Fort du Salbert, also known as Fort Lefebvre, was built between 1874 and 1877. It was named after General

François Joseph Lefebvre François Joseph Lefebvre ( , ; 25 October 1755 – 14 September 1820), Duc de Dantzig, was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and one of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon. E ...

. It forms part of the

Séré de Rivières system The system was named after Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, its originator. The system was an ensemble of fortifications built from 1874 along the frontiers and coasts of France. The fortresses were obsolescent by 1914 but were used during ...

fortifications in the

fortified region of Belfort The fortified region of Belfort () formed the first line of defense in the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications in the Belfort Gap. Located in northeastern France between Épinal and Besançon, the primary line was built in the late 19th c ...

in northeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is located at the summit of Salbert hill to the northwest of Belfort. During the early years of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

it briefly served as an air defense coordination center. ComputerHotline - Fort-salb-fr

Séré de Rivières fort

Fort du Salbert is one of the second ring of forts around Belfort, built about 5000 to 6000 meters outside the first ring of the 1840s. All of the new generation of forts abandoned sheer walls and bastions in favor of low earth-covered mounds to better resist artillery. After it became apparent that masonry forts would not resist explosive shells, the fort was modernized beginning in 1885 with concrete over the

caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...

s and the creation of underground shelters for troops. From 1893 the fort was connected to other Belfort forts by the Chemins de fer du Territoire de Belfort strategic railroad. The fort was equipped with optical semaphores allowing communications with other forts. During the

First World War 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 ...

a number of underground galleries were constructed to link the caponiers to the caserne. Fort du Salbert commands an area of ponds surrounding Malsaucy, and controls roads to Lure,

Giromagny Giromagny () is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France. Geography Climate Giromagny has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature i ...

and the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

rail line. Its initial construction cost was 2,120,332 francs d'or. Initial manning was 460 men, 24 non-commissioned officers, and 13 officers. A well and cistern provided water. Armament in 1882 was five 155mm long guns, eight 120mm long guns, and a variety of small mortars and small-caliber guns for close defense. A 1900 modernization was to add a Galopin armored twin 155mm gun turret and an armored observation post. The gun turret project was abandoned, along with a further addition of a machine gun turret and a 75mm gun turret. The main fort never received the extensive concrete cover that was applied to other Séré de Rivières forts. During the quarrying of the fort's stone the caves of Cravanche were discovered in 1876. Currently, the fort has lost much of its original appearance (late nineteenth century) due to the creation in 1950 of the Ouvrage "G" de la D.A.T. that required modernization of the fort.

References

External links

Fort du Salbert
at Chemins de mémoire

at Fortiff' Séré

{{Séré de Rivières system Fortifications of Belfort Bunkers in France Séré de Rivières system Installations of the French Air and Space Force Military installations established in 1877 1877 establishments in France

Séré de Rivières fort

See also

References

External links