Fort Pannerden

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Fort Pannerden was one of the largest forts in the Netherlands.

View from Fort Pannerden to the southeast - on the left Pannerdens Canal, on the right the Waal

history

Fort Pannerden was built between 1869 and 1872 in the fork of the Pannerdens Canal (Dutch: Pannerdensch Kanaal) and Waal , as one of the largest forts in the Netherlands. It was supposed to serve as a barrier against invading troops who wanted to advance over the Rhine and Waal to the fortress Holland , behind the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie . In addition, it should be prevented that the Pannerdens Canal could be dammed and the waterline would be without enough water. Just a few years later it seemed that the fort was not able to cope with the advancing weapon technology (introduction of rifled gun barrels and high explosive shells). In addition, the Prussian river vessels "Rhein" and "Mosel" with their 15 cm guns were a serious threat. In the period from 1885 to 1890 the fort was modernized; the east-facing main battery was expanded with armored pillars from Gruson Magdeburg , river iron blocks from Peine and French armor plates. This battery received five 15-caliber 25-cm long guns from Krupp on hydraulic mini-arrows from Gruson. The range of this battery was over 7,000 meters with 50 kg tank shells and a propellant charge of 16 kg of brown prismatic gun powder . Two smaller, laterally arranged batteries were newly built, for which the same manufacturers supplied the armor material. However, these batteries were each equipped with two Dutch 10 cm hard bronze cannons on Gruson's minimally-armed carriages for manual operation.

During the First World War , the fort was fully occupied, and although the threat of 28 cm cannons set up on the Elterberg was frightening for the fort occupation in the neutral Netherlands, there were only isolated shots at a zeppelin and aircraft that had apparently got lost.

Between the world wars, the fort was initially guarded by a sergeant who lived with his family in the neighborhood. In World War II, no hostile effort has been made to dam the channel, and the attack was not carried out afloat. Thus the fort did not have to fulfill its main tasks. The fort, which was completely enclosed after a short time, was fired, among other things with a 12.7 mm machine gun at aircraft, but against the artillery that was already deployed in Doornenburg and the threatened bombing, the fort - unlike in the First World War, was not able to use anti-aircraft equipment had - put up no resistance, and it was passed on by his commanding officer, Captain Westerveld, to Lieutenant Dr. Pass the bacon.

After the war, parts of the fort were used as building material for the reconstruction. The area was used as a garbage dump and the fort building as a munitions storage area.

Modern times

In 1959 the fort was declassified into a fortress without a class. On January 1st, 1988 the state forest administration took over the fort. After the foundation Fort Pannerden had to cancel the repair work, it was occupied on June 12th, 2000. In 2005 the fort became part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie project.

After the fort had been cleared and reoccupied, an agreement was reached in December 2006 between the occupiers, the Stichting Fort Pannerden, and the community of Lingewaard. The occupiers become guards, but are no longer allowed to live there. However, two squatters may always be present, who must ensure order and also lead tours.

source

literature

Coordinates: 51 ° 52 ′ 51 ″  N , 6 ° 1 ′ 38 ″  E