Bomvrij militair object, Betonnen werken rond Fort Everdingen Vianen (Vijfheerenlanden 26)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 502.

Introduction

BATTERY OF THREE EARTH EMPLACEMENTS / GUN POSITIONS WITH ANNEXED COVERED SLOPES along the west side of the Diefdijk, as defence of the Southern Lekdijk. At numerous locations within – mostly on the ramparts – and outside the forts, gun positions had been prepared. The emplacements (may) date from various periods and have sometimes been (re)arranged multiple times. A large part of the gun positions or banks were situated in the open air and consisted of little more than a levelled platform covered with grass or clinker bricks. The covering usually consisted of a (low) earthen bank or breastwork, in which local depressions for the gun might have been made if necessary. In a number of cases, emplacements were laid on top of bomb-proof structures and there were (have been) slopes to bring the cannons up by horses. Gun positions usually occurred in (small) groups, so that they could function as a battery. Many earthen emplacements and breastworks have disappeared or become difficult to recognise over time, but at a number of locations they are still present or have been made recognisable again. This is particularly the case at a number of forts, but also at some dike bodies that functioned as the main line of defence, such as the Gedekte Gemeenschapsweg, the Nieuwe Zuider Lingedijk and the Diefdijk. The dikes then formed the protection or the glacis of a covered way. Thus, along the west side of the Diefdijk, at various locations groups of earthen mounds are present below the crest of the dike, with a rolling surface at a lower level between them. These are remains of the emplacements and the covered way. The conservation condition and recognisability varies greatly per emplacement. One of the batteries is located at the south-west side of Fort Everdingen against the T-junction of the Lekdijk and the Diefdijk; a second, more easily recognisable example approximately 400 m south of the fort, at the Diefdijk. The slopes to the covered way at the foot of the dike are recognisable. No brick or concrete shelters have been built.

Description

BATTERY OF THREE EARTH EMPLACEMENTS / GUN POSITIONS WITH ANNEXED COVERED SLOPES along the west side of the Diefdijk, south of Fort Everdingen, dating from 1879. The three closely situated emplacements consist of earthen, grass-covered, flattened extensions of the dike body on which cannons could be placed, which via a covered way below the dike crest could be transported invisibly to any potential enemy and via COVERED SLOPES to their positions. These are relatively easily recognisable, prepared gun positions and slopes in the immediate vicinity of several (later) group shelters and a casemate from the years 1939–1940.

Valuation

The BATTERY OF THREE EARTH EMPLACEMENTS / GUN POSITIONS WITH ANNEXED COVERED SLOPES along the west side of the Diefdijk south of Fort Everdingen is of general importance because 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 by others strengthened and improved for more than 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic building art, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the arms race with increasingly strengthening offensive means (19th century).

This is a component that dates from the end of the 19th century, namely a battery of earthen gun positions along the gorge side of a dike body.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. Also because of the functional and physical connection with the other components of the complex.

* The component is representative (characteristic) because it is an example of an open, prepared gun position – with slopes – as part of a dispersed defence along the gorge side of a dike body that formed part of the main line of defence.

* The component is reasonably well preserved because it is still easily recognisable in the field.