This would turn out to be a fatal mistake. Only on the Southern side a small battery of machine guns had been placed exactly between the three major turrets of Battery 1. The weak spot however, was that almost no air defensive measures had been taken. To complement this, the fort also had some phoney turrets- without armament to mislead the enemy.Īt first glance this would seem to be a strong and adequate defence. Each of these bunkers had 60mm guns, machine guns and search lights. Battery 2 was equipped with defensive bunkers. Two faced North and were called Maastricht 1 and 2 and two faced South and were called Visé 1 and 2. All guns could traverse a total of 70 degrees. These were complemented by four artillery casemates. All three turrets could rotate 360 degrees. Battery 1 had three artillery turrets with, in total, four guns of 75mmwith a range of 11 km in two retractable turrets and two guns of 120mm with a range of 17.5 km in a non- retractable turret. The fort was constantly manned by one group of artillery men, while the other group was stationed outside the fort in the village of Wonck which was around 7 km away. The garrison of the fort consisted of 1,200 men who were comprised of two groups of artillery men and another group of 200 military personnel, like electricians and kitchen personnel. On the roof there were three rotating artillery turrets, four artillery casemates and two machine gun bunkers. Level One was 25 metres below the surface and contained 4-km long galleries that led to all combat positions. Level Zero lies 45 metres below the surface, where more than 1,200 soldiers could be housed for longer periods of time without the need for replenishing supplies. The third side on the North West was protected by the river Jeker and a water ditch. On the Northeastern) it was protected by a giant wall ,40 metres high, which rose steeply from the Albert Canal, while the Southern side was secured by a giant anti-tank ditch. The fort, dug out from a hill of marl, has a triangular shape and covers an area of 800 by 900 metres. At the same time the new ring of forts around Liège was started. It took until 1932 before the construction of Fort Eben-Emael was started. When the Great War erupted in August, 1914 a large part of the invading German army came through this area. Due to lack of funds no fort was built there. The area between Visé and the Dutch border (Gap of Visé) was not defended, however.
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