Peel Raamstelling

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

In the Peel-Raam fortification at Deurne, a single remnant of a CASEMATE of the G-type has been preserved. The design of these G-casemates for border defence dates from 1939 and was drawn by the Central Inundation and Technical Bureau. The casemate was built under the direction of the Fortification Works Bureau of the Dutch engineers. At Deurne, the work, like that of the S casemates, was put out to tender in 1939 to contractor Fa. J. van Rossum of 's-Gravenhage. On 26 March 1940 the casemate was delivered.

Northwest of the intersection of the Deurne Canal with Kanaalstraat stands the concrete remnant of the G-casemate, probably with picket number G 214. Judging by the concrete casing of the casemate, this is a G (180) lv.

Description

Contrary to the original plans, forced by shortage of steel, only a small number of G-casemates were built in the Peel-Raam fortification. These cast-iron casemates all stood near the main access routes to the line and fired frontally into the field of fire, so that the advance of hostile units towards the line could be prevented. Equipped with a light or heavy machine gun, the casemates could deliver fire well in front of the Defence Canal. During the Second World War itself, all G-casemates in the Peel-Raam fortification were blown up by the German occupier. The G-casemates in the Peel-Raam fortification consisted of a 9.5-ton heavy cast-steel dome with a 10 cm. thick wall. This dome was founded in a heavy, reinforced concrete casing.

The casemates had an almost square ground plan. The firing port always stood more or less frontally to the front line and was consequently kept as small as possible, whereby the placement of direct hits by hostile fire was greatly hindered. In the rear section there was, depending on the type, at the top or bottom a steel access door.

Depending on the angle at which the firing port stands to the entrance, one speaks of a G (90), (135), (180), (225) or (270).

Depending on the use of a high (h) or low (l) placed access door, the presence (v) or absence (z) of a raised concrete block at the rear of the dome, and the presence of a climbing shaft (k), various letters are added to the type coding.

Of the blown-up casemate, the concrete works remain. These consist of the bevelled front wall, the side walls (which show clear traces on the interior of the dome (curves), and the rear structure with part of the raised concrete block.

Valuation

The G-casemate is of general importance. The object has cultural-historical value as a particular expression of a cultural and geographical development, namely the fortification and subsequent defence of the Netherlands during the Second World War and is as such an important document of military history. It is of architectural and construction-historical importance because of the particular use of materials and the application of modern materials and techniques, in particular in the processing of reinforced concrete. It has ensemble values as an essential component of a larger whole, which is of cultural-historical importance, and is important because of the high quality of the construction and the historical-spatial relationship with roads, waterways and soil conditions. The whole has great experiential value and as a large-scale military complex and reminder of an important episode in national history is rare.