FORTRESS STUDY GROUP

Famagusta, Cyprus. Venetian towers, cavalier and Martinengo Bastion.       Photograph: Charles Blackwood.

Material for Casemate should reach the Editor by at least 2 months before the next issue is due (Issues in January, May and September). The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the Editor or individual contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fortress Study Group. Bound back numbers of Casemate 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 and 31-40 are available from the Editor of FORT, A.Migos, 9 Rock Park, Rock Ferry, Wirral, L42 1PJ, G.B., as are back numbers of FORT. More recent numbers of Casemate are available from the Secretary, Bernard Lowry.


Margaret Pinsent, Editor, 10 Park Town, Oxford,OX2 6SH, G.B.

Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Camouflaged bunker at Punta Limones.       Photograph: Edith Wilson.

British Napoleonic Fortifications in Sicily. William Clements      (Photographs by the Author) In May 2002 I spent six days in Sicily endeavouring to trace the remains of an extensive series of fortifications built by the British during their occupation of the island between 1808 and 1812. In many ways similar to the Lines of the Torres Vedras outside Lisbon, these forts towers and gun positions were constructed on the very tip of Sicily closest to mainland Italy in order to deter a French invasion of the island. The British interest in Sicily at this time came about because the island provided both a base for the Royal Navy in the central Mediterranean and an entrepot port for British trade which, at that time, was being slowly strangled by Napoleon's Continental System. From 1807 onwards nearly fifteen thousand troops, ten thousand British and four thousand Hanoverian, Italian and other foreign corps, were stationed in Sicily while a British naval squadron of three sail-of-the-line and four frigates patrolled the coast assisted by over one hundred army gun-boats. The British fortifications were built on the shoreline along both sides of the peninsula leading from Messina to the Straits of Messina and in the range of hills between. In addition, the defences of the ports of Milazzo on the north coast of Sicily and Augusta in the south east were also strengthened. Indeed, Major General Cockbum, travelling in the Mediterranean in 1810 remarked that 'We are building forts and squandering money profusely'. To defend the coastline north of Messina ten permanent battery positions, two redoubts, a blockhouse and four Martello towers were constructed. Along the ridge following the spine of the peninsula three permanent battery positions, each for two 18 pdr SBML guns, were built together with a number of prepared positions for field artillery. In addition, the older defences of Messina, Forts Gonzaga, Castellaccio and Salvatore and the Citadel, were modernised as was the tower at Faro Point. On the peninsula itself there are two small lakes, the Round Lake and the Long Lake. The British connected the two by means of a new canal and also built two shorter sections of canal to provide access to the Round Lake from the sea on each side of the peninsula. These lakes were used to berth the gunboats and provide them with shelter from the winter gales. On the northern coast the existing fortifications of the port of Milazzo were modernised and strengthened and further down the coast, south of Messina, a Martello tower was built near Augusta. I travelled to Sicily with the primary object of seeing if I could find and photograph any of the Martello towers that remained and to try and find any of the other fortifications built by the British. However, it soon became clear that I would be fortunate to find any remains at all owing to the modem development that had taken place along the coast between Messina and the Faro Point. Landing at Catania I hired a car and braved the Italian traffic. The first major task was to find my way out of the airport and onto the autostrada and this I eventually managed to do, but there was the bonus in that I inadvertently discovered the British Commonwealth War Cemetery at Catania which is on a side road just outside the airport. On that first afternoon I drove straight to Messina and on to Faro Point to see the lighthouse and the old Pelorus Tower. The tower was built in the sixteenth century, then 'modernised' by the British in 1810 by the addition of a battery, and stands on the very tip of the peninsula at the closest point to mainland Italy. Pelorus Tower, Faro Point, Messina It has a shallow cloven-hoof shape and so resembles some of the similarly shaped towers on the Spanish coast [see Casemate 43, p8], though the Pelorus Tower is taller and is three storeys high with vertical walls. In front of the tower, facing the sea and the beach, are the masonry walls of the British battery for three 24 pdr SBML guns. The battery at Faro Point was described in contemporary documents as a redoubt which had 'been provided with reversed Flanks in the counter scarp'. The tower is now a scheduled historic monument but, as with most of the remaining fortifications that I found, was firmly closed. However, immediately north of the tower I did find one of the Martello towers, now called the Mazzone Tower, and built to defend one of the entrances to the Round Lake. The tower is on the beach and is circular in design though otherwise similar to the English towers in Kent and Sussex. The exterior wall of the tower is rendered but the entrance is at ground floor level with steps leading up to the first floor level of the tower. This door and a single large embrasure facing north are possibly later modifications. The entrance to the tower was secured by a stout iron grille gate but it was just possible to see up into the first floor room where a central pillar was clearly visible. The tower had been used as a communication tower and above the door the remains of a Fascist 'fasces' in concrete can clearly be seen. Mazzone Tower, Faro Point

On Telegraph Hill, a spur overlooking the Round Lake, the British built a redoubt 'provided with reverse casemated Flanks and .... calculated for ten pieces of artillery and two hundred and fifty men'. This redoubt overlooks Faro Point and the two lakes and is relatively easy to find as it is still used as a communication base by the Italian armed forces. Observation Tower, Telegraph Redoubt, Messina. It is square in shape with a well-made ashlar scarp and is surrounded by the remains of a broad ditch. On top of the redoubt there is a twentieth century observation tower which may well have been used by the Italian Navy as a signal station. Lack of time and the recent urban development of a location which is obviously a popular residential area for the inhabitants of Messina meant that I was unable to discover any other traces of the British fortifications so I pressed on to Augusta with a short cultural stop at Taormina to admire the ancient Greek remains. The port of Augusta was garrisoned by six hundred Hanoverians manning the existing fortifications which were improved by the construction of a Martello tower on the island ofMagnisi to defend the low-lying plain to the south of the city between Point Bagnoli and Magnisi. Magnisi itself is also flat and the tower was built on the highest point near the centre and covering the causeway which gave access to the island at low tide. Magnisi Tower, Augusta. The tower is circular with a diameter of 45ft (14m) and a height of 27ft (8.3m) and is built of limestone ashlar with a string course approximately 5ft (1.5m) below the level of the parapet. The bomb-proof roof is supported by a large central pillar and the door is situated about 8ft (2.5 m) above the ground on the landward side. However, the value of raising the door is rather lost because a glacis of loose stone was built on the landward side forming a ramped approach to the door. In the words of Captain W.H. Smyth RN, who wrote a 'Memoir descriptive of the resources, inhabitants and hydrography of Sicily and the islands' in 1824, 'opposite the isthmus is erected a stout Martello tower which completely commands the island, its approaches and its two small bays, famished with a stone glacis on the land side. This, however, is injudiciously attached to the tower....' The tower was probably used as the signal station for the Italian equivalent of an examination battery as there is a semaphore post on the gun platform and six concrete emplacements for coast defence guns probably of a calibre around 150 mm. Gun emplacement, Magnisi. Each gun emplacement is approached by an underground passage some 50yds (46m) long off which there are a number of cartridge and shell recesses and a crew shelter. Behind the battery position where the causeway joined the island there is a large Second World War pillbox which defended the landward approach to the battery. Sicily has a large number of fortifications still remaining and I would have needed considerably more than the few days I had to see all the forts and battery positions in the Messina - Augusta - Syracuse area. I would certainly recommend a holiday in Sicily to any FSG member.

