Bomvrij militair object, Fort Everdingen Culemborg

English translation

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Description

Cluster 501. See also monument number: 531679.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P as components added to Fort Everdingen during the mobilisation period 1939-1940. Group Shelters Type P were built in multiple locations in the Netherlands in 1939-1940 according to a more or less uniform or standard design. They occur in large numbers in particular on the Southern Front of the so-called Fortress Holland (on the Nieuwe Merwede and the Hollandsch Diep) and in various locations in the New Hollandic Waterline - then called the Eastern Front of Fortress Holland (including in the area between Fort Rijnauwen and Fort Vechten (the Houtense Plain) and on and near Fort Everdingen). The total number of built examples amounts to approximately 700, of which approximately 570 in the New Hollandic Waterline; the majority (approximately 400) of these still exist. The construction programme for Group Shelters Type P had not been completed at the outbreak of the Second World War and a number of examples were never finished. Type P (also called 'the pyramid' because of its distinctive shape) is presumably the most well-known type of concrete defensive structure in the Netherlands. The type originated from the so-called VIS 77 (Regulation for Setting Up Positions no. 77), from 1928, and had as one of its purposes to form part of the defence of a number of (new) accesses, including in particular (motorway) roads and electrified railways. The Group Shelter Type P usually came into being in the immediate vicinity of already existing or contemporaneously realised casemates, gun emplacements, fortifications or trenches. Because the trenches and other (earthen) works were subsequently levelled or demolished almost everywhere, the concrete shelters nowadays often lie partly below ground level or conversely - unintentionally - stand out prominently in the landscape. The wholly closed front or forward side of Group Shelters Type P was in many cases covered by earthworks that could form part of a glacis to protect the trench or a covered way. These earthworks are now mostly no longer present or can only be recognised with difficulty, but in particular on forts or in otherwise uneven terrain they are sometimes still present. Numerous examples of Type P were built in inundatable areas, in some cases using a (now visible) pile foundation; in others a projecting foundation slab all round or also a trough against floodwater is visible.

Description

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P are single-storey, usually reinforced, approximately 100 to 180 cm thick cast concrete, shrapnel-proof, military shelters, which could provide protection for 10-12 infantry / artillery personnel, with protection classes W 12-15 or W 21-28. The group shelters at Fort Everdingen belong to the heaviest class. Group Shelters Type P were built on a rectangular ground plan. The visible height above ground level varies. Both blind end walls and the gorge side are executed vertically to approximately 3 m height. Above this these walls bend at approximately 45 degrees inward, then transitioning into a flat roof. On the right of the gorge side is an (access opening (later either closed off or left open) at locally varying height above ground level. The entirely vertical, closed front side reflects the 45 degree angles and thus ends as a 'truncated pointed gable'. In a number of cases iron hooks or brackets were cast into the wall(s) that could serve to secure camouflage material. A characteristic component on top of the Type P shelter is a conical concrete 'outlet', which was intended for the use of a periscope. These periscopes were however never actually installed in practice. The interior of Group Shelters Type P consists of a short corridor (usually with a concrete retaining wall or balustrade and normally some descending steps) and a 'lock' chamber leading left from there, which had to be sealable by a (multi-part) heavy steel door with bolts. Via a second, similar door an adjoining, almost square room could be reached to the right, the actual shelter. Access from this room could be covered by a gun slit. The steel doors were however rarely or never installed and the entrances were later often filled in with brick and plastered over. Several group shelters at Fort Everdingen have three-part double-clamped doors as an emergency solution. The ceilings, located at approximately two metres above floor level, are flat and rectangular. In a number of cases interior components are still present, such as (remains of) wooden benches, gun slit closures or a support for the firearm for covering the entrance.

Various examples at Fort Everdingen are - partly thanks to the non-public accessibility of the site - relatively well preserved and still possess interior components. Moreover, there are still examples underground (whether or not completed), in some cases nothing or virtually nothing of which is visible. North of the fort - in the flood plain - lies at least one unfinished example, of which only the lower section, including the square access opening, has been executed.

Valuation

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P are of general interest on account of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realised from 1815 onwards by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for more than a century.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic building design, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (nineteenth and twentieth centuries), b. the competition with increasingly powerful offensive weapons (nineteenth and twentieth centuries), 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 group shelters (Type P / Pyramid), some with and some without earth covering and in one or more cases left unfinished.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline. Also on account of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

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

* The components are reasonably well preserved and as built components are usually readily, but sometimes not or scarcely, recognisable in the field - and in this case especially on a fort.