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In the middle of the 19^th century, it was generally accepted, that the Belgian Army would not be able to resist any enemy attack by the use of it's Field Army only. When an attack could not be stopped, the Field Army should be able to retreat into fortified areas. To support thos strategy, fortresses had to be build around major strategic points, like the city of Antwerpen (in English : Antwerp) which followed the Rupel-Nete river defense line in the north part of the country and the city of Namur and Liège in the South-East. When the Belgian capital was under threat, the government would eventually move to Antwerpen, which was considered the 'National Refuge' (national stronghold).

The Antwerp Fortress Ring

In order to provide adequate protection, a ring of fortresses was build by General Henri Alexis Brialmont (1821-1903), around Antwerpen, starting from the year 1859 until 1914.

An initial fortress defense line was build from 1859 until 1879. (called 'safety ring' in 1906) This line was difficult to defend, as these fortresses were build from brick and were only 5 to 6 km away from the city. Eight fortresses were constructed as can be seen on the map, numbered 1 to 8.

A more powerful line of resistance - much further away from the city (10 to 15 km) - was build from 1870 to 1906 and later extended from 1906 to 1914 when more funds became available. In 1906, this ring was called the 'main resistance line'. These fortresses were build from brick or brick reinforced with concrete or completely from (non reinforced) concrete. They had several steel cupolas (armored plated gun turrets). At the time the fortresses were build, the most powerful horse tracked mortar, was the French 27 cm. Based on this, it was decided that non reinforced concrete would provide adequate protection for the troops. Walls were 2 to 4 meters thick, while the interior walls had a thickness of 1.4m. The cupolas had an armor with a thickness of 22 cm.

A total of 22 fortresses were build and numerous smaller redoubts (a small fortified resistance point or minor defence work - called 'Schans' or 'redoubt') , making up a ring around Antwerp of 95 km. In 1914, each fort was standing roughly 5 km from the next one and in between two fortresses a redoubt could be found. These redoubts didn't had these own garisson. The use and maintenance of this enormeous fortification, required up to 90.000 soldiers. (2)

The post 1870 fortresses - much smaller than the 1859 ones - were built trapezoidal. The caponier or casemated extensions, providing flanking fire, were reduced in size and were therefore less vulnerable. Many of the guns were housed in armor-plated turrets, some of them retractable.

Construction

The construction and armament of the fortresses around Antwerp, can be described using 3 categories :

• Fortresses build before 1870
• Fortresses build between 1870 and 1906
• Fortresses build after 1906
  

Location

• The following table give an overview of the types of fortresses build and if they belonged to the 1870-1906 or 1906-1914 defense line around the city of Antwerpen. The forts are sorted in 'geographical order', following the ring against the clock, starting from Bornem. It also indicates when the fortress was build, the material used, it's location and type.
  
  
  

Ring 1870- 1906	Outer Ring 1906	Location	Type	Material	Cat	Design	Build from	to	Present
		the river Schelde - South start from river right bank
-	yes	Bornem	Fortress	Concrete	2	D	-	-	Private
-	yes	Puurs	Resistance Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Liezele	Fortress	Concrete	2	B	-	-	Museum
-	yes	Letterheide	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Breendonk	Fortress	Concrete	2	B	-	-	Museum
yes	yes	Walem	Fortress	Brick with concrete reinforcements	-	-	1878	1893	Finance Minis.
Yes	yes	St Katelijne-Waver	Fortress	Concrete	1	A	1902	1914	Private Ruin
yes	yes	Duffel (Spoorweg-fortje **)	Railway Fortress	Concrete	-	-	1886	1890	Private Ruin
-	yes	Dorpveld	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Bosbeek	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	Private Ruin
yes	yes	Lier	Fortress	Brick with concrete reinforcements	-	-	1878	1893	-
-	yes	Tallaart	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Konigshooikt	Fortress	Concrete	1	B	-	-	Private Restaurant
-	yes	Kessel	Fortress	Concrete	2	C	-	-	Visit on request
-	yes	Broechem	Fortress	Concrete	2	B	-	-	Military property, not in use
-	yes	Massenhoven	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	Gone
-	yes	Oelegem	Fortress	Concrete	1	B	-	-	Nature association
-	yes	Schilde	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	Ruin To visit
-	yes	S. Gravenwezel	Fortress	Concrete	1	A	-	-	Private houses build upon the fortress
-	yes	Audaan	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
yes	yes	Schoten	Fortress	Concrete	-	-	1886	1893	Military
-	yes	Dryhoek	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Brasschaat	Fortress	Concrete	2	C	-	-	Military property (in use)
yes	-	Merksem	Fortress	Brick	-	-	1871	1882	Park
yes	-	Kapellen	Fortress	Concrete	-	-	1888	1893	Military
-	yes	Ertbrand	Fortress	Concrete	2	B	-	-	Private
-	yes	Smoutakker	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	Destroyed
yes	yes	Stabroek	Fortress	Concrete	2	A	1902	1914	Private
yes	yes (later)	Berendrecht (dijkfort)	Fortress	Concrete	-	-	1888	1893	Gone
-		Blauwgaren	Coastal Battery- Schelde (*)	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Doel	Fortress	-	-	-	-	-	Never build
		the river Schelde North crossing going to left bank.
-	yes	Blauwgaren	Fortress	-	-	-	-	-	Never build
-	-	Kruisschans	Coastal Battery- Schelde	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	-	Prinsenhof	Coastal Battery- Schelde	-	-	-	-	-	-
yes	yes	Oorderen (dijkfort)	Fortress	Concrete	-	-	1888	1893	Gone
yes	-	De Perel	Fortress	Brick	-	-	1877	1881	-
yes	-	St-Filips	Fortress	Brick	-	-	1877	1881	-
yes	-	St Marie	Fortress	Brick	-	-	-	-	-
yes	-	Defensive Dijk	Dike	-	-	-	1870	1880	-
yes	-	Zwijndrecht	Fortress	Brick with concrete reinforcements	-	-	1870	1880	Military property
yes	-	Kruibeke	Fortress	Brick with concrete reinforcements	-	-	1870	1880	Military property, ruine
-	yes	Haasdonk	Fortress	Concrete	2	B	-	-	Military property
-	yes	Lauwershoek	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	yes	Landmolen	Resis. Point	-	-	-	-	-	-
yes	yes	Rupelmonde (Steendorp)	Fortress	Brick with concrete reinforcements	-	-	1882	1892	Ruin