Forts Abroad.

The destruction of the West Wall (Siegfried Line) which has been going on for some time, is now given a fresh justification: "Germany has started to destroy the giant concrete Siegfried Line, Hitler's defensive wall against an Allied attack, in a gesture of friendship to the French". "A warren of 20,000 bunkers, 100s of underground shelters, trenches and barricades", it was built between 1936 and 1940, from Cleves nearly to Basle. Tens of thousands died as the Americans eventually broke through in 1944. Practical reasons for destroying it now include deterioration of the concrete and the danger for children of holes in the structure. But emotionally, "there could be no more powerful symbol of French and German partnership than the demolition of the Wall". The Times, Jan 18 2003. Sent by Nigel Ruckley   A Visit to the Zossen/Wiinsdorff complex, Berlin Bernard Lowry (Photographs by the Author) Situated several miles to the south of Berlin in a flat wooded area, lies the Zossen/Wunsdorff military complex. The site's first apparent military presence was an Imperial barracks and training area; in WWI the empty barracks were used to house Muslim prisoners of war, who were provided with their own mosque, complete with minaret. In the period of the Third Reich it was the home of a Panzer regiment. The extensive woodland area surrounding the barracks was to see further activity in the period 1937-1941, when a series of tunnels extending over 2 kms in length, were built to serve three large complexes. 'Maybach I' and 'Maybach II' consisted of, respectively, 12 and 11 reinforced concrete buildings with high pitched roofs and false chimneys. The rooms above ground were duplicated by underground rooms that would be occupied in the event of air attack. From these buildings the Germans planned and controlled the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Roof of 'Maybach' bunker. A very large, contemporary and separate bunker, 'Zeppelin', entirely underground, was connected to the newly constructed Berlin telephone trunk cable ring. Entrance to the bunker was via small bungalow-like buildings reminiscent of ROTOR Cold War radar site 'bungalows'. Whilst little is left in the form of original fittings, an interesting survival is a section of the pneumatic tube system which enabled messages to be transmitted to and from 'Zeppelin' and the 'Maybach' sites. The Soviets occupied the site in 1945 but subsequently stripped it and blew up the surface buildings, leaving it in this state until the 1960s when the Soviet Army re-occupied 'Zeppelin'. A new, camouflaged entrance was constructed and fresh communications equipment was installed. On their departure in 1994 the site was again stripped, and, apart from the special curved blast and NBC doors that were fitted, not a lot is now left of the Soviet presence. In addition to the bunkers, the site is noteworthy for the presence of the strange 'Winkel' air raid shelters, named after their designer. Shaped like a rocket, these were designed to deflect blast and bombs, and, supplied with an air conditioning system and water, the multi-level

'Winkel' air raid shelter. shelters could be occupied for several hours; 19 were built on this site, together with others at strategic sites in the Reich, such as the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory and the Hamburg shipyards. The site possesses two interesting museums, one covering the period up to WWII and the second covering the Soviet occupation. It is possible to visit 'Zeppelin'; up to date information can be found on the website www. buecherstadt.de A secret position for launching "Bloodhound" (Lenkwaffenstellung BL 64, in use from 1968), long guarded by high fences and guard dogs, at Menzingen on the Zurichsee, Switzerland, was decommissioned in 1999 and has opened as a museum (guided parties for groups only). There are other WWII defences in the area, such as anti-tank walls and ditches. Neue Zurcher Zeitung, 13 June 2002. Sent by John Cornforth.   Reis Magos Fort, Goa. Lady Hamlyn, widow of the publisher Lord Hamlyn, has been frustrated in her attempt to pay £300,000 through her charitable trust to restore Reis Magos Fort, which was built in 1551 by the Portuguese. Because she asked for an apartment within the fort for 4 months each year, she was accused of "trying to turn an ancient colonial monument into a holiday home". One of the colour pictures accompanying this article shows one of the remaining SB guns; another picture is of a contemporary sketch of the fort. The Sunday Telegraph, 17 November 2002. This fort, "still containing its guns... overlooking the Mandovi river... had a ditch on the landward side, and a pair of loopholed splayed walls running down the rocky slope to the river bank, ending in a pair of bastions" (from Tony Brown's article on the Fortifications of Goa, Casemate 29, p6; see also his More about the Fortifications of Goa, Casemate 38, p3)

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NEWSLETTERS OF OTHER SOCIETIES.

