The Fort of Battice (french: fort de Battice) is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
fortification located just to the east of the town of
Battice. The fort was built in the 1930s as part of the
fortified position of Liège
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, augmenting the twelve original forts built to defend Liège in the 1880s with four more forts closer to the Belgian frontier with Germany. Battice is nearly as large as the more famous
Fort Eben-Emael
Fort Eben-Emael (french: Fort d'Ében-Émael, ) is an inactive Belgian fortress located between Liège and Maastricht, on the Belgian-Dutch border, near the Albert Canal, outside the village of Ében-Émael. It was designed to defend Belgium ...
. Work began in April 1934, with some finish work continuing in 1940 when war broke out. Following the successful
German surprise attack on Eben-Emael, Battice held out against the Germans until 22 May 1940 (12 days). On 28 May 1940 all Belgian forces surrendered. Battice has been preserved and may be visited by the public.
Situation
The fort is located between
Fort d'Aubin-Neufchâteau
The Fort of Aubin-Neufchâteau (french: Fort d'Aubin-Neufchâteau) is a Belgian fortification located near Neufchâteau. The fort was built in the 1930s as part of the fortified position of Liège, augmenting the twelve original forts built to de ...
to the north and the
Fort de Tancrémont
The Fort de Tancrémont is a Belgian fortification located about south of Pepinster. The fort was built in the 1930s as part of the fortified position of Liège, augmenting the twelve original forts built to defend Liège in the 1880s with four ...
to the south, about east of Liège. Tancrémont and Aubin-Neufchâteau are smaller than Eben-Emael and Battice. Collectively, the line was known as the Fortified Position of Liège I (''Position Fortifiée de Liège 1'' (PFL I) ), the original Liège forts constituting PFL II.
Description
The Fort de Battice was a greatly enlarged development of the original Belgian fortifications designed by General
Henri Alexis Brialmont
Henri-Alexis Brialmont (Venlo, 25 May 1821 – Brussels, 21 July 1903), nicknamed The Belgian Vauban after the French military architect, was a Belgian army officer, politician and writer of the 19th century, best known as a military archi ...
before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Even in its larger form, the fort comprised a relatively compact ensemble of gun turrets and observation posts, surrounded by a defended ditch. This was in contrast with French thinking for the contemporary
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...
fortifications, which were based on the dispersed ''fort palmé'' concept, with no clearly defined perimeter, a lesson learned from the experiences of French and Belgian forts in World War I.
The new Belgian forts, while more conservative in design than the French ''ouvrages'', included several new features as a result of World War I experience. The gun turrets were less closely grouped. Reinforced concrete was used in place of plain mass concrete, and its placement was done with greater care to avoid weak joints between pours. Ventilation was greatly improved, magazines were deeply buried and protected, and sanitary facilities and general living arrangements for the troops were given careful attention.
Battice, along with Eben-Emael, featured 120 mm and 75 mm guns, giving the fort the ability to bombard targets across a wide area of eastern Liège region. The 120 mm guns had sufficient range to provide artillery cover to Tancrémont and Aubin-Neufchâteau, but not with 75 mm guns, nor could the other forts' 75 mm guns or Eben-Emael's 120 mm guns reach Battice.
The Fort de Battice comprised at least twelve combat blocks just to the east of Battice, north of the present-day
E40 highway. The roughly pentagonal fort has a surface area of about , of a total site area of about .
The fort was armed similarly to Eben-Emael in both scale and equipment, only with fewer 60 mm anti-personnel guns. All of Battice's heavy artillery was housed in turrets, while Eben-Emael also disposed heavy guns in
casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
s.
[Kauffmann, pp. 109, 124]
* Block B.I, designed to interdict the N648 road and a railway line, equipped with two 60 mm guns, a machine gun embrasure, a grenade ejector and a searchlight.
* Blocks B.II, B.III, B.V and B.VII flanking casemates disposed around the perimeter ditch to take the ditch in enfilade
* Blocks A.Nord, B.IV and B.VI, artillery blocks each equipped with a retractable twin 75 mm gun turret and, at B.IV only, two machine gun cloches.
* Blocks B.Nord and B.Sud housed the fort's 120 mm guns, one per block in twin non-retractable gun turrets. Both turrets have been dismantled. Also called B.IX and B.X.
The fort also included
counterscarp
A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications th ...
positions arranged to fire along the ditches with 47 mm guns, machine guns and grenade launchers, one designated B.IVce. Three blocks designated B.J., B.O. and B.W. provided air and access. B.W. was located above the main living accommodations and was the combat entrance, armed with machine guns, while J and O were emergency exits. All were outside the defended perimeter, above deeply buried galleries. Block B.I also served as an entrance, with truck access along the railway grade. The subterranean accommodations and utilities are outside the surface perimeter.
The fort included a false 120 mm cupola.
The subterranean galleries total about of passages buried between and below the surface, linking troop accommodations, a command post, ammunition magazines and utility plants.
Personnel
In 1940 Battice was commanded by Commandant-Captain Guery of the 5th Battalion of the Liègeois Fortress Regiment. The battalion was commanded by Major Bovy from Battice.
Major Bovy had been hospitalized on 6 May for heart problems, but returned to the fort on the 10th at 0430. He died of a heart attack at 0600 the same day.
History
The Fort de Battice was largely complete by 1940. On 10 May 1940 German forces attacked all four PFL I forts, having largely neutralized Eben-Emael by airborne assault and driving its garrison below, unable to operate the fort's turrets. Battice supported Tancrémont and Aubin-Neufchâteau with suppressing fire, as well as
Fléron
Fléron (; wa, Fléron) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On January 1, 2006, Fléron had a total population of 16,088. The total area is which gives a population density of 1,172 inhabitants per km². F ...
and
Evegnée. German 305 mm mortars fired on Battice on the 12th without significant damage. German infantry attacks started on the 13th. On 21 May Block B.I's
sally port
A sally port is a secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison. The entrance is usually protected by some means, such as a fixed wall on the outside, parallel to the door, which must be circumvented to enter an ...
had been struck by an aerial bomb. A nine-hour cease-fire was negotiated to remove the thirty dead and four survivors.
After Aubin-Neufchâteau was forced to surrender, the German commander, General
Fedor von Bock
Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland in ...
demanded the surrender of Battice and Tancrémont. Battice finally surrendered on 22 May after twelve days of fighting.
[Kauffmann, pp. 116-117] 34 defenders were killed in action and 36 died while prisoners of war, out of a garrison of 939 personnel.
Present day
The fort is preserved and open for public tours. Much of the fort's equipment and armament was removed during and after World War II.
A memorial to the 36 dead is located on the side of Block B.I.
References
External links
Fort de Batticeat fortiff.be
{{Authority control
World War II museums in Belgium
Battice
Museums in Liège Province
Herve