Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Waaldijk 29

English translation

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Description

Cluster 73.

NEW HOLLAND WATERLINE

Introduction

FRAGMENT-FREE SHELTER TYPE 1916 / I, as part of linear and access defence based on trench systems, covered roads and the like. (Concrete) shelters were a response to the advent of heavy projectiles and high-explosive shells. The earliest types of shelters offered only protection against shell fragments and were called 'fragment-free'. From the beginning of the 20th century, experiments were conducted with deconcentrated, small (concrete) shelters. In this process, ad hoc use was sometimes made of existing, available materials such as railway rails, rubble, wooden beams and concrete slabs, but alongside this prefabricated components were assembled or concrete was poured on site. In this way, various—whether or not unique—traces of such experiments in concrete can still be found at several locations within the New Holland Waterline. Sometimes they are called shelters, but also battery shelters. Shelter types 1916 / I and 1916 / II were built in 1916 and 1917 at multiple locations in the New Holland Waterline according to a more or less uniform or standard design. There are specimens, among others, at Fort Vuren and at the Battery below Brakel. The shelters, executed as monolithic, cylindrical concrete constructions, formed part of concrete experiments by the Engineering Corps. Such concrete shelters were usually integrated into trenches, on the throat side of the covering. The closed front or frontal side of the shelters was covered by a gravel or rubble cist, or by earthworks that formed part of a dike, a glacis to protect the trench or a covered road. These rubble, gravel or earthworks are sometimes no longer present or only barely recognisable, while the traces of the earthen trenches have also mostly been largely erased. Types 1916 / I and 1916 / II (also called type 1917) proved to be highly vulnerable in trials. Both types are fairly rare and occur in various variants.

Description

The FRAGMENT-FREE SHELTER TYPE 1916 / I is a single-storey, fragment-free, military shelter executed in reinforced concrete, which could offer protection to 4 infantrymen / artillerymen. The fragment-free shelter type 1916 / I is located in the glacis of the Fort at Vuren. The shelter 1916 / I was built on a rectangular ground plan of approximately 3.50 x 1.50 x 1.90 m (w x d x h). The shelter was built according to an approximately seven-sided cylindrical model intended to promote deflection of fragments. The long facades, the roof and the exterior of the floor consequently show a blunt kink along the full length. Both blind end walls are executed vertically. Shelters type 1916 / I were constructed as monolithic concrete works and were accessible via a single entrance opening on the trench side—the throat side. The entrance, located a few tens of centimetres above ground level, is surrounded by a rectangular concrete surround. The shelters of this type were closeable by means of iron shutters, which are no longer present. The shelters are sealed, but (sometimes) reopened. The interior consists of a single undivided space which internally reflects the seven-sided casting form.

Valuation

The FRAGMENT-FREE SHELTER TYPE 1916 / I in the glacis of the Fort at Vuren is of general interest by reason of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realised from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently 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: a. the system of inundation and accesses (19th century), b. the race with increasingly strengthened offensive means (19th and 20th century).

This is a component from approximately 1916, namely an example of a concrete shelter.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Holland Waterline. Also by reason of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The component is representative (characteristic) because it is clearly recognisable as added to the existing fortification system as part of a deconcentrated defence.

* The component is fairly rare because it is a scarcely surviving example of military, experimental series fabrication of this type of defensive means.

* The component is fairly well preserved because as a constructed component it can still be readily recognised in the field.