Abbreviations: CDSG: Coast Defense Study Group Newsletter. CDSG J: Coast Defense Study Group Journal. CA: Castelli. CE: Castillos de Espana. CIOS: Channel Island Occupation Society Newsletter. EN: Europa Nostra 2001. FJ: Festungsjoumal. F&W: Forts and Works. H: Heliogram. S: Saillant. V and V Flash: Vesting. Bastioned defences can best be appreciated from plans, maquettes and aerial photographs, which bring out the beauty of their geometry. Some good aerial views have appeared this year: Citadel of Copenhagen (FJ 17), Figueres (CE 127/8X)(both of these shown in colour on the cover), Slot Loevestein (S 4) and Fort Morgan (CDSG 161). Theresienstadt under floods is shown in FJ 18. Other aerial views of castles and forts include: Fort Leopold (S 4), the Alcazar at Seville and the enceinte at Comoma (CE 125), Rocca Bemarda (CA 92), the Passfestung of Silberberg and a star earthen redoubt at Schonau (FJ 16), and bastions at Ferrara, Prague, Krivoklat and Wiilzburg (EN). Forts Worden, Casey, Flagler, etc., in the USA can be seen in aerial photos on: www.ecy.wa.gov/apps/shorephotos/index.html "A maquette teaches more than a heap of books" is the title of an article in S 2, illustrated with a detail from the model of the 1629 Siege of's-Hertogenbosch. Members who joined the visit to the Low Countries in 2001 will appreciate the enthusiastic report on The secret miniature world of the Sun King - the models in the Musee des Plans-Reliefs, Paris, with a picture of that of Charleroi (FJ 16). Also in that Museum is a model of the Fort of Exilles c.1700 (FJ 17). The famous fort model at Potsdam is the subject of an article by Wemer Lacoste and Peter Skibbe mfortifikation special 3, reviewed in FJ 17. Many bastioned works are covered in CE 127/8, the largest being San Femando, Figueres (described in Museum fur Wehrtechnik 45, see Casemate 49). Others are Jaca and forts of the Aragonese Pyrenees (some 4- and 5-pointed), San Carlos de Palma de Mallorca, forts at Cadiz, the bastioned walls of Pamplona overlooked by Fort Alfonso XII (casemate guns, Nordenfelt) on St.Cristobal mountain. Also in this issue are accounts efforts and city walls with towers, square, round or polygonal, in Spain. The Fortaleza de la Mola at Mahon, Minorca, was captured by Stanhope in 1707. Three cannons are pictured (30.5 cm Krupp, 38.1 cm Vickers, 15 cm Munaiz Arguelles). Polygonal comer works (not real bastions) of the type "Dwenger" at Aurich and Stickhausen (1632) in East Friesland are shown in plan and old drawings in FJ 17. In the same issue appears the bastioned town of Nyborg (Newburg), Denmark (1660). A full exposition of other Danish works, Kronborg, Fredericia and the Citadel at Copenhagen is in FJ 16. Schloss Friedenstein and adjoining town Gotha, both bastioned, are dealt with in FJ 18. Also in this issue, Herbert Jager in his inimitable manner describes the high and low points of a visit to the underground citadel of Rocca Paolina, Perugia (see John Cane in Casemate 42). The history of the series of fortifications, lavishly bastioned, at the position of Vlissingen and the naval base of Den Helder is described, with plans, in S 1 and 3 respectively. Bastions are not of course confined to the Old World: Fort Jackson, a pentagon with 5 bastions was visited by the CDSG in February (CDSG Aug.2002, in which Conanicut Battery, R.I. is mentioned - see Casemate 55 for plan of its unusual shape). CDSG Feb. 2002 and FJ 17 both advertise John R. Weaver II, A Legacy in Brick and Stone (contact John@Weaverhome.com), which I mentioned in Casemate 64 p.6. Excerpts are being published in CDSG J 15 4, and now in 16 1. Familiar features such as redoubts, outworks, homworks, crownworks, tenailles, caponiers, counterscarp galleries, countermine tunnels (listening galleries), demilunes, ravelins and couvre-faces, are all exemplified in the eastern United States. As the author is dealing with American 3rd system forts rather than European, one expects some variation in the definition of terms. In the same issue is an article on the drawings of Guillaume Tell Poussin (1794 -1876) preserved in the National Archives in College Park, MD. He "drafted all the original designs for the Louisiana and Alabama forts" e.g. Forts Jackson, Mobile and Pike, LA, as well as drawing existing forts on the east coast. Illustrated here are plans of Fort Preble, Portland, ME, Fort Nelson VA, Fort Pickens FL, and Fort Morgan, AL. "The first Military Engineering Text published for the United States Government" was Judge Jonathan Williams' The Elements of Fortification, translated from the French. "The earthwork and limited masonry fortifications discussed" in this book were superseded by multi-tier gun casemates, but rifled guns and ironclad ships during the Civil War caused a return to ground level barbette earthworks (CDSG 2). Theories of fortification are dealt with in the articles in Vesting by Robert Gils. Of the 84 pp in the 4 issues, 70 are by him. These are predominantly technical treatises illustrated with drawings, diagrams and maps (mostly ancient), with notes and bibliographies. This year he has covered Brialmont and the polygonal system, forms of fortress architecture, the origin of the bunker, some figures concerning fortifications 1500-1850 (translated into German in FJ 17), breaching and defilading, and temporary fortifications 16C to 19C, in addition to particular studies of Fort Sint-Margriet on the Rupel and the Battle of Kalbo 1638. Other contributions to Vesting include the legal protection of the remains of fortification at Menin, an observation cupola for Fort Liezele, brochures of military monuments in Switzerland, and the Fort of Salses. A "quaint relic of a bygone era" are the inventions of Dr. James Henry McLean (born Scotland 1829) who aimed to make war so terrible that no one would engage in it: "the surest method of making peace is to make the destruction of armies certain." Described by Boiling Smith in CDSG J 162, and illustrated with McLean's own drawings, are the "Hercules 100-ton Gun" (fired from ship or land), "Projectile Torpedo Thunderbolts" and the "Aerial Rocket Torpedo", but particularly the "Impregnable Iron Fortress". This last is shown built in water, and is essentially a turreted seafort, of iron and granite. But he never experimented, and remarked that "it is quite unnecessary to enter into the full detail of the construction of the fortresses herein proposed" (date of his book Peacemakers is 1880). The year of 2002 was disastrous for floods. When the Elbe rose rapidly to unprecedented levels in August, the dams protecting Theresienstadt afforded no protection even when raised (FJ 18, with photo). The Lower Watergate broke, and despite their best efforts - men working under water, without proper equipment, until midnight - the water streamed unhindered into the city. All buildings were