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A fort is a small fortified position with small garrison. A wide ditch filled with water circulates the fort. The ditch is defended by Artillery located in 'caponiers'. These are small casemates located near the ditch. Every corner of the defense is called a Saillant. They are numbered 1 to 4. The line between two Saillants is called a Front.
The post 1906 fortresses are called 'Unit Forts'. These forts have three functions, ie.
The forts are build in two sizes, which we call class I and class II forts. They differ is size and armament.
A Class I fort has :
A Class II fort has :
The protection of the Ditch and fronts is achieved with 5.7 cm
guns located under cupolas or in casemats. Four types of designs
were build, A, B, C and D.
Type A is used in Brasschaat and Kessel. Two cupolas could fire
into the ditch. The floor plan shows a 1st class fort.
Type B is found in Broechem, Liezele, Haasdonk, Breendonk, Ertbrand,
Oelegem and Koningshooikt. Five guns are installed on each of
theh caponier extensions. The floor plan shows a 1st
t class fort.
Type C has a seperated caponier with two cupolas. These could
fire into the ditch. This construction can be found on some older
forts and on the fort of St-Gravenwezel. The floor plan shows
a 2nd class fort.
This fort follows a floor plan which is very unique and only used
for Fort Bornem. It is asymmetrical and has one 15 cm, one 12cm
, two 12 cm howitzers and four 7.5 cm cupolas. The ditch defense
is done by using six 5,7 cm cupolas.
Overview of post 1906 build fortresss with size and type :
| Location | Class | Design |
| Bornem | 2 | D |
| Liezele | 2 | B |
| Breendonk | 2 | B |
| Konigshooikt | 1 | B |
| Kessel | 2 | C |
| Broechem | 2 | B |
| Oelegem | 1 | B |
| St Gravenwezel | 1 | A |
| Brasschaat | 2 | C |
| Ertbrand | 2 | B |
| Haasdonk | 2 | B |
