Fort Pannerden

English translation

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Description

Air Watch Post.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

AIR WATCH POST, at the highest point of Fort Pannerden, as a post-war military facility for the so-called Air Watch Service Corps (KLD). The post was established in 1951 or 1952 and had a function in the context of intended visual and/or auditory observation of the approach of (possibly enemy) aircraft. The enemy at that time was considered to be the armed forces of the so-called Warsaw Pact, which consisted of communist states - satellites of the then Soviet Union (now Russia). Further alerting took place by telephone and the tracking of enemy aircraft would likewise occur by means of hearing and sight. With the emergence of faster aircraft with jet engines and thanks to the improvement of radar technology, the system was soon superseded and after a thinning of the network, the system was abolished in 1968. A large part of the 138 specially constructed (wooden and concrete) observation posts were demolished or fell into disrepair and only a few still exist - some with monument status. Their continued existence was due in part to temporary use by the Civil Protection (BB), which was likewise abolished in 1986. The air watch post at Fort Pannerden was one of approximately 275 observation posts that in the KLD network were distributed across our country and of which approximately half were located on existing structures. In this case one can speak of a hybrid example of an observation post: the location as such was an existing military construction, but the post itself is a square, open, brick structure. It represents memorial values of the Cold War period and furthermore certain typological rarity values; the architectural-historical significance of this austere structure is secondary. The post was provided with a covering (a low tent roof) in 2005 to serve as a bird observation post, but this roof was removed around 2012. The post has also been incorporated within a larger (wooden) platform, which is accessible from the gun positions of the Land Battery.

Description

AIR WATCH POST at the highest point of Fort Pannerden and consisting of a square, grey brick balustrade with an access recessed within it on the north-west side. The dimensions measure approximately 3 x 3 m; the one-brick-thick walls are approximately 1.25 m high and are cemented on the inside. The roll moulding with which the brickwork ends slopes slightly outward for rainwater drainage; on either side of the south-west corner point, this roll moulding is one brick thickness lower over approximately one metre. The floor is cemented.

Valuation

The AIR WATCH POST at Fort Pannerden is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values, as a structure added after the Second World War to an existing component of the New Hollandic Waterline. The New Hollandic Waterline was designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and was initially constructed from 1815 by him, by Jan Blanken and by major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and was subsequently strengthened and improved by others over approximately 125 years. The air watch post was only added around 1950 and is thus one of the last military elements added to the system.

* Military-historical and system values, as part of an advanced section of an otherwise virtually continuous military defensive line between the former Zuiderzee and the Biesbosch. This consisted mainly of a coherent system of inundation fields and associated inundation means and of fields of fire. This system was supplemented with diverse types of constructed or established (defensive) works from different periods that served or contributed to the closure and defence of terrain that could not be inundated or other accesses.

* Ensemble value and situational values, due to the physical coherence with the other components of the complex and furthermore also with the few other remaining (purpose-built) air watch posts.

* The structure is representative (characteristic) because it still exhibits the physical characteristics that at the time gave rise to its construction and it is rare (become) as a result of demolition and otherwise the disappearance of other related examples.

* The structure is well preserved because in terms of structure and physical appearance the main aspects of the condition in the 1950s have been retained and/or thanks to restoration have been consolidated.