under water for several days, which caused great damage. Of the fortifications, the counterguards, ravelin gun casemate, places of arms, covered way, underground countermine galleries were either destroyed or damaged; ditches and cunettes were filled with rubble. The restoration project will be too big to tackle at local level. On a smaller scale but perhaps more heart-rending is the fate of the casemates of the Bruhlsche Terrasse at Dresden. The society that has been restoring it celebrated 10 years of work on June 27, 2001. They had store rooms, exhibition area, meeting room for 50, private room for 15 (for the society), work room for washing and restoring finds, office with library, archive, crockery, telephone, drinking water and drainage which had cost the earth. A 10 sq.m. model of the fortifications of Dresden had just been completed. The whole lot was engulfed by the Elbe - they just managed to save some smaller models. It was a scene of utter destruction - "We are back to Square 1. But we are not giving up" (FJ 18). Meanwhile in the Czech Republic "the Vitava River flooded the Institute of Archaeology in Prague up to 3 metres high. The Institute's library was practically destroyed - representing, with its 70,000 volumes, the largest archaeological library in the Czech Republic until now". (email vincent.megaw(fl)flinders.edu.au) (Current Archaeology 183). A tornado at Fort Leavenworth (H 287) pales into insignificance by comparison - though it managed to destroy about 3 or 4,000 trees in 10 minutes, as well as damaging the fort. Ruins and destruction from earlier times have been a recurrent theme: La Destruccion de los Castillos de Espana (article in CE 124); Smashing the Atlantic Wall: The Destruction of Hitler's Coastal Defences (Book by Patrick Delaforce, reviewed in CDSG J 16 2); Castello di Pers damaged in an earthquake in 1976 (CA 93); the kernfestung of Komom, after Russian occupation, "a sad sight" (FJ 17); the ruins of Fort St. John, LA, USA (early 18C) evident from the photographs (CDSG J 162); the destruction of Mayen by Allied bombing in WWI1, in an article about its "Burgbunker" in FJ 18. There were delays in providing this air raid shelter for the population, as Nazis interpreted the request as "doubt of our final victory", but 4 to 5,000 people used the grid of tunnels for many months while much of the town was reduced to rubble and ashes. However, the motto of the Castillos de Espana organisation is Ne Pereant (lest they perish) (CE 127/8). Preservation has been proceeding at many sites. The cleaning up of the fortress of Rhodes is to be enabled by EU funds (FJ 18); principles of restoration, technical assistance with privately owned castles, and examples of restoration of castles are subjects in CA 92, while excavations at the Castelli Delia Motta and Di Cergneu and restoration at Spilimbergo, Strassoldo, Ragogna and Di Zucco are mentioned in CA 93 (unfortunately, the photographs rarely match the text); the castle ofBatres is under restoration (CE 126); the importance of forts in the landscape (or context) is again stressed, in a lecture by Cor Gilhaus reproduced in S 4: "forts are an important element in the values of landscape, ecology and cultural-historical (military ) use"; the 2001 edition ofEuropa Nostra is devoted to Military Architectures: Restoration, Re-utilisation or Revitalisation. Work on more recent fortifications is going on at Fort Grauerort (1869-79: Casemate 47pl4) (FJ 18); Battery Gunnison (Casemate 53 pi 2 for photograph, next to one of Battery Weed which appears in H 286, but with the caption transposed from one at Fort Slocum) which is to be restored to its 1943-5 appearance (CDSG May, Aug., Nov.). On Fort Hancock Day, Oct. 27 2002, CDSG members in WWI1 uniforms manned a gun at Battery Gunnison/New Peck (Ml 900 6" on Ml 900 pedestal mount). CDSG volunteers were also involved with work on clearing, cleaning and repainting at Fort Casey, Washington (CDSG Aug.), and CDSG interest and input have supported the restoration of the fire control tower at Fort Mott (CDSG Nov.) Work continues on the St. Jacques Bunker which received an additional grant through Fortress Guernsey (CIOS 9 & 10). At Battery Dollmann, Guernsey Armouries have installed a convincing replica Renault FT 17 tank turret with 8mm machine gun on a Ringstand: "Considerable efforts are now being made to replicate the textured exposed surfaces and garnished camouflage netting" (with photograph, CIOS 9). On Aldemey, "the German Dezimetergerat at Quatre Vents has been opened to the public as an environmental information centre... Many of the original features are gradually being reinstated to assist visitors in understanding the bunker's original purpose... The bunker is one of only two of this type built in the Islands, the other being at Fort George in Guernsey". Trevor Davenport is working on a study of the surviving German defences here (with photograph, CIOS 10). Fort Liezele appeals for volunteers to help with work at the fort: "Are you a Handy Harry?" (VFlash 1). The preservation of a WWI1 pillbox at Fort Takapuna, NZ, is described in FW 13: threatened by cliff erosion, all 15 tons of it was lifted by crane to a new location. A new use must be sought after restoration to provide maintenance. In Italy, the net is cast fairly wide. Meetings on "wine, castles and landscape" or "fruits, waters and castles" are recorded in CA 93 (the latter was very successful, as 6000 people turned up, CA94). At Forte Carpenedo, Mestre, Venice, ten events between 1 Sept. and 19 Dec. 2002 were advertised. The history of the fort came last in the list of music, painting, poetry, nature, gastronomy and architecture. The notice is permeated with English expressions: Happy hours, spritz and spray, breaking [as in breakdance], ethnic folk, Neurodisney Band presenting ska music, Halloween Party, "il suo whisky preterite", Convivium Slow Food di Mestre. This indicates what has been going on in efforts to popularise the fort in a programme entitled Luci suiforti (Light on the forts). In Germany, the plans for Komomo depend on finance, but some of the bastions now house exhibition rooms, museum etc. "Efforts are being made to save these sites from ruin and give them a new use" (FJ 17). In Switzerland, Fort Dailly, St. Maurice, was closed as a result of army reforms in 1995. "There are moves to turn some decommissioned facilities into tourist attractions, even hotels, but the fate of Dailly remains unclear because of its huge size and maintenance costs" (Article Unconquered Fortress Yields to Time in CDSG Nov.) Nearby, the fortress at Champex is "immaculately kept" and hosted the weekend seminar reported in Casemate 65 p2; an article about it by Herbert Jager, In einem modernen Artilleriefort, in Mitteilungen 2.2001 der Gesellschaft fir Artilleriekunde is reviewed in FJ 18.

