The Fort de Lantin is one of twelve forts built around

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, in the late 19th century. The overall

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'' ...

was a constituent part of the country's National Redoubt. Fort de Lantin was built between 1881 and 1884 according to the plans of 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 ...

. Contrasting with the French forts built in the same era by

Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières (20 May 1815 – 16 February 1895) was a French military engineer and general whose ideas revolutionized the design of fortifications in France. He gave his name to the Séré de Rivières system of fortificatio ...

, the fort was built exclusively of unreinforced concrete, a new material, rather than masonry. The fort was heavily bombarded by German artillery in the

Battle of Liège A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. Lantin was never upgraded like the other forts of Liège and retains its character as a Brialmont fort. It is preserved as a museum and may be visited by the public.

Description

The Fort de Lantin is located about northwest of the center of

. The fort forms an

isosceles triangle In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides of equal length, the latter versio ...

whose base is long and whose sides measure . A deep by ditch encircles the fort. The principal armament was concentrated in the central massif. The ditches were defended in

enfilade Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...

by 57 mm guns in

casemates A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...

resembling

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 ...

batteries, firing at shot traps at the other end of the ditch. It is one of the smaller forts of Liège. With the exception of the Fort de Loncin, the Belgian forts made little provision for the daily needs of their wartime garrisons, locating latrines, showers, kitchens and the morgue in the fort's

, a location that would be untenable in combat. This would have profound effects on the forts' ability to endure a long assault. The service areas were placed directly opposite the barracks, which opened into the ditch in the rear of the fort (i.e., in the face towards Liège), with lesser protection than the two "salient" sides. The Brialmont forts placed a weaker side to the rear to allow for recapture by Belgian forces from the rear, and located the barracks and support facilities on this side, using the rear ditch for light and ventilation of living spaces. In combat heavy shellfire made the rear ditch untenable, and German forces were able to get between the forts and attack them from the rear. The Brialmont forts were designed to be protected from shellfire equaling their heaviest guns: 21 cm. The top of the central massif used of unreinforced concrete, while the caserne walls, judged to be less exposed, used . Under fire, the forts were damaged by 21 cm fire and could not withstand heavier artillery.

Armament

Lantin's armament included two double 15 cm gun turrets, two double 12 cm gun turrets and 57 mm gun turrets. It also mounted an observation turret with a searchlight. Rapid-fire 57 mm guns were provided in casemates for the defense of the ditches and the postern. The large weapons were all German products, made by

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, but the armor was by Cockerill (Belgium),

Ateliers de Creusot Schneider et Cie, also known as Schneider-Creusot for its birthplace in the French town of Le Creusot, was a historic French iron and steel-mill company which became a major arms manufacturer. In the 1960s, it was taken over by the Belgian Empain ...

(France) or Grüson (Germany).Donnell, p. 16 The fort was provided with signal lights to permit communication with the neighboring

Fort de Loncin The Fort de Loncin is one of twelve forts built around Liège, Belgium, in the late 19th century. The overall Fortified Position of Liège was a constituent part of the country's National Redoubt. Fort de Loncin was constructed between 1881 an ...

and

Fort de Liers The Fort de Liers is one of twelve forts built around Liège, Belgium, in the late 19th century. The overall Fortified Position of Liège was a constituent part of the country's National Redoubt. Fort de Liers was built between 1881 and 1884 ac ...

. The guns were fired using

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

rather than

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...

, producing choking gas in the confined firing spaces that spread throughout the fort.

First World War

In 1914 the Fort de Lantin was one of the last Liège forts to suffer German bombardment. Liège first came under attack on 6 August 1914. When the Liège proved unexpectedly stubborn, the Germans brought heavy siege artillery to bombard the forts with shells far larger than they were designed to resist. Lantin was heavily bombarded starting 10 August. It surrendered the next day, due to the asphyxiating atmosphere within.Donnell, p. 48-49

Present

Lantin was not upgraded in the 1930s as part of the

, remaining essentially as it was built by Brialmont. The fort was acquired by the preservation organization ''Les Amis du Fort de Lantin'' from the Ministry of Defense in 1983, and is open for public tours at stated times.

References

Bibliography

*Donnell, Clayton, ''The Forts of the Meuse in World War I'', Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2007, . *Kauffmann, J.E., Jurga, R., ''Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II'', Da Capo Press, USA, 2002, .

External links

Fort de Lantin site

Fort de Lantin
at fortiff.be {{Fortified Position of Liège

Lantin Juprelle (; wa, Djouprele) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Juprelle had a total resident population of 8,405. The total area is 35.36 km² which gives a population density Pop ...

World War I museums in Belgium

Museums in Liège Province