholz and Perl-Nennig became famous as the "Orscholz-Riegel". The Westwall consisted of tank trenches, concrete tank obstacles, "Spanish riders", barbed wire barriers, minefields, rifle trenches, and bunker facilities. On the Orscholz area alone, there were 29 concrete shelters, including an unfinished B-work bunker.

At the outbreak of the war, the "Höckerlinie" was already completed, but there were delays with the bunker facilities. After the France campaign, this partially unfinished defensive system was only maintained but not further developed or adequately equipped with weapons. This proved to be a problem during the Wehrmacht's retreat from France in 1944, when a new defensive line was set up here. A first American attack on the fortress line near Orscholz on November 21, 1944, was repelled just before the tank barrier on Tünsdorfer Straße. The next enemy operation took place in this section. In winter temperatures and heavy snow, American infantry units crossed the tank trench on the road to Oberleuken from the opposite forest early in the morning of January 20, 1945, and advanced along this road to the outskirts of Orscholz. Other units fell into a minefield at the "Höckerlinie" near the brickyard (weir system) and were repelled by machine gun fire and artillery. The unit that advanced to the edge of the town was wiped out and taken prisoner by the Germans. Orscholz was taken by the Americans from the north on February 20, 1945.

Source: Saarschleifenland Tourismus GmbH