In the Netherlands, Fort Erfprins, at 47 hectares the largest fort in the country, is in use as Marine barracks. "Luckily the Koninklijke Marine appreciates its historical worth, but a use has to be found for the unique bomb-free barracks" (S3). An article in S2 asks "Is there a future for the New Dutch Waterline?", and a progress report on it takes up 2 pages of S4. A fire-engine museum is a possibility at Westoever (S3). In Belgium, a modest exhibition and a cafeteria are installed at Fort Liefkenshoek: the fort has a long history, though nothing is left of the 16C buildings. Its name derives not, as we have been told, from "Lover's Corner", but from the Liefkine creek which-here meets the Schelde. (VFlash 4, which in the new A4 format is bound-in as a pullout supplement in Vesting. This is vitiated by the material overrunning onto the back page ofV itself). In the USA, the future of Fort Howard, Baltimore is in doubt after the closure of the Veterans' Hospital: Fort Baker, CA, has been transferred to the National Park Service, the 9th military post to become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (CDSG Nov.) Fort Bayard NM, also used as a hospital, may also go to the NPS. After the decommissioning in 1994 of Fort Devens, Mass., there were plans "to rebuild it into a planned industrial complex with a residential component... 60 years ago, about 40 of the pillbox structures stood on the site: only 3 remain" but these belong to the Historical Museum which it is hoped will soon materialise. Fort Detrick houses microbiological research: "As the nation's first bioterrorism attack spreads, the focus has been on Fort Detrick as the nation's prime repository of anthrax knowledge" (H 286). The closure of Fort Snelling, Minn., used for re-enactments, has been cancelled: Can the State afford to save Fort Stanton NM? (Photograph of Officers' Quarters and a WWH AA gun); at Fort Hancock NJ, "faced with the rapid decay of more than 280 structures, the NPS has chosen a private developer to transform the fort into a combination resort, office center and cultural hub" (H 287), but a letter of Feb 2002, quoted in CDSG Aug., objects that the plan "devotes too much leeway to commercial developers at the expense of non-profits and educational organizations". The former mine facility at Fort Wetherill RI is to house RI Dept. of Environmental Management (Fish and Wildlife Division); athletes at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, were to be housed at Fort Douglas, which meant that many of the structures allowed to decay have been restored, and will be used for students at the University of Utah (H 287). Residence by over-wintering bats often saves forts, as in the Oder-Warthe Bogen Line (newspaper article reproduced in FJ 18), and "bats are home on the range at the gunpit at Dry Sandford, transformed by members of the Oxfordshire Bat Group with lottery money" (BBOWT Wildlife News Jan 2003). An exhibition at Fort Asperen was entitled "From bats to the Dutch Waterline" (VFlash 3). Sometimes forts are disposed of cheaply but with strings attached. Martello towers 6, 7 & 9 at Shomecliffe near Folkestone could be acquired from the Ministry of Defence for £1 each, but "the purchaser will have to prove they have the financial backing and expertise to renovate to English Heritage's criteria". At present they have no access to the main road, and there is vegetation growing out of the walls (The Times, quoted in CDSG Aug.). Governors Island is "to be sold to New York for a 'nominal fee" with the support of President Bush. President Clinton initiated the move in 1995, when he said he would "transfer the island to New York for $1 if state and city officials would come up with a plan that would include public access". Otherwise the market value was estimated at between $300 million and $500 million (CDSG May). In the CDSG Journal the accent has been on the Pacific and Far East: Tarakan (Netherlands E.Indies) (CDSG 161), Manila Bay (CDSG 16 2), Tsingtao (CDSG 16 2 & 3), Oahu (CDSG 16 3 and CDSG May, its 240mm howitzers and its Fire Control Cable System, plus John Vamey's reminiscences of service there, CDSG 16 4). Part II of the Vladivostok defences 1932-1945 is in CDSG 16 1 (See Casemate 64 for mention of Part I), before the Tour advertised in CDSG Feb., the report of which has not yet appeared. Japanese Seacoast Armament installed between 1914 and 1937 is shown on tables in CDSG 16 4 ("Certain patterns will be noted...the program in 1921", but as the table lumps 1914 to 1922 together it is not discernible). Other lists include: Fort related articles from Militafwissenschaftlichen Rundschau 1936-1944 and Kriegstechnischen Zeitschnft 1898-1922 (FJ 17). Former Festungen in North Rheinland, 7 pp including illustrations, a gazetteer with dates, constructions and state in 1994, an initiative of the DGF (FJ 18). Articles on artillery fortification, many translated from other languages such as English, Latin, Dutch, French, Italian, Danish, Swedish, from Andreas Bohm's Magazine for Engineers and Artillerymen 1-12 1777 to 1795 (FJ 18). Mottoes for US Coast Artillery Unit DIs. 116 in English, French, Spanish - but 67 are in Latin (not all spelt correctly) (CDSG Feb.) The signs by which you may know if you are a fort fanatic (CDSG 16 2) by Charles Bogart. These include: "You feel right at home at any fort, anywhere". "You have gotten lost in your own home town but can give accurate directions to a Panama mount 500 miles away." "Your spouse knows that when you propose a Colorado ski vacation, that means you found a new fort in the Rockies." Casemate received no notice in S this year, but VFlash 1 & 4 list the contents of issues 63 & 65, and FJ 17, 63 & 64. Dennis Quarmby's obituary of Ian Hogg was reproduced in CDSG Nov. Interest is expressed in each others' tours, and indeed the FSG Tour of the Crimea (Casemate 66) advertised in CDSG Feb., is reported fully, with drawings, in FJ 17. Dr. Neumann also organised a tour of the Stalin Line round L'vov, Ukraine in Aug. 2002 (CDSG Feb.) and a further (German/American) tour of the Crimea (US Marine Veterans "Sharkhunters") in May 2003 (FJ 