# Verdun trip, Forts report number 4 - Fort de Regret. VERY IMAGE INTENSIVE!



## TeeJF (Jun 27, 2011)

Although this is the last of our June 2011 Verdun trip reports it is actually the THIRD fort we penetrated but I thought I should save the best for last!

Fort de Regret is quite unusual in that the main entrance to the fort is actually in the bottom of the moat and the bottom of the moat sits in effect at ground level. On many of the other Verdun forts the moat is actually excavated below ground level and the fort sits down into the ground - see Fort Bois du Bourrus in my previous report for a graphic example. But Fort Regret, and one or two of the others, are built on top of the ground, albeit with some excavation and a serious earth and concrete covering. The moat itself is just as deep as at the other forts but it was constructed above ground level instead of being dug out. The main gates in the moat wall are very high as a consequence. I think that perhaps the nature of the ground upon which the fort is built might be the reason for this. As you get close to the wall of the fort proper there is also a secondary moat but it it only a few feet wide and about 6 feet deep. 

Regret's moat is massively overgrown and les authorities Francais have tucked the fort up tres tight to prevent entry. We wandered right the way round the moat - I say wandered, it was actually more a case of forcing a route through dense, tangled undergrowth - until we arrived back at the main entrance somewhat disheartened and very cut up by the thorns we had encountered in abundance all the way. We almost gave up at this point however we had seen a potential entry point so we wandered back to check the car hadn't dissappeared and to get our "aide d' entree"...

... and we were right glad we had!



*First sight of Fort de Regret as you come upon it from the track through the woods only a short distance from a quiet road...*









*The top date gives the year the fort was built and the year of completion then the second date gives the period when the fort was modernised or improved by modification. Many of the fort's name plates are damaged or gone but Regret's is complete and very photogenic. The entrance corridor is comprehensively bricked up.*








*Please forgive the "Lone Ranger" look! Tonto and I were feeling rather smug at this point!*








*Who'd have thought you could fit an aged, overweight, former TV cowboy through that gap? *








*From the counterscarp blockhouse a descending corridor leads under the moat and up again into the fort proper...*








*... and straight to the first machine gun turret which unfortunately was in the down position. Just like the big gun turrets the MG turrets would drop into their reinforced concrete collars when under direct bombardment. But unlike the artillery turrets the machine guns had to be removed before the turret dropped or the barrels would foul on the way down. These turrets carried two Hotchkiss 8mm air cooled machine guns - here is an example of the gun in a museum:*








*..and looking up into the turret from below.*








*...the gun mounts can be clearly seen here. Although there were two machine gun in the turret, mounted one above the other, they were fired individually in order to allow cooling and re-loading without the need to suspend firing.*








*Part of the turret raise/lower mechanism. Unlike the artillery turrets which had a lever beam and counterweight, the MG turrets had a mechanism not unlike that found on a passenger elevator where a counterweight is pulled up or down against the weight of the car or in this case turret. These wheels are actually pulleys over which chain ran to which the counterweight bucket was attached.*








*Every turret in the Verdun forts was capable of independant action via observation slits in the gun turrets themselves however fire was normally directed by messages passed through speaking tubes from an observer situated in a small, armoured observation cupola close by. This photo is a view up into the cupola from below.*








*The exit onto the ramparts on the top of the fort close by the MG turret. This would allow defending infantry to dislodge any enemy on the top of the fort threatening the turret...*








*A further descent down a flight of stairs then up again at the other side leads one to the main area at the front of the fort.*








*A large arched doorway opens out onto the fort's main barrack block area. This is one of the relatively rare double barrack blocks. The normal compliment of soldiers in this fort was correspondingly much larger. The aesthetics of the architecture never fails to please my eye!*








*A short walk up the corridor we had just entered from the MG turret and counterscarp areas brought us to the front of the fort. Here we found the scarp galleries, further accomodation, a comms centre, kitchens and more fighting compartments.*








*In view of the difficulty in gaining entry to this fort this view out towards the entry gates was very satisfying!*








