Versperring, Gageldijk bij 165

English translation

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Description

Cluster 30. Group Shelters Type P.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P are twentieth-century, series-built additions to the existing (national) defence. At various locations on and around Fort De Gagel there are Group Shelters Type P. Some of these are counted as part of this complex. There are three specimens that were built next to each other on the front side of the fort, all with the entrance opening on the west side (gorge side of the fort). None of them are (yet) provided with an earth covering, nor with recognizable trenches or other works, but traces or remains of these may (still) be present. (Concrete) (group) shelters formed a response to the arrival of heavy projectiles and high-explosive grenades. The latter have a highly explosive charge. The earliest types of concrete shelters offered only protection against grenade fragments and were called 'fragment-proof'. Depending on the weight of the artillery and the protection against it, since 1928 there has been a classification in resistance or protection classes, consisting of two numbers, e.g. W 12-15. The first indicates that the protection is sufficient for impacts of projectiles up to that calibre (in cm); the second that protection exists against one or at most a few impacts up to this higher calibre.

The Group Shelters Type P were built in more or less uniform or standard design in the years 1939-1940 at multiple locations in the Netherlands. The total number of specimens built amounts to approximately 700, of which around 570 in the New Hollandic Waterline; the majority (approximately 400) of these still exist. The building programme of the Group Shelters Type P was not completed when the Second World War broke out and a number of specimens have remained visibly unfinished. Type P (also called 'the pyramid' because of its distinctive shape) is presumably the best-known type of concrete defensive work in the Netherlands. The type originated from the so-called VIS 77 (Instructions for Setting Up Positions no. 77), from 1928, and had among other things the purpose of forming part of the defence of a number of new accesses, including in particular (motorways). The Group Shelter Type P usually came about in the immediate vicinity of already existing or contemporaneously realized casemates, gun emplacements, fortifications or trenches. The hitherto entirely closed front or front side of the Group Shelters Type P was intended to be covered by earthworks, which in turn could form part of a glacis to protect a trench, a group nest or a covered way. These earthworks are now mostly no longer present or still only barely recognizable, but particularly on forts or in otherwise terrain marked by relief, there is sometimes still protection.

Various variants of Type P exist, both in terms of dimensions and protection class as well as in execution and detailing. For instance, there are specimens built in protection classes W 12-15 and W 21-28 with dimensions ranging from approximately 5.50 x 7.20 x 4.70 m to 6.50 x 8.20 x 4.90 m (w x d x h). Numerous specimens of Type P were built in inundatable areas, in a number of cases with a visible piled foundation applied, while often a retaining wall or trough with stairs against inundation water has been inserted in the then elevated, square entrance and in yet others a projecting concrete foundation slab is present all around.

Description

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P are single-storey, usually reinforced concrete, approximately 100 to 180 cm thick poured-in-place concrete, grenade-proof, military shelters that could provide protection for 10-12 infantrymen / artillerymen. Group Shelters Type P are built on a rectangular ground plan. The visible height above ground level varies. Both blind side walls and the gorge side are executed vertically to approximately 3 m height. Above this these walls slope inward with a break of approximately 45° in order then to transition into a flat roof. On the right in the gorge side there is an entrance opening at locally varying height above ground level (subsequently blocked or not). The entirely vertical, closed front side reflects the 45° angles and thus ends as a 'truncated gable'. In a number of cases, iron hooks were cast into the wall(s) which could serve to attach camouflage material. A characteristic component on top of the Group Shelter type P is the conical concrete 'outlet', which was intended for use of a periscope. These periscopes were never actually installed in practice. The interior of the Group Shelters Type P consists of a short corridor (usually with a concrete retaining wall or balustrade and usually a few descending steps) and from there a 'lock' directed to the left which could be closed off with a (consisting of several parts) heavy steel door with bolts. Via a second, similar door, a subsequently located, virtually square space could be reached to the right, the actual shelter. The entrance could be covered from this space via a gun port. The doors, however, were rarely or never installed in practice. 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 or a support for the firearm for covering the entrance. The specimens forming part of the Fort De Gagel complex are located on the fort body, next to each other and broadly to the north of the barracks building.

Valuation

GROUP SHELTERS TYPE P at and near Fort De Gagel are of general interest because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realized from 1815 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 science, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (nineteenth and twentieth centuries), b. the race with increasingly strengthened offensive means (nineteenth and twentieth centuries), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (twentieth century).

These are components from the period 1939-1940. These components are examples of reinforced concrete enlisted men's shelters.

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

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

* The components are fairly well preserved and as built components are readily recognizable in the field.