17). The FSG AGM 2002 at Chester is advertised in FJ 16: for some reason "Plymouth" is included on the itinerary! Most newsletters do a splendid job in advertising and reporting on tours. H 286 and 287 devote much space to promoting the July 2002 meeting in San Juan. Expeditions to Muiden, Den Helder and Nieuwpoort (see Casemate 34 p4 & 5) are described with photographs in S 2, 3 & 4 respectively: the "beer" (batardeau) with its fine "monks" at Nieuwpoort, pictured inside and on the cover, is popularly known as "de keermuur met de poppen" (the crosswall with the dolls). FJ 16 asked 'What is a Bar? ', and this was answered in FJ 17 with the German term Querdamm.: a Bar should be in standing water, a Wehr in flowing water. Visits to Sark and batteries Schamhorst and Rudetzky, and to the Cotentin are reported in C10S 10. This last, led by Colin Partridge, saw an enviable number of sites: at Cherbourg, Navy archives, La Digue and Fort de Querqueville, HMS Windrush (now Lucifer) which was in action on D-Day, and the remains of German landing bridges for invading England, Arsenal Flak Battery, Fort du Roule; the next day Utah beach and several local coastal defences, radar station Tausendflissler, the new maritime museum La Cite de la Mer, PAK bunkers, radar site at La Hague and VI Flying Bomb site at La Sorellerie! The Fortress Guernsey Symposium "The Key to the Channel" advertised in Casemate 63 did not materialise. The CDSG St Babs Tours are reported in CDSG: No XIX, Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth NH, and Boston MA, Oct.2001, is described in CDSG Feb., and is followed up with an article on Fort Constitution in CDSG J 16 3. In Feb/March 2002 they were in New Orleans, exhibiting their usual hardihood: "At least three members sank into mud to somewhere between knees and waist". With complicated arrangements involving separate boat and bus trips, they were lucky to achieve "an 83% success rate; only about a third of the group got to see Tower Dupre". It was "a great adventure and a lot of fun". The varied and interesting programme of visits is illustrated with 15 photographs. A short account of a visit to Fortress Minden, with photograph of the reduit of Fort C, appears in FJ 16. In preparation for the tour of Denmark in September 2002, FJ 16 contained maps on front and back cover, information, bibliography, what to see, and a substantial article illustrated with plans and photographs of the development of the fortified area of Copenhagen. FJ 17 followed up with a front cover aerial shot of the Copenhagen citadel, the programme and agenda for the AGM at Fredericia, and an article on the Festung at Nyborg, Denmark. The report appeared in FJ 18, but the tour did not match up to the FSG Tour in 1986 (Casemate 19 pp5-6). The number of sites visited was limited by having less time there than we did, and inclement weather ("Next day's visit to the Double Redoubt was spoilt by pelting rain so only a few attended"). Although less than 30 members joined the Tour, they managed to lose one after seeing Copenhagen and its citadel. A Suchtruppe (a search party) was left behind while the rest visited Fort Lyngby: then it was back to Copenhagen to pick up missing member and search party, so the visit to Nyborg Festung and castle was curtailed and in the dark, preventing photographs - "a turbulent and exhausting day." Plans for future tours can be found in FJ 18 (including Ingolstadt, North Italy and Koblenz, in 2003), S and VFlash. The MoD magazine Sanctuary 31, 2002, devoted to the reservation of the natural environment on abandoned military sites, mentions Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, open to the public for the first time in more than 400 years. £25 million has been spent on decontamination and refurbishment - and this is only Phase 1. Another article, by an archaeologist, describes a visit to Tregantle and Scraesdon forts: "Scraesdon is an ominous fort. The darkened stone walls loom above with a cold grandeur... Armed with nothing more than a flickering torch and a camera I felt totally vulnerable..." [this was a conducted tour!]. "The munition stores are small rectangular brick buildings sizeable enough to shelter maybe 6-8 men with their kit". Such a detachment bedding down in the magazine might indeed have felt totally vulnerable. Unintentional anti-climax was achieved in an account of the fate of Minesweeper YMS 323 offSaipan (CDSG J 16 4). The effects of each shell (8 rounds) from the Japanese shore batteries are listed with great precision. It was the 5th round which "entered the starboard superstructure at the captain's cabin, passed through the aft side of the cabin, and on through the starboard blower, generator room, pyrotechnic locker and vegetable bin". Luckily for the potatoes etc. it "passed out through the port gunwale without exploding". St Barbara is the patron saint of artillerymen (hence the CDSG "St. Babs"). CE 124 carries a short article on "St.Barbara and the Symbology of the Castle". The four illustrations, from 14C to 1680, make it clear that the tower is one other chief attributes: the others include the palm, as martyr; peacock and ostrich feathers, crown, halo, sword (she was decapitated), book (for doctrine), chalice, cross, roses. Imprisoned like Danae in classical mythology in a tower by her father to preserve her purity, she was, in isolation, nevertheless converted to Christianity, for which she suffered a martyr's death. From this, and the tower connection, her patronage extended to all those in danger of sudden death, hence artificers, gunners and those in forts, arsenals and warships. As Patron of artillery, her attribute could be a cannon or bomb, so the tower could be thought of as a magazine, or the entry to a mining tunnel. Her patronage spread even wider, to architects, prisoners and farmers. Saint Barbara. Woodcut by Albrecht Durer, 1505. Those FSG members who visited the Artillery Museum of the Dutch Army at t'Harde, Oldebroek on the 1992 FSG Tour of the Netherlands will remember the special Artillery drink "Barbara's Bitter" which we tasted there, and the statue of the saint (Casemate 34, pp 5 & 6).

