Fort Battice

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Memorial at Block 1

The Fort Battice is after 1934 near the eponymous village km east and about 20 of Liege Built Belgian fortress.

task

The fort belonged to the outer fortress ring of Liège ( French position Fortifiée de Liège - PFL 1) and covered the eastern front of the city. It secured several road and rail connections. Eight other forts were within the range of his artillery .

Planning and construction

The first plans to build a fortification on the eastern edge of the Herver plateau (height 333), east of the village of Battice, go back to 1931. The selected location had some disadvantages. During test drilling, a water-bearing layer was encountered, which is why the underground passage system had to be built higher. In addition, the main Aachen  - Liège road ran there and the Montzen  - Liège railway line ran close to the edge . Construction began on April 1, 1934. The main work was finished in May 1937. During the first construction phase, the decision was made to relocate the road. The entire system was ultimately built on an area of ​​15  hectares and cost around 140 million Belgian francs .

Structure of the plant

Based on the experiences from the First World War - here in particular the battles around Fort Loncin  - Battice was protected by appropriately heavily reinforced concrete against fire of a caliber of up to 520 mm and the fighting blocks were also placed far from the underground barracks. Five artillery blocks are distributed over the area of ​​a pentagon: three retractable armored turrets (blocks 4, 6 and A-Nord) each with two 75 mm cannons (range up to 10.1 km) and two armored turrets (block B-north and B -Süd) with two 120 mm cannons each (range up to 17.5 km). Except for the north side, the facility is surrounded by a storm-free trench that was covered by four strokes . Maintaining the railway line to the north made it necessary to build two flanking systems (blocks 1 and 2), each with two 60 mm anti-tank guns . The main entrance is on the northeast ditch and another entrance with the main fan is about 400 m away from the entire facility. The barracks with rest rooms, kitchen and infirmary are located at a depth of about 30 m. A power station generated the electrical energy for lighting, ventilation, elevators, etc. with six 175 HP motors. A 3.8 km long underground corridor system connects all important parts of the fort. Six artillery observation posts have been set up in the wide area around Battice .

Artillery observation bunker

Occupation and war effort

The V division (2 batteries) of the Liège Fortress Regiment provided the war crew of 911 men. Led by his artillery observers, Battice fired on bridges and roads from May 10, 1940 to hinder the advance of German units. The withdrawal of the Belgian III. Army Corps made it possible for the German troops (border guard regiments 46 and 56) to seal off Battice and the neighboring Fort Aubin-Neufchâteau , but both continued to disrupt the German supply routes with their artillery. The 223rd Infantry Division therefore received the order to storm it. First, the attackers tried to eliminate the Battice artillery watchers. When this succeeded on May 19, only interference or barrage with previously recorded target data was possible. The next day the guns fired almost non-stop to repel an attack on Fort Aubin-Neufchâteau. On May 21st, Stukas dropped several 1,000 kg bombs on Battice. 26 Belgians died when one of them detonated right in front of Block 1. Other combat blocks were badly hit in this air strike. Of the 14 guns, five had failed completely and seven were only partially operational. 34 of the crew died and 17 were injured. On May 22, 1940, 3:00 a.m., the fort commandant Capitaine Guéry capitulated.

At the end of 1941, the Germans used Fort Battice for shooting attempts, including the Röchling grenade. The wing-stabilized projectile developed by Stahlwerke Röchling in Völklingen was shot at a distance of 7 km with a 35.5 cm mortar and penetrated either the concrete of the combat blocks or the 30 m deep ground and then penetrated the concrete corridor system. After the German troops withdrew without a fight, American units occupied the fort in 1944.

The fortress today

In the late 1950s, Battice was largely emptied by a scrap dealer. A private association later took on the complex and carried out extensive restoration work. Visits are offered on the last Saturday of the month from March to November at 1:30 p.m.

  • Trench blows in the northeast trench

  • Relaxation room in the underground barracks

  • Washroom in the underground barracks

  • Artillery observer position

  • Observer position

Web links

Commons : Fort Battice  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Otmar Rogge, Günter Schalich: Fort Battice. Its construction, its use in May 1940 . Aachen 1997. | Pages =
  • Günther Schalich: The forts Neufchâteau and Battice in May 1940 . In: IBA Information . 7 u. 8 (continued), p. 3-23; 38-60 (continued) (1986 and 1987).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otmar Rogge, Günter Schalich: Fort Battice. Its construction, its use in May 1940 . Aachen 1997, p. 22 .
  2. ^ Otmar Rogge, Günter Schalich: Fort Battice. Its construction, its use in May 1940 . Aachen 1997, p. 101-103 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 38 ′ 49 ″  N , 5 ° 50 ′ 3 ″  E