Ouvrage d'infanterie

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Ouvrage de Charmois of the Belfort Square

An Ouvrage d'infanterie was a French fortified infantry base and part of a belt fortress . It is not to be confused with the fortress known only as “Ouvrage”, which was much larger and had a completely different task with covering the space between two forts as an intermediate structure .

See also: → Ouvrage de Froideterre

After the introduction of explosive shells and the associated weakening of the fortifications, which at that time were still made of stone (called “la crise d'obus torpille”), the French military leadership reacted by withdrawing the guns that were on the ramparts of the forts had been placed. They were distributed among the so-called batteries , which were placed in strategically important positions in the fixed places (e.g. in the fixed place Épinal ). Since these gun emplacements were not set up for infantry defense, you had to create your own infantry bases to protect them.

These facilities were referred to as Ouvrages d'infanterie , Redoutes d'infanterie or Retranchements d'infanterie , depending on the task at hand, but the task of protecting the artillery positions was the same. They were only occupied in case of a defense. The armament usually consisted of one or more Hotchkiss M1900 or M1907 machine guns .

The ouvrages , built before 1890, consisted of an earth wall, which was adapted to the terrain if necessary, and a ditch in front of it. In the run-up, barbed wire barriers were sometimes put in place later to protect them. To protect the crew, a shelter of different sizes (a kind of defensive barracks) made of stone was built in the center. The modernization of the facilities in the Feste Platz also resulted in the ouvrages being reinforced with concrete. The breastworks made of earth were replaced by concrete ones, if necessary they were given a steel attachment with loopholes . Steel armored domes ( Guérites blindées ) were also installed to observe the apron. A layer of reinforced concrete was placed on the ceiling . Furthermore, more pure protective bunkers ( abri de combat ) were built in the immediate vicinity . A number of the ouvrages d'infanterie were so reinforced that they even received artillery equipment, concrete casemates and the armored fire control observation domes known as the Observatoire cuirassé .

Inside the defensive building there were usually four accommodation rooms with a limited number of sleeping places, a small kitchen area with an oven for heating the rations, a room for telegraphy and occasionally a small room for the commanding officer. Outside there was sometimes a small supply store. The toilets were mostly installed outdoors, they were in a wall niche with an unobstructed view of the courtyard. Wells or cisterns were not planned, nor a connection to the network of the narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 600 mm.

However, there was no standardized construction plan, the individual floor plans sometimes showed serious differences (with or without a kitchen, latrines inside or outside). The only thing that was the same was that the central building (in contrast to an abri de combat) was also set up for defense.

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