Fort du Mont Vaudois, Belfort, France - Sept. 2012

[chris]

Fort du Mont Vaudois, also known as Fort Broussier, was built between 1874 and 1877, and was another link in the chain of fortifications by Sere de Rivières around the city of Belfort. It is located on a hill called Mont Vaudois near Héricourt.

This fort is a part of a second fortified ring, built between 5 and 6 km beyond the first ring of forts from the years 1820-1840.

After the invention of the shell torpedo in 1885, the fort was modernized to provide greater protection.

There is an impressive optical method of communication to many neighboring forts.

The parade ground was only used when not under fire - otherwise there was a complete system of covered tunnels

The optical casemate for communication

The dastardly shell torpedo

Cloches - one of the defences

Fears about fire and drought led to dormitories being built with reservoirs of water beneath them

 

[TeeJF]

Great stuff. Just one thing though, your 'shell torpedo' isn't, it's a spigot mortar. The German version was known as a Flying Pig by the Brits and a minenwerfer to the Germans. This was a short range 'trench buster' favoured by the Germans and the French, much less so by the Brits who preferred the Stokes Mortar which was a lot smaller. The shell torpedo was a new kind of long and relatively thin projectile fired from howitzer type weapons and due to its shape it penetrated deeply before exploding thus rendering the construction techniques used in the first of the Verdun forts (the so called panic forts constructed very soon after the Franco Prussian war) obsolete overnight. It didn't help either that the Germans also developed a much more powerful explosive at much the same time known as picric acid. This meant a different form of construction for the forts from that point onwards. The projectiles were very big and the natural progression was to the 320 mm and 400 and something mil projectiles which were used to such devastating effect on the Belgian forts at the outbreak of WW1.

 

[chris]

Thanks - much appreciate that. I should have spotted the mount

I think this shows one (from Fort de la Pompelle)

 

[maxmix]

Loving all these forts, thanks