Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Marsdijk bij 2

English translation

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Description

Cluster 42.

Introduction

THREE CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G, as part of the adapted defence measures in the run-up to the Second World War. In 1936, as a supplement to the armed 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 armour cupolas used were small in size (favourable with regard to visibility and hit probability), circular in shape (favourable with regard to strength and deflecting hits), relatively easy to produce in series and they had an 'external' firing opening (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 units in the Netherlands (from DEMKA) was followed by a second of 50 units from the Belgian Soc. Anonyme John Cockerill. In total, more than 700 must have been cast in a short time, but only a few of them have survived. The cast steel cupolas, with a diameter of 1.75 m and thicknesses of 10-14 centimetres, were installed in several casemate types with resistance class W 12-15 to W 21-28. Shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, so-called cast steel cupola casemates Type G were constructed at various places in the Dutch lines, particularly in the IJssellinie, the Maaslinie, the Grebbelinie (each approximately 150) and the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (approximately 80 in a reinforced version of 14 centimetre thickness). The usual construction of armed concrete with one or more fixed firing positions was abandoned here in favour of a system that possessed a firing direction that could be projected within variable limits (up to 270°), within a cast steel cylinder with cupola roof. Standard cupola casemates could be equipped, among other things, with a heavy machine gun as armament. Most cupolas were installed in Standard Cupola Casemates Type G. Standard cupola casemates were applied, among other things, for the defence of 'new or improved accesses', that is, at places where new (motor)roads or electrification of railways were planned or realised. The front side could be provided with an earth covering and camouflage. The cupola casemates Type G were usually accessible via communication trenches; in the vicinity there were usually group shelters type P. During the Second World War, the vast majority of cupolas inland were demolished by the occupier from the casemates - partly by blasting - with the aim of recasting them for other steel requirements. At the coast they were partly incorporated into the defence, but were often demolished after the war. As a result, complete cupola casemates are rare; they are found, in any case, still at Fort Vechten. The concrete structures in which they were installed occur more frequently - but usually in damaged form.

Description

The THREE CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G were built according to a standardised design and consist of a cast steel cupola, which is anchored in an armed concrete structure. Unlike at virtually all other places where they were applied in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (and elsewhere in the Netherlands), the cupolas and the steel closing doors of the casemates at the Fort at Vechten were not removed, as a result of which these specimens are considerably more complete than virtually all others. The cast steel cupola casemates at Fort Vechten are, because they are preserved virtually complete, extremely rare. The cupolas are man-height, with a diameter of 1.75 metres and a wall thickness of 0.14 metres. On the front side, around the firing position, for the protection of the weapon, there is a cast-in, overhanging edge. Standard armament in the NHW consisted of a heavy machine gun; the machine guns are no longer present. The concrete structure consists of a relatively low rectangular building, with a bevelled section on the front side, in order to achieve maximum field of fire and to cause any enemy hits to ricochet. At the rear, at the entrance to the cupola, there is a recess in the concrete to allow access to the cupola. The firing position and the access to the casemate could be closed 'gas-tight' from within.

Valuation

The THREE CAST STEEL CUPOLA CASEMATES TYPE G at Fort Vechten are of general importance by virtue of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie 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 over approximately 125 years.

* Military-historical values as part of a continuous military defence line between the former Zuiderzee and the Biesbosch. This consisted mainly of a coherent system of inundation fields and associated inundation means and firing fields. This system was supplemented with various types of built or constructed (defence) works dating from different periods, which served to or contributed to the closure of non-inundatable terrain or other accesses.

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

These are components from the period 1939-1940, namely three virtually completely preserved, and thus extremely rare, standard cast steel cupola casemates.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie in general and by virtue of the mutual functional, functionally-spatial and physical coherence with the other components of the complex and with the access of the Houtense Vlakte and the Kromme Rijn.

* The components are representative (characteristic) because they are clearly recognisable as components added later to the existing fortification system and because they have also clearly remained recognisable as such in the field. Also because, as the only ensemble of this type of casemate, they have remained completely preserved.

* The components are reasonably well preserved because the main physical characteristics have remained recognisable and in situ.

* The components are extremely rare because they are among the few completely preserved examples of standard cast steel cupola casemates type G.