*Directions painted on the walls are still clear after so many years...*








*As I understand it, "Sous" or "under" officers are what we would call NCOs. In the British Army an Under Officer is an officer cadet in training.*








*A barrack accomodation block in the front of the fort designed for 40 men.*








*...and here's Tonto - herself a former "Rupert" - inspecting the men's accomodation with the Mark II. none exploding torch... *








*"Cuisine" - the kitchens.*








*A covered peephole, the armoured plate can be lifted to use it as a firing point.*








*Latrine block with squatting (yuck!!! ) plates. For such an advanced country France is second only to Germany for the grossest sanitary facility ever invented...*








*In a scarp fighting gallery we found where a hand held fume ventilator had been coupled up to ducting to clear the air of cordite fumes in battle.*








*Power was carried on bare wires around the fort, stood off from the walls on porcelain insulators.*








*Internal barring on the windows overlooking the front, secondary moat. It was not clear whether this was original to the fort or installed later to prevent people like us from entering the fort now.*








*Most of the comms wiring, power distribution, and internal pipe work in the fort has been stripped out but the original wall fixtures are still apparent upon which this stuff was run.*








*The corridor along the front of the fort not only gave access to the accom blocks, scarp galleries etc. but also carried on around the angle of the fort into a Bourge casemate. These fighting compartments were named after the French artillery proving ground at Bourge and were a very powerful late period add on designed to beef up the artillery within the forts. They were very cheap and fast to build so they proved to be a most cost effective improvement. The two emplacements for the quick firing "Soixante-Quinze" guns can be clearly seen on the raised platforms. *








*Detail of the gun position on the platform. The rails on the floor allow traversing of the gun which was fixed to a pivot point directly behind the embrasure. Again this can be seen clearly on this photograph, central to the opening, down at floor level*








*This photo taken at the Verdun memorial a few days later shows one of the 75mm guns with small wheels fitted for use in a Bourge casemate or similar. Normally this weapon was deployed as horse drawn field artillery with conventional large wheels. The Soixante-Quinze was widely regarded as the best battelfield light artillery of the Great War and was capable of ten shots per minute!*








*Directly below the ground floor of a Bourge casemate there is normally a complex of rooms including a magazine and a shelter for the gunners. Shells were hoisted from the magazine to the firing point through these trap doors. Please refer to my Froideterre report to compare...*








*Not much of a view through the firing point embrasure now as the ramparts of the fort are as heavily overgrown as the moat...*








*As with the other fighting compartments in the forts fire was directed by an observer in another armoured observation cupola. This is the access to the cupola. The artillery officer stood on the platform at the top having first hooked the iron bar (seen here) across behind him to stop him falling backwards off the platform.*








*The observer's view is also blocked by masses of vegetation smothering the ramparts of the fort now.*








*Adjacent to the Bourge casemate is the forts second MG turret.*








*The access ladders to the MG turrets have wooden steps and are almost always rotten so sadly I could not get up into this turret. This was especially annoying as it appears one of the Hotchkiss MGs is still in position. I can't be certain but it looks to me like I can see the breach mechanism and an ammunition strip still in position! Compare this photo with the earlier turret and Hotchkiss pics and see if you agree with me...*







*As we left these two fighting compartments we found a strange hole partially excavated in the floor and running back under a wall. Right by it was this strange, tangled jumble!*








*Here's a close up, all answers on a postcard please!!!*








*We came back along the fort's frontal corridor then took a detour off down these stairs - the signage indicating a 75 mm artillery turret proved very alluring!*








*And here we have it! *








*This is a twin 75mm installation and although the point of view here is slightly off to one side both shell lifts can be seen.*







*Fume ventilation ducting from the turret. The hand driven ventilator appears to be in situ. Can you see the bat flying around?*








*The slight mist apparent on this photo would appear every time we dropped significantly below ground level, and never more so than when we were approaching any of the Travaux 17 tunnels. These tunnels were constructed after the Battle of Verdun to enable soldiers fighting in remote areas of the forts to get out if everything went Pierre Langue - that's Pete Tong to you  ...*








