|
|
|
Fort de Genicourt |
|
|
|
Fort de Genicourt, like most of the fortifications in the ring around Verdun, is built on the top of a hill in order to command the best views. Her primary purpose was the interdiction of any enemy attempting to out flank the city, or indeed bypass it altogether, by circling around to the south. Some scholars do not regard Genicourt as a Verdun fort at all, situated as it is so far to the south of the city, in fact it could potentially be regarded as the first in the line of forts running along the River Meuse - these are forts de Liouvillede Liouville, de Troyon, des Paroche, du Camp des Romains, de Gironville, de Sant Agnant and de Jouy sous les Cotes. We visited Genicourt in June 2011 so we have included it here. The fort's style of construction, in direct comparison to the forts closer in to Verdun, is rather unusual though it appears to be to all intents and purposes identical to it's nearest southern neighbour Fort de Troyon. After a long trek up a rough track through dense woodland you emerge into a clearing where the first thing you notice is the fact that there are two drawbridges controlling access, not one. The first leads to a subsidiary fortification on your right, directly opposite the gates of the fort proper. This building is a semi-circular series of earth covered, masonry gun emplacements, which allowed heavy artillery to lay down indirect fire whilst enjoying the benefits of good, secure protection from return fire. Interestingly the emplacements point roughly due south so it is very clear that they greatly feared a flanking manoeuvre or encirclement. On top of this artillery fort there is an optical signalling station which allowed the fort to communicate with Troyon to the rear, and Haudainville to the front even if the telegraph cables between the forts might get cut by artillery fire.
There are no
armoured, self contained turrets protecting Genicourt, unlike those found
at many of the other Verdun forts, although the moat and the Rue du
Rempart were protected by removable weapons sited in concrete
fortifications. The Rue du Rempart is the access "road" on to the top of
the fort for defending infantry and often an area for further artillery
At the front of Fort de Genicourt may also be found fighting galleries built within the front wall just above the moat floor level, their purpose being to protect the main entrance. The weakness of this design becomes obvious when you consider that a single breach in the front wall of one of these galleries immediately opens up the entire fort to access from the ditch - which is in fact how we got in despite the fact that fort's main gate is comprehensively bricked up! The fort's primary purpose during the Battle of Verdun appears to have been as an assembly point for infantry advancing to the front in addition to it's fall back role in the defence of the rear of the city. There is not a terrific amount of artillery damage unlike that seen at the likes of Souville, Vaux and especially Douamont. Given that our first fort visit in June 2011 was a spectacular fail - considérez le fait que mon derrière et le chien de garde de Troyon ne sont pas compatibles entre eux - Genicourt was a great experience and made up for it completely, though at this point we still had no idea of what was to come in the form of Fort du Regret!
|
emplacements.
The moat at Genicourt is protected by three "caponiers" - concrete block
houses with enfilade fields of fire along the moat in either direction.
The term caponier literally translates as "chicken house" (from capon).
Originally this form of block house evolved from a simple covered
passageway which ran between the wall of the fort proper and the opposite
wall of the ditch, but this created a weakness in the form of an
unprotected traverse by which a ditch might be crossed. The answer was to
make the caponier accessible only from within the fort and then stop it's
front wall well short of the opposite moat wall. To avoid the fire from
one caponier hitting the next, these mini-forts were usually set at
alternate corners of the fort firing towards a blank wall further along
the moat. Caponiers are usually wedge shaped so that they can fire down
both angles of the moat ditch. The weak point of caponier design is the
roof which was exposed to plunging artillery fire, especially from siege
mortars and howitzers. In order to deal with this problem the roofs had to
be extremely thick, and very steeply sloped. Between initial construction
and the outbreak of the Great War many of the Verdun forts had their
caponiers converted to counterscarp galleries, which being earth shielded
and usually flush with the wall of the moat in which they were built, were
therefore much better protected, and hence far more effective. The down
side of counterscarp galleries is that they are vulnerable to mining so in
some forts both are occasionally found together. 