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French 10.5cm Schnider Mle 1913 (120.5cm Kanone 311(f)), one of the commonest guns on the Altantic Wall.
HKB Ny-Hellesund, Norway. Photograph: S.W.Olsen.

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Fortresses in Southern Turkey and Northern Cyprus

Charles Blackwood (Photographs by the Author)

My interest in military architecture started with castles, in my teens, and an early book, given to me in 1959, has a splendid photograph ofAnamur on the dust jacket, and equally impressive photographs of Sis and Yilan, Kyrenia and St Hilarion within. At that age, faraway places like these might as well all have been on the moon. In July 2002 I was finally able to visit these dreamed-of sites, and walk the walls themselves, on a trip with the Castle Studies Group, led by Professor Denys Pringle. The route ran along the coast from Antalya in the west of Turkey, to Adana and into the mountains of Armenia, down to Antakya (old Antioch, in Syria then), back to Silifke and across to Kyrenia in Cyprus. Some of the sites have Classical origins, most have Byzantine work, some have Crusader contributions; there are Venetian works on Cyprus, and Ottoman work all over the place. Many structures are in poor condition, earthquakes and neglect having complemented the work of stone robbers, and can be quite hairy to clamber around on. Guide books are non-existent, though we found some old British era ones in Cyprus; postcards are extremely rare, or old and faded, so you must make your own record. Many of the sites have names of Byzantine, Armenian, Prankish and Turkish origin and the names I use are not consistently any of them, but all are commonly used. The weather was exceedingly hot, towards 40C much of the time, though we did manage to encounter rain in Cyprus. The road east from the airport at Antalya has little to recommend it, being knee-deep in a mass of the tasteless paraphernalia of modem tourism, amongst which is buried the pearl of Alanya, a delightful old town on a steep peninsular hill. The site goes back to antiquity; Hellenistic stonework can still be seen, and other building periods are clearly discernible, adding greatly to the interest of the place. There is a complex and extensive series of walls, many in excellent condition, with two citadels on the hill, and the magnificent Red Tower, or Kizil Kule, (1226) guarding the harbour. Much is readily accessible. Alanya, town walls and lower citadel, or Ehmedek. Further east the pleasures of travel improve greatly as a steep road climbs and winds through pine woods above the sea, then down to Anamur, one of the finest mediaeval castles in southern Turkey, superbly situated on the edge of the sea. Its walls carry full crenellation, a wide variety of towers, from square to dodecagonal, some with small round gunports, with wedge-shaped cannon beds inside, added by the Seljuks. The site though goes back to the 3rd century BC, enlarged later by the Byzantines. Sadly some of the citadel has been lost to the sea. Anamur. Outer ward and citadel Moving east along the coast we passed Softa Kalesi on our left - kale or kalesi denotes a castle in Turkey - but were only able to photograph from the road. There appeared to be substantial remains of walls and towers, and it looked impressive on its precipitous isolated hill, a taste of things to come. Liman Kalesi. Gunport and merlons Just short of Silifke is the 14th century castle of Liman, guarding a bay, small but well worth a visit, as the old castle has been much altered by adding a sloping face, with a cordon to the sea-facing walls, inserting substantial gunports, and blocking crenels to leave small musket loops. Some of the internal wall arrangements are difficult to interpret. Towering over the town, above the Goksu River, is the impressive fortress of Silifke (Prankish Camardesium) with its double walls, undercrofts, and revetted ditch, and a history of fortification from the 7th century, including crusader work. Much of the walls remain, and the stairways are generally in good order, but the interior of the castle is largely a rubble field. The walls and towers are still substantial, with some unusual keyhole-shaped stones used in the tower walls. Next along the coast is Korykos, with its land and sea castles. The latter, the Kiz Kalesi (1151), is a very picturesque building, just offshore in the bay. A boat visit concluded with a circling of the castle at sea, after an internal viewing. There is much work in progress, revealing some delightful mosaics, but the scale of the reconstruction work raised some eyebrows as it was not clear on what historic evidence some of the work was based - there were some fairly large assumptions being made. The main rebuilt tower allowed access to its roof, around the edge of which was a 6inch parapet. The mainland castle is another splendid mixture, with a Byzantine castle being the basis, and later enlargements and strengthening by the Armenians, who reused much stone from the nearby ancient cities - Roman columns and decorated cornices are built into the fabric and clearly visible. Korykos, Land Castle. Rock-cut ditch. Deep into the hills above Adana, a thoroughly commercial town (not much tourism at this end) is Lampron Castle (Nemrunkale) seat of the Armenian Hetumid dynasty, taken by subterfuge by the Rumenid dynasty in 1210. The drive in was enjoyable, and the scale of the rural life redolent of much earlier days, with wheat fields scattered in the thin soil in every available space between the rocks. Piles of threshing chaff were spread through the fields, only the means of threshing has been updated. Of the castle itself, few buildings and walls remain, but the site is spectacular and well worth the walk to the top, for the surrounding panoramic mountain views. Thunder was rumbling dramatically in the hills, and heavy rain squalls were visible, but didn't reach us. Lampron Castle. Apartments and rock-cut ditch to right. The following day was quite the most spectacular castle day I have ever enjoyed. A rearranged programme meant we saw three of Armenia's finest in one amazing circuit. First, Sis (Kazan Kale) 1187-1219, originally Byzantine, the Armenian capital for over two hundred years, and strategically located to overlook an important trade and communication route from the coast to the interior. Sis from the south, the great tower is on the peak. A mini bus was hired to get us nearer to the top, in the scorching sun, and we were rewarded by a complex fortification, stunning views, extensive walls in good condition with a series of internal embrasures, and a keep tower with a very suspect stairway and roof which did not deter the intrepid - the CSG can be quite as mad as the FSG. Next came Anavarza, another spectacular site on a long rock ridge overlooking the remains of a Roman city. Anavarza. The Crusader keep cuts off the ridge. A long walk up a rocky slope, in the midday sun and through a Roman necropolis with stone sarcophagi scattered everywhere, leads to a stout, towered cross-wall, cutting off the ridge. The gate in the side wall to this enclosure had fine examples of stone hinge sockets, and adjacent were some equally fine examples of merlons and arrow loops, beautifully carved. At the waist of the ridge is a strong tower, reckoned to be perhaps the earliest major military work by Crusaders in the middle-east. Access to it is over a rock-cut ditch and up a nasty little slope, polished over the years by shoes, and directly over a drop of several hundred feet. Climbing up it is not bad, coming back down is another matter. Certainly the stone work looks very 'Crusader', with large well cut ashlar, in contrast to the much more rough-cut appearance of the rest. Corbels remain from a series of machicolations at different levels, covering the door and the approach. The third part of the ridge, behind the tower, is well supplied with a fine range of buildings, towers and walls. South of Anavarza is the plain of the Ceyhan River, and in the plain are a series of large rock outcrops, and on one of these sits perhaps the finest of Armenian Castles - Yilan, (Yilanlikale) the 'Castle of the Snake'. Seen first end-on, from miles away, it looks similar to Sis, but is much more compact with bigger, taller towers and walls and the structures are essentially intact. Three wards and numerous powerful 'D' shaped towers make up the castle. Access is not good, up to the castle or from the outer gate to the inner gate, and for such an in-your-face castle, clearly and wonderfully visible from the motorway and miles around, it is an obvious case for a bit of conservation work and promotion. There is some earthquake damage and the approach between the gates is an uncomfortable boulder garden, and while the whole back of the west gate tower is very precarious, it is not beyond saving - but I'm glad I've seen it now. Over the gateway is a carved double-lion emblem, thought to be the arms of the Rubenid House. Yilan. The west wall in the evening sun. A particular feature of most of the castles in this area is the cantilevered stone stairs, sometimes built from single huge blocks, sometimes two-wide, corbelled out, and sometimes three-wide, as here at Yilan. Anavarza has doubles, and singles, which can feel decidedly steep and narrow if you are managing a shoulder bag and camera. Coupled with the regional use of straight rather than spiral stairs, and stone vaulting as opposed to timber floors and roofs, there tends to be much better access to the wall walks and tower tops in this area compared to back home, even when centuries of earthquakes have had their effect. South east towards Syria is Toprak Castle (Toprak kaiefii) on its low hill, looming over the meeting point of some of southern Turkey's busiest roads. Built of black basalt, with white stone banding, its similarity in appearance has linked it to Margat in Syria, but while it was under the control of the Knights Hospitaller for a period, and modelled on Krak des Chevaliers, it was not built by them. A notable feature is the great series of wall defences, intact in many places, with stepped embrasures and carved stirrup arrow slits. There is a vaulted entrance passage and impressive vaulted chambers and undercrofts. South on the coast is Payas, where we saw a splendid caravanserai and mosque, accessed via a tranquil shaded courtyard and where our tour guide Celal explained some of the tenets of Islam. Adjacent is a peculiar castle, of doubtful antecedents, across a revetted ditch, in excellent condition, with quite the most lavish allocation of stairways I have ever seen. Great fun, but not much information. Towards the sea is a small square Ottoman fort, overlooking the beach, with a massive keep in one corner, supplied with a series of small gun ports. Its main sea-facing curtain wall contains three cannon ports.