*One of the better constructed Travuax 17 tunnels we have seen!*








*The way down...*








*The LONG way down!*







*The excellent state of the entrance to this Travaux 17 tunnel made me think it may be a completed construction rather than the more usual pit propped mess we had become accustomed to...*








*...but I soon found any attempts to properly finish this pair of tunnels had soon run out of steam! Tunnel 1...*








*... and tunnel 2 - same old same old!*








*Looking back up that ladder you can just about make out Tonto pearing at me though the mist. Tonto doesn't "do" ladders!*








*Back up on the artillery turret level again we soon found an exit to the ramparts...*







*...where in fairly short order we found the observation dome...*








*...and the artillery turret - note the two barrels. *








*The business end of one of the 75mm guns. Given that a 75 can fire 10 rounds a minute and this turret had two guns, then that means this single turrent could lob TWENTY 3 inch calibre rounds a minute at the enemy. Formidable!*








*Judging by the state of the top of this turret it was hit repeatedly. But the steel is so thick this was about the maximum extent of the damage.*








*Back inside the main part of the fort again now, our tour was approaching an end. This is the main access corridor running along the back of the individual barrack rooms.*








*Inside a ground floor "other ranks" accomodation room in the barrack block complex. The dense undergrowth outside which was higher than the roof, made this a very gloomy area indeed!*








*The bakery.*








*...and finally!*








 That's about it from the Verdun forts for this year. I hope you enjoyed these piccies. Thanks again for looking. ​


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## krela (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow I've really enjoyed these posts, awesome stuff. Thank you for taking the time to post them here.


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## night crawler (Jun 27, 2011)

Man this has been the best series of reports I've read in ages bloody brilliant


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## outkast (Jun 27, 2011)

what he said, brilliant reports mate thanks for posting


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## Walrus75 (Jun 27, 2011)

Stunning, absolutely stunning, well done to you and 'Tonto', a fantastic well photographed and obviously well researched set of reports... I'm envious beyond explanation 

And yes it certainly looks like an MG still in-situ... I take it you didn't have your" access device" to hand at the time?


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## Walrus75 (Jun 27, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> ...
> *As we left these two fighting compartments we found a strange hole partially excavated in the floor and running back under a wall. Right by it was this strange, tangled jumble!*
> 
> 
> ...



Hmmm, a never ending chain of 'buckets'. And the 'buckets' swivel within the chain links so it possibly went vertically and/or up slopes as well as on the horizontal - I sure you surmised that too... so what the heck was it for?? Roughly how big are the individual 'buckets'? There doesn't look to be much iron in them, looks like aluminium or some aluminium alloy judging by the colur of the corrosion. Or they are galvinised. So no sparks then. Ammo resupply between remote fighting compartments maybe?


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## TeeJF (Jun 28, 2011)

Walrus75 said:


> I take it you didn't have your" access device" to hand at the time?



Hmmm... yes, it would have been a very simple matter to wander back to the casemate on the counterscarp to get the ladder but the car was parked unattanded on a very quiet road and I was very conscious of the fact that it's not unknown for tourist's cars to get done over around Verdun so we weren't hanging around as a result. Add to which the ladder would not have got me all the way up in to the turret anyway though it's possible it would have got me high enough to get beyond the rotten rungs. 

And then of course there's the other factor... I didn't even think of that! 

Thanks for your kind comments about the report. We enjoyed the explore immensly and seeing the report on line sort of brings it back with a degree of immediacy. Regret is an amazing fort.

All the best... M and TJ


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## TeeJF (Jun 28, 2011)

Walrus75 said:


> Hmmm, a never ending chain of 'buckets'. And the 'buckets' swivel within the chain links so it possibly went vertically and/or up slopes as well as on the horizontal - I sure you surmised that too... so what the heck was it for?? Roughly how big are the individual 'buckets'? There doesn't look to be much iron in them, looks like aluminium or some aluminium alloy judging by the colur of the corrosion. Or they are galvinised. So no sparks then. Ammo resupply between remote fighting compartments maybe?



