Auteur: Rutger van der Maar
Beschrijving:
Douaumont-Vaux (55)
Fort Douaumont, briefly called Fort Gérard, is a fortified structure located in the commune of Douaumont-Vaux, department of Meuse. It is one of the forts of the stronghold of Verdun, part of the Séré de Rivières system.
Built between 1884 and 1886 and modernized between 1901 and 1913, the fort was one of the emblematic sites of the Battle of Verdun in 1916: taken by German troops in February, it was taken over by the French in October of the same year. Since the end of World War I , its ruins have attracted tourists; since 1970 it has been listed as a historical monument.
The fort was built on some of the highest ground in the area and the fort was continually reinforced until 1913. It has a total surface area of 30,000 m2 (36,000 sq yd) and is approximately 400 m (440 yd) long, with two subterranean levels protected by a steel reinforced concrete roof 12 m (13 yd) thick resting on a sand cushion. These improvements had been completed by 1903. The entrance to the fort was at the rear. Two main tunnels ran east–west, one above the other, with barrack rooms and corridors to outlying parts of the fort branched off of the main tunnels. The fort was equipped with numerous armed posts, a 155 mm rotating/retractable gun turret, a 75 mm gun rotating/retractable gun turret, four other 75 mm guns in flanking "Bourges Casemates" that swept the intervals and several machine-gun turrets. Entry into the moat around the fort was interdicted by Hotchkiss anti-personnel revolving cannons located in wall casemates or "Coffres" present at each corner.
With hindsight, Douaumont was much better prepared to withstand the heaviest bombardments than the Belgian forts that had been crushed by German 420 mm Gamma howitzers in 1914. The German invasion of Belgium in 1914 had forced military planners to radically rethink the utility of fortification in war. The Belgian forts had been quickly destroyed by German artillery and easily overrun. In August 1915, General Joseph Joffre approved the reduction of the garrison at Douaumont and at other Verdun forts. Douaumont was stripped of all its weaponry except for the two turreted guns that were too difficult to remove: a 155 mm and a 75 mm gun. The two "Casemates de Bourges" bunkers, one on each side of the fort, were disarmed of their four 75s. The garrison was mostly middle-aged reservists, under the command of the city's military governor and not the field army.
Sources:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_de_Douaumont
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Douaumont
For more information on the battle of Verdun, see Wikipedia.
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