Payas sea fort. Keep with gunporfs. Deep in the hills below the Belen Pass into what was Syria and is now Turkey, on what was the old road, is Baghras Castle. Built originally by the Arabs against the Byzantines, it was destroyed and rebuilt in the First Crusade by Tancred, fought over subsequently by the Templars and Armenians, recaptured by Saladin in 1188 post-Hattin, and finally taken by the Ottomans in the 16th century. It is an odd very compact castle built in three overlapping wards over a hill. Older photographs and surveys, as late as 1937, reveal how much recent earthquake damage there has been. The main tower has collapsed, and the end of the great hall has crashed down, taking lower walls with it to form a loose scree slope, difficult and slippery to climb across. Baghras Castle from the SE, above the approach path. There are numerous undercrofts and vaulted chambers and passages to explore, but some of the visit was spoilt by importunate local youngsters who accompanied us amiably enough on the climb up to the castle, but turned into pests when we got there, with endless demands for 'money, money, money'. As at Baghras, I was a bit startled to see that Antioch (modem Hatay or Antakya), once firmly tied to Syria, is also now in Turkey, and has been since the late 1930s. There are numerous prints of the old town walls of Antioch, showing massive towers and walls marching up the hillsides, and this is an indelible impression one gets. Sadly, very sadly, these prints were drawn in the early 1800s, before a massive earthquake in 1822 brought virtually all of them low, and stone robbers have taken the wreckage away. There are only jagged stumps and a few bits of wall left. The walls marched for miles round the Roman city, third largest in the western world, and a climb to the top to the citadel is well worth the effort, to see out over today's city and mark the line of the original wall. A walk back to the hotel via the route of the old wall, is not recommended - there is little to see and the loose slopes are hard and nasty walking. In the hills south of Antioch is the castle of Cursat, guarding the southern approach to the city, as Baghras guarded the north. Built on a narrow ridge, surrounded by deep river valleys, this is an impressive site to visit. The two main towers are built of enormous cut stones, and a photograph of the towers, with no scale, is most deceptive as there is an assumption that the stones are a 'normal' size. Cursat Castle. Note rock-cut base and size of the figure. Within the tower, pictured, is a superb mural gallery giving access to the lower level of arrow slits. Earthquakes have again worked their mischief, but some of the roof work, in both towers, and the sheer scale of the worked stone, made the trip well worth the effort - we piled into the back of a pick-up truck to reach the castle from the village. After 15 castles, citadels and towns in Turkey, demonstrating a very satisfying range of sites, designs and building techniques, we caught a ferry from Tasuku, the port for Silifke. This gave us a last opportunity to photograph an excellent view of the castle above the river, and take more pictures ofLiman Kalesi from the sea as the ferry passed by on its way to Cyprus, where we landed at Kyrenia (Girne). We visited 6 fortified sites in northern Cyprus; the three mountain-top castles in the Pentadactylos range, and three walled towns on the plains. First the castles; each was higher than its predecessor, and the first of these was Saint Hilarion, at a meagre 2400'. The Turkish occupation of Cyprus has not been internationally recognized, which leads to all sorts of restrictions, shifts and complications. St Hilarion towers indirectly over the main pass through the mountains from the northern littoral strip to the fertile southern plains, and there is no stopping on the winding road which is in a military zone, a sign we were to see often, and which must go a long way towards explaining the noticeable lack of tourists in the Turkish part of the Island. Military activity is everywhere and is thoroughly discouraging. Tourism cannot blossom in these unkind circumstances, and it shows. There are no up-to-date booklets and postcards, and the row of delightful restaurants which line the lovely little harbour of Kyrenia was practically empty. This was all very well for us - quiet roads and no crowds, but not at all good for the population as a whole and the Island's economy. Back to the castle; as we drove up the main road over the pass, we could see - couldn't hope to miss - a pair of huge flags, Turkey and Cyprus, half the size of a football pitch, waving from a cable strung between the castle and a rock outcrop. There was only one place we were allowed to stop for distance photos, and no way to avoid the wretched flags, but by one of those happy flukes, one flag got tangled and the wire was lowered before our eyes, clearing the shot. St Hilarion is a beautiful castle, climbing all over a wildly rocky crag in a maze of buildings and walls, set about with some of the few dark cypresses remaining after the mountain fires of 1997, and echoing with crescendos of cicada shrilling, all very atmospheric indeed. There is much to see and scramble over, from Byzantine walls and a chapel to Crusader towers and chambers. Some of the detailed carved stonework is superb, especially the Queen's window which gives just a hint and a taste of what the castle had been in its day. St Hilarion. Prince John's Tower from the Royal apartments. St Hilarion is the westernmost of the three castles and nearest to Kyrenia. The easternmost is Kantara, higher yet, with amazing panoramas from its walls. Anyone would feel thoroughly secure up here, though probably a bit lonely. As with so many of these castles, the history of military occupation of their sites goes back a long way, in this case to the 10th century, but most of the existing work belongs to the Crusading dynasties who occupied the island for 300 years after Richard the Lionheart captured it in 1191. Like the stairs and the stone vaulting, there is another standard feature of these castles, and that is the cisterns. Middle-eastern castles do not generally have wells, but have ingenious ways to collect all the winter rain and store it in deep rock-cut and stone built cisterns, plastered to seal the walls and roofed to keep cool. Some are large structures, thick and well buttressed and adjacent to the walls, while others are small pits built into the castle towers. Kantara has both, and it was delightful to see one of them still holding cool clear water. Lastly, between the other two, we came to the astonishing castle ofBuffavento, Castle of the Winds - not surprising at over 3000'. The walk in is invisible from the 'car park' and was a long steady hot slog up a rough zigzag track. Another Byzantine/Crusader castle, with its solid cistern just outside the wall, this one is a real eyrie of a place, with stupendous views all around. The remains of the castle are not greatly impressive, with a short wall and a nice entrance gateway, but otherwise a scatter of rooms and chambers spread across a mountain top as available space dictates. Here too the cloud boiled up and the sky darkened, but we got down dry and saw the castle looking positively Transylvanian from below as the cloud and mist wreathed around it. Buffavento, Castle of the Winds. The rain caught up with us in Nicosia, at lunch in a hotel restaurant. Nicosia was a great disappointment, the Venetian walls are very low and oddly bulging at the base; parks and trees press up to them, and there is no ditch or outworks. Access is limited by the state of the wall top and more so by the pervasive presence of the Turkish army with their posts and their barbed wire. The Green Line, dividing Greeks and Turks runs smack through the middle of the town, sterilizing large areas and preventing access to the southern half of the town. Nice cathedral though - the Crusader Saint Sophia, now a mosque. Kyrenia, on the north coast, is delightful, with the castle looming over the harbour entrance. It is also a fascinating mix of periods, in one building; buried in the depths of later towers and walls are extensive Byzantine works, clear to see. Wrapped around them is a Lusignan Crusader castle, with one superb tower (with inserted cannon ports) and wall, complete with crenellations; around that, on three sides is a large and powerful Venetian fortress with two circular gun towers and one full bastion. Kyrenia. Gunport covering the entrance front. The entrance passage is strongly reminiscent of that at the sea fort ofHeraklion (old Candia or Khandax) on Crete, and after climbing the sloping tunnel inside you are faced with the intact Crusader gate and wall. The extensive galleries to the gunports, and the smoke vents deep in the towers and bastions are well worth exploring, and it was a pleasure to see a Byzantine gate, and two faces of a typical pointed Byzantine wall tower deep in the body of the fortress. Altogether a splendid castle. Last, and the best of the artillery fortresses, bringing back strong memories of Rhodes, was Famagusta. A thorough exploration of this fortification is highly recommended. Here the enclosing wall is complete; at the north end of the harbour wall is Othello's Tower, where again much of the old castle can be seen surrounded by the later Venetian fort. There are some fine details of corbelled wall walks and a pointed batardeau where the wall meets the fort. Most of the gun towers are half round, the notable exceptions being the 'Ravelin' and the Martinengo Bastion - there's one of those at Heraklion too. Famagusta. The Martinengo Bastion, c 1560. Apart from its size, the most dramatic feature of this bastion is the amazing depth of the embrasures recessed deep in the orillons. Among other notable features is the series of generally shallow square cavaliers above some of the walls and towers, and on the eastern land wall, in the bottom of the rock-cut ditch, a substantial rock-cut cunette. The land gate, altered by the Turks to run by, instead of through, the ravelin, straight into the city, after they took it in 1570-71, is also a strong reminder of the gates of Rhodes and their foreworks. The southern gateway into the town from the sea front is a real peculiarity. Wide enough to cross the modem highway, with pavement, one would assume it to be a modern insertion, and yet there appear to be meurtrieres in the wall above, for the whole width. Very strange. I believe there is a splendid cathedral here too, but I barely had the time, or energy, to walk the complete circuit (I would have liked to go round the inside too), let alone see peripheral buildings. For the ecclesiastical enthusiast, Famagusta is loaded. The trip as a whole was superb, well run and most enjoyable, with a wide and satisfying variety of castles, forts and sites. The first two weeks of July is not, however, recommended as the best time to do it - try May or September!

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Conference and AGM, Ulster 5-8 September 2003. There are a limited number of places remaining. Members planning to attend this most appetising 3-4 days of Napoleonic, Victorian and World War forts, Martellos, walls, batteries and castles, but who have not yet returned the booking form, are recommended to do so. Remaining places will be allocated on a 'first come, first served' basis. Applications to: Bill Clements, 6 Lanark Place, London W9 IBS.   VAUBAN MEETS VAN COEHOORN Menno van Coehoorn. Detail of his tomb at Wijckel