Hee hee... this is going to puzzle a lot of peeps for a long time! The bucket material I am unsure of but I thought at the time it was steel because the section I lifted up was quite heavy. The "corrosion" wasn't corrosion as far as I can tell, but was residue from the chalky ground they were used in. Get Verdun dust on you and it's more often than not pale grey/white when it's come from underground and creamy white when it's from mud. This was grey - the photo is a good colour match for how I remember it at the time. Also the rpock down in the Travauix 17 tunnels is an almost perfect colour match for the buckets. Of course aluminium oxide is the same colour too so I'm not dismissing that as a possibility and then the weight I felt would be the linkage mechanism rather than the buckets. 

As to the bucket sizes they were way to small to carry ammo - they were about 60 mm deep or so at most and about 50 mm wide, but that's a gestimate. 

As to your observations re: swivelling, travel horiz or vert - yup! We came to much the same conclusion. 

Our best guess was that it's some form of either excavator or a fluid lift but Tonto reckons it's for sending sweeties to soldiers who've been good so that they stay motivated.


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## night crawler (Jun 28, 2011)

Could they be from some kind of digging machine from the tunnels?


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## TeeJF (Jun 28, 2011)

night crawler said:


> Could they be from some kind of digging machine from the tunnels?



That's what we thought except the buckets are so small...


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## smiler (Jun 28, 2011)

TeeJF, you and Tonto get the full five stars for these posts, great stuff, My Thanks.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jun 28, 2011)

Quote - As we left these two fighting compartments we found a strange hole partially excavated in the floor and running back under a wall. Right by it was this strange, tangled jumble!

If the casements were fitted out so that the 75s could be handled as genuine 'quick fire' pieces, then I suspect that these are fuse conveyors. My understanding of period manuals is that the ammunition was delivered unfused to the casement, the gun crew fusing the shell just prior to loading into the breech. Normally the fuses were kept in a separate magazine, so perhaps the layout of the later added Bourge casement required some form of mechanised fuse delivery system. There are certainly continental patents from this period for similar devices.


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## Walrus75 (Jun 28, 2011)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> If the casements were fitted out so that the 75s could be handled as genuine 'quick fire' pieces, then I suspect that these are fuse conveyors. My understanding of period manuals is that the ammunition was delivered unfused to the casement, the gun crew fusing the shell just prior to loading into the breech. Normally the fuses were kept in a separate magazine, so perhaps the layout of the later added Bourge casement required some form of mechanised fuse delivery system. There are certainly continental patents from this period for similar devices.



Now we're getting somewhere!


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## karltrowitz (Jun 28, 2011)

A great series of reports from Verdun. Very interesting.Thanks.


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## jonney (Jun 28, 2011)

TeeJF these reports have been awesome, thanks for taking the time and making the effort to document them


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## chris (Jun 28, 2011)

Another fantastic report - thanks


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jun 29, 2011)

Walrus75 said:


> Now we're getting somewhere!



A visit to Cedric and Julie Vaubourg's excellent site - probably the best and most comprehensive history available on the French fortifications of 1860 to 1914 - may reveal the exact use and diagrams of the installation.

http://www.fortiffsere.fr

There are detailed diagrams and a serious photographic record on ALL of the fortifications, details of constructions, modifications and updates are all recorded in meticulous detail. 

If you don't speak French, find someone who does and give them a case of decent wine to translate! The contents of the site are truly a work of great dedication.


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## TeeJF (Jun 29, 2011)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> The contents of the site are truly a work of great dedication.



I agree 100%. It's a shame it's all in French because having to fumble through the text slows me down so much. A great site for all that.


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## Walrus75 (Jun 29, 2011)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> A visit to Cedric and Julie Vaubourg's excellent site - probably the best and most comprehensive history available on the French fortifications of 1860 to 1914 - may reveal the exact use and diagrams of the installation.
> 
> http://www.fortiffsere.fr
> 
> ...


Great site, cheers for that. Now then, not many chats dans la table in there so I'll have to dig out that french-english school dictionary, must be here somewhere!?


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