Casemate Mougin

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Casemate with mount and gun replica of the Canon de 155 mm L modèle 1877 in Fort du Mont Bart
Gun gate for the Canon de 155 L M1877 gun with the lowered loop shutter in Fort du Mont Bart

The Casemate Mougin was an armored gun emplacement in French fort. It was the execution of the Canon de 138 and execution for the Canon de 155 L . The gun stands were developed by Commandant Mougin from 1874 . The task of the guns in the casemates was to fight enemy siege artillery. Both models were minimal chart cannons .

Model for the Canon de 138 Raffye

The casemate was made of concrete and masonry and reinforced with steel armor.

Armor

  • A 7 t heavy end plate made of rolled steel, 4 m wide, 1.6 m high and 15 cm thick. In the middle of the plate was the gun gate of 88 × 52 cm dimensions.
  • A pre-armor , 4 m wide, 32 cm high and 15 cm thick, which was installed vertically and at the same time served as the front wall of the shaft for the locking disk. It was connected to the faceplate with four 10 cm thick bolts.
  • The locking disc of the gun gate was round, diagonally provided with two openings and could be turned with a hand crank. The gun gate could be opened or closed in a very short time. The disc weighed 4 t, had a diameter of 1.8 m and was 20 m thick. It sat on an axis that was 20 cm in diameter.
  • To the left and right of the gun gate there were protruding cylindrical cases made of sheet steel, which were filled with concrete and were supposed to prevent flanking fire on the gun gate.
  • The ceiling was lined with an iron plate measuring 1.2 × 5.12 m, on top of which lay a layer of stone, a layer of clay , then clay, then top soil. The ceiling was designed to absorb the impact of a 95 mm grenade .

Armament

The armament consisted of a cannon "Canon de 138 modèle 1873-74" in a steel mount of the Torbes 1 or 2 type. The total weight of the gun and mount was 6675 kg. The lateral straightening range was 60 °, the vertical straightening range –5 ° to + 15 °. The 23 kg grenades had a maximum range of 4.8 km.

Stakes and whereabouts

The casemates were not involved in any fighting.

Fort d'Arches

In 1900 it had already been shown that the Tourelle Galopin de 155 mm L modèle 1890 armored turret was superior to the "Casemate Mougin" in all respects. The two casemates were therefore given up. They were removed and one of the front armor plates to reinforce the fire control and observation armored dome for the Tourelle de 75 mm R modèle in 1905 was moved to Fort de Dogny ( Verdun Fiery Place ), where it was installed. The remainder of the armor, 27.2 t, initially remained in place as scrap and was used in 1912 for blasting tests with melinite . Then the parts were sold to a scrap dealer.

Fort de Château-Lambert and Fort de Parmont

In 1912/1913 the two old 155 mm guns were replaced by those of the Canon de 120 mm L modèle 1878 type , which resulted in a greater range. The gun post in Fort de Parmont was blown up and scrapped by the Germans in 1943. Only the casemate in Fort de Château-Lambert was preserved and is still on site today.

Model for the Canon de 19 C de Côte

A project from 1875 envisaged the production of a larger casemate and equipping it with a 19 cm canon de 19 C de Côte coastal gun. However, the project was not carried out.

Model for the Canon de 155 L

The armor of the casemate was made of cast iron and was the third model installed in the forts. It offered a smaller target than previous models. The armament consisted of the Canon de 155 mm L modèle 1877 on mount M1881. The lateral straightening range was 60 °, the height direction was carried out via a hydraulic cylinder and varied between −5 ° and + 20 °. The range of the gun was 7.1 km.

Armor

  • The ceiling consisted of four plates made of cast iron, each weighing 40 t, on which a layer of earth was applied.
  • The front armor was 60 cm thick and 22.5 t in weight, and in the middle was the gun gate with dimensions of 40 × 35 cm.
  • The armored armor , which at the same time formed the outer wall of the shaft for the closure block of the reject opening, weighed 10 t.
  • The locking block for the gun gate was hung in a shaft and was moved up and down by a chain hoist with two cranks. These cranks were in two recesses on the side of the gun room. A counterweight of 7 t was used to compensate. In order to avoid shooting accidents, the barrel was prevented from advancing into the firing position when the flap was closed by an electrical lock powered by a battery.

A total of 10 copies were made by the "Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt" - better known under the name of the Saint-Chamond production facility . Unarmed, the cost was 80,000 gold francs each. No further order was placed because the side straightening area was considered inadequate, the cadence was too low and the ventilation of the casemate, which was only provided by a smoke vent in the ceiling, was insufficient. Some improvements, including ventilation, were made after 1900.

A project from 1877, which provided for the production of such casemates on a smaller scale with guns of smaller caliber to combat enemy field guns, was not implemented.

Stakes and whereabouts

During the two world wars, the "Casemates Mougin" played no role. In 1943, the German occupation organization Todt removed guns and gun mounts from some of the casemates and scrapped them. What was left at the end of the war, the French army dismantled in the 1960s. Except for the casemate of the “Battery des Ayvelles” ( Villers-Semeuse municipality ), which has completely disappeared, all the others are still there. The gun carriage is still in one of the two casemates in Fort de Condé near Soissons ; in the casemates in Fort de Joux , both flaps are still functional. In Fort du Mont Bart near Montbéliard there is also a mount with the replica of the pipe.

Overview

Installed casemates

designation local community Away Installation Whereabouts
A. Montbeliard Fort you Mont Bart 1879/1880 Partially scrapped in 1943
B. Condé-sur-Aisne Fort de Condé July 21, 1881 partially scrapped
C. Condé-sur-Aisne Fort de Condé July 21, 1881 Carriage and cannon scrapped
D. Pontarlier Fort de Joux nb Carriage and cannon scrapped
E. Pontarlier Fort de Joux nb Carriage and cannon scrapped
F. Nice Fort de la Tete de Chien nb moving parts scrapped in the 1980s
G Charleville-Mezieres Fort de Ayvelles nb Carriage and cannon scrapped in the 1960s
H Charleville-Mezieres Battery de Ayvelles nb disappeared
I. Frouard Battery de l'Éperon nb Partially scrapped in 1943
J Frouard Battery de l'Éperon nb Partially scrapped in 1943

Installations planned after 1885

number Away Location
2 Fort you Mont Bart Montbeliard
1 Fort de Longchamp Fixed place Épinal
1 Fort de Château-Lambert Haute Moselle (Upper Moselle)
1 Fort du Champ des Romains Hauts de Meuse (Meuse Heights)
1 Fort de Gironville Hauts de Meuse
5 Fort de Saint crowd Langres
7th Fort de Dampierre Langres
1 Fort d'Ecrouves Fixed place in Toul
1 Fort de Bouremont Troué de Charmes
1 Battery de Conflans Albertville
2 Fort de Bron Lyon
2 Battery de Couvres Tournoux

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