Kazemat (B10), tussen Rijnauwen en Vechten Vechten (Bunnik 26)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 41.

Introduction

CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G are reinforced concrete, enclosed machine-gun emplacements, which usually formed part of deconcentrated defensive works with trench systems, group nests, group shelters, obstacles and similar. In 1936, as a supplement to the reinforced concrete casemate, the so-called cast steel cupola casemate was introduced in the Netherlands, which was based on a system already applied in France in 1917. The armoured cupolas used were small in size (favourable with regard to visibility and hit probability), round in shape (favourable with regard to deflecting hits and strength), relatively simple to produce in series, and they had an 'external' firing aperture (favourable with regard to gases and sound). Moreover, they could be manufactured in the Netherlands, which significantly reduced dependence on foreign countries. A first order of 100 pieces in the Netherlands (from DEMKA) was followed by a second of 50 pieces from the Belgian Soc. Anonyme John Cockerill. In total, over 700 must have been cast in a short time, but only a few of these have survived. The cast steel cupolas, with a diameter of 1.75 m and thicknesses of 10-14 centimetres, were installed in multiple casemate types with resistance classes W 12-15 and W 21-28. Shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, so-called Cupola Casemates Type G were constructed in various places in the Dutch lines, notably in the IJssel line, the Maas line, the Grebbe line (each approx. 150) and the New Holland Water Line (approx. 80 in a reinforced version of 14 centimetre thickness). The usual construction of reinforced concrete with one or more fixed firing apertures was hereby abandoned in favour of a system that, within variable limits (up to 270°), could project a direction of fire within a cast steel cylinder with cupola roof. The firing aperture in the cupola formed a rounded rectangular 'eyebrow' of approximately 10 cm thickness, which protruded several decimetres outside the cupola and provided protection for the machine gun positioned within. The firing aperture and access to the casemate, which was located in a recess behind the cupola, could be closed from inside 'gas-proof'. Most cupolas were placed in Standard Cast Steel Cupola Casemates Type G. Standard Cupola Casemates in the NHW were equipped with a heavy machine gun as armament. During the Second World War, the vast majority of cupolas in the interior were demolished by the occupier from the casemates - partly by blowing them up - to remelt them for other steel needs. On the coast, they were partly incorporated into the defence, but were mostly demolished after the war anyway. As a result, complete cupola casemates are rare; they occur, among other places, still at Fort Vechten. The concrete bases of the cupola casemates are less rare. Thus, there are multiple concrete remains of Cast Steel Cupola Casemates Type G in the complex 'Intermediate Position Rijnauwen-Vechten', including one to the north of the Fort at Rijnauwen, near a Group Shelter Type P.

Description

Remains of CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G are relatively low, almost square, concrete bases of approx. 7.00 x 6.50 x 3.00 m (w x d x h), with at the height of the recess for the cupola a backwardly sloping surface. The specimens present on the Houtense Vlakte as part of the 'Intermediate Position Rijnauwen-Vechten complex' have all been blown up and show severe concrete damage as a result; the cupolas have been removed and remelted. The casemates are not accessible, as they have been filled with rubble at the location of the missing cupola. The bases of the casemates lie fairly clearly visible in the terrain, because they had a free field of fire towards the local (traffic) infrastructure and accesses. One lies as one of the most easterly works of the complex, on the north bank of the Kromme Rijn, slightly south-east of Fort Rijnauwen. A third lies among a number of shelters Types 1918/I and 1918/II, slightly south of the farmhouse 't Goed ten Rhijn, on the south bank of the Kromme Rijn. Two others lie on either side of the bundled railway and the current A12 motorway and were intended to cover respectively the old Provincial Road and the railway line towards Utrecht. The current A12 was at that time (c. 1940) partly completed and was under construction in this area, so this national road threatened to become an access to be defended.

Valuation

The remains of the CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G in the Intermediate Position Rijnauwen-Vechten complex are of general interest because of:

* Cultural-historical values as components of the New Holland Water Line as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially from 1815 realised by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus, and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for over a century.

* Military-historical values as part of a continuous military defensive line between the former Zuiderzee and the Biesbosch. This consisted mainly of a coherent system of inundation fields and associated inundation equipment and fields of fire. This system was supplemented with various types of built or constructed (defensive) works dating from different periods, which served to or contributed to the closure of terrain that could not be inundated or other accesses.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic architecture, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th and 20th centuries), b. the race with increasingly powerful offensive means (20th century) c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century)

These are components from the period 1939-1940. These components are examples of reinforced concrete cupola casemates (Type G), now without earth covering and without cast steel cupola (later removed).

* Ensemble value and situational values as components of the New Holland Water Line. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The components are representative (characteristic) because they are clearly recognisable as components added to the existing fortification system as part of a deconcentrated defensive line.

* The components are moderately well preserved, as a result of wilful dismantling by the German occupier during the Second World War, but they are still clearly recognisable as built objects in the field.