Kazemat (B10), Werk aan de Groeneweg Houten

English translation

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Description

Cluster 62. Cast steel dome casemates type G.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATER LINE

Introduction

CONCRETE BLOCKS CAST STEEL DOME CASEMATES TYPE G as components of linear and access defence with trench systems, group shelters and the like. In 1936, as a supplement to the reinforced concrete casemate, the so-called cast steel dome casemate was introduced in the Netherlands, which was based on a system already applied in France in 1917. The armour domes used were small in size (favourable with regard to visibility and hit probability), circular in form (favourable with regard to strength and deflecting hits), relatively simple to produce in series, and they had an 'external' firing aperture (favourable with regard to gases and noise). 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, more than 700 must have been cast in a short time, but only a few of these have survived. The cast steel domes, with a diameter of 1.75 m and thicknesses of 10-17 centimetres, were installed in multiple casemate types with resistance classes W 12-15 to W 21-28. Shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, so-called Standard Dome Casemates Type G were established at various locations in the Dutch lines, in particular in the IJssel line, the Maas line, the Grebbe line (each approximately 150) and the New Hollandic Water Line (approximately 80 in a reinforced version with a wall thickness of 14 cm). The usual construction of reinforced concrete with one or more fixed gun openings was hereby abandoned in favour of a system that possessed, within variably constrained limits (up to 270 degrees), a projectable line of fire within a cast steel cylinder with dome roof. Cast steel dome casemates in the New Hollandic Water Line were equipped with a heavy machine gun as armament. Most domes were placed in cast steel or standard dome casemates type G. Standard dome casemates were applied among other things to the defence of improved and 'new accesses', that is to say at locations where new (motor) roads or railways were planned or realised. The front side could be provided with an earth covering and camouflage. The dome casemates type G were usually approachable and accessible via trenches; in the vicinity there were usually group shelters type P.

During the Second World War, the vast majority of domes in the interior were demolished by the occupier from the casemates - partly by blowing up the works - with the aim of recasting them for other steel requirements. On the coast they were partly incorporated into the defence, but were often demolished after the war anyway. As a result, complete cast steel dome casemates are rare; they are in any case still present at Fort Vechten. The concrete structures in which they were placed occur more frequently - but usually in damaged form. Some incomplete dome casemates of type G remain in the complex 'Werk aan de Groeneweg'; here too only the concrete blocks in which the cast steel dome was once built in remain. The preserved remains of casemates type G within the complex 'Werk aan de Groeneweg' formed part of the main defence line in the access of the Lek and as a representation of the dispersed, rear-positioned fortifications, including the obsolete forts, which also provided the necessary depth to this section of the line.

Description

CONCRETE BLOCKS CAST STEEL DOME CASEMATES TYPE G are relatively low, almost square remains of concrete casemates (c. 7.00 x 6.50 x 3.00 m; w x d x h), with, at the height of the space recessed in it for the dome, a rearward sloping surface. On the rear side an opening which formed the entrance to the casemate, which could be closed from inside in a 'gas-proof' manner. Not all dome casemates are completed.

Valuation

The CONCRETE BLOCKS CAST STEEL DOME CASEMATES TYPE G in the Werk aan de Groeneweg are of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Water Line as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially from 1815 realised by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and thereafter strengthened and improved by others for approximately 125 years.

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

These are components from the period 1939-1940, namely remains of standard cast steel dome casemates.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Hollandic Water Line in general and because of the mutual functional, functional-spatial and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The components are representative (characteristic) because they remain clearly recognisable in the field.

* The components are reasonably well preserved because important physical characteristics, despite wilful partial dismantling, remain recognisable.