Lock bridge (France)
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A lock bridge (French: pont-écluse) is a military structure, with the help of which the advance of enemy troops by flooding terrain should be made more difficult or prevented.
The lock bridges were designed by the French general and fortress builder Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban . In the event of a defense, they blocked the passages of a river or canal with gate valves made of tree trunks in order to submerge the - usually - upstream area under water. The strains were obtained from the bridge located on the buildings along the masonry of the pillar sunken grooves lowered. In times of peace the passages remained open.
The functional buildings erected on the bridges only took up one long side of the bridge, the other side being kept free of traffic. The lock bridges did not serve as a lock .
Verdun
Between 1680 and 1687 three lock bridges were built in the south of Verdun according to plans by Vauban . In 1685 the Pont-écluse Saint-Amand was completed over the Canal des Augustins. The approx. 40 m long brick bridge with five passages is considered the only still functional structure of this type. It is approximately 15 m wide, of which 9 m is accounted for by the building and 6 m by the road crossing. In 1978 it was placed under monument protection.
The Pont-écluse Saint-Nicolas over the Meuse and the Pont-écluse Saint-Airy over the Canal Saint-Airy no longer exist. The task of the system was to flood the area upstream within six days over a length of 14 km with a water depth of up to 2.5 m and thus prevent an attack from the south. The system was tested for the first time in 1687, and then five more times. Louis de Cormontaigne rebuilt the bridges, which were never used for their intended purpose, in the 18th century.
Strasbourg
In Strasbourg , Vauban's colleague Jacques Tarade built the Barrage Vauban , also called Grande écluse or Terrasse Vauban, from 1681 to 1688 . The 120 m long bridge over the sluice Ill flooded in 1870 during the siege of the upriver area .
After 1870 the bridge building was increased by one floor at the instigation of the German authorities . In 1966 a panorama terrace was built on the roof, and in 1971 the building was added to the list of monuments.
Thionville
The Pont-écluse sud du couronné d'Yutz, also Pont de Cormontaigne or Pont-écluse Sud, is the preserved one of two lock bridges over the Canal des fortifications in the area of the city of Thionville . It was designed by Louis de Cormontaigne between 1746 and 1752 and has been a listed building since 1984. The Pont du Couronné or Pont-écluse Nord, which was built at the same time, is, however, left to decay.
Jülich
A lock bridge over the Rur was built by the French in 1806 at the Jülich bridgehead . In 1860 the bridge was demolished again under Prussian administration.
Mainz
Mainz (French: Mayence), under French administration since 1797 and the capital of the Département du Mont-Tonnerre , received a lock bridge ten years after the annexation. The Pont-écluse de Mayence (German: Inondationsschanze), initiated by Napoléon Bonaparte , led over the Rhine to Fort Caisel on the east bank of the river. In the event of an attack on the fortified city , the garden field to the north should be flooded.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Le pont-écluse Saint-Amand, protecteur délaissé de Verdun at lesechos.fr, accessed on November 25, 2017
- ↑ Grande écluse de fortification dite barrage Vauban et ses abords fortifiés at culture.gouv.fr, accessed on November 25, 2017
- ↑ Les ponts-écluses à Thionville at petit-patrimoine.com, accessed on November 25, 2017
- ↑ Pont-écluse Sud du Couronné d'Yutz at culture.gouv.fr, accessed on November 25, 2017
- ↑ Brief history of the Jülich bridgehead at juelich.de, accessed on November 26, 2017
- ^ Correspondance de Napoléon I er at Google Books, accessed on November 25, 2017