(*) The river Schelde split Antwerp in it's right and left bank. The river streams to the north towards the North Sea.

(**) small Railway Fortress

Every fort had enough firing range to reach the glacis of the next fortress, thus covering the area between each fortress. The fortresses were build in two sizes, class 1 and class 2 , which had an consequence of the armament available.

Fortress Antwerp - 1906/1914

Engaged in combat

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, the Germans attacked the fortresses around the fortresses of Liège . Unfortunately for the Belgium army, the Germans had 30.5cm and 42 cm mortars (like the famous Big Bertha), tracked by steam engines , which were able to destroy the concrete of the fortresses. A 30.5cm impact would destroy part of the ceiling in the interior , while a 42cm impact would penetrate the concrete surface.

On August 15^th ,1914 , the Fort of Loncin was destroyed by one German shot right into the ammunition depot, which was housed centrally in the fortress. 350 men were killed immediately, and half of the fort was destroyed. Still up to today, the bodies of these men are buried in the wreckage.

Initial attacks on September, 4^th were undertaken by the Germans on the axis Walem-Breendonk, using Field Artillery pieces, but without much effect. Later, on September, 22^nd, the German Army attacked the Antwerp defense line again, but now on the axis Walem-Lier with the intention of breaking through and advancing to the city of Antwerpen.

Because of the terrible power of the German Siege Artillery and because of the German troop advance on Belgian territory, no much hope was left for the military command to adequately protect the city of Antwerpen. In the evening of October 2, King Albert withdrew the field army behind the Rupel-Nete line, leaving the forts to their own fate.

On October, 7th 1914, the Field Army moved away to the west side of the country. This to avoid that the Belgian Army would have been separated from its allies. The remainder of the war, the Belgian Army would hold a small part of the country (IEPER region) at the south-west of Belgium.

A number of fortresses around Antwerpen, were engaged in heavy combat, like the fortresses of Walem, Lier, Koningshooikt and Katelijne-Waver.

The Forts today

Most of the fortresses build around 1870 and later still exist today, and are huge relicts of the Belgian military history of the 20^th century. Being engaged in combat in 1914, used by the Germans during the first world war (eg as ammunition depots), used again by the Belgian army in the Interbellum as machine gun positions, by the Germans in World War 2 and finally up to the 1950's until they were abandoned.

Thanks to many volunteers, some fortresses are being restored and can sometimes being visited. An excellent example of what can be done can be seen in Liezele. At least 7 forts are still owned by the military and 1 by the Belgian Finance Ministry. Other forts are in private hands, used for recreation or occupied by bats.

References

• Fortress Europe, Rudi Rolf and Peter Saal, Airlife 1986
• Vesting Antwerpen Deel 2. De Pantservesting 1885-1914. Robert Gils. Uitgeverij De Krijger, 1998
• Koningshooikt en de "Groote Oorlog" 1914-1918, Dorpsraad "Eigen Aard", Koningshooikt, 1998.
  

• The following impressive web sites were consulted and are worthwhile a visit :
  
  • The Fort of Liezele at http://users.pandora.be/bart.van.bulck The web site of one of the best kept Fortresses around the city of Antwerpen (Belgium). In Dutch and English.
  • Belgian Fronts at http://users.skynet.be/fonck. An excellent resource on the Belgian Order of Battle and some information of the Fortress of Liège (Belgium). In English.
  • Liége-Fortifications at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9677 A very exhaustive overview of the Fortress Liegè, with photographic material of the 12 fortresses built around the city and their construction. In English.
    

Notes

(1) see: Liége-Fortifications, The Right Bank is Wide Open, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9677
(2) Des principes de la guerre à travers les âges, R. Van Overstraeten, Librairie Albert Dewit, 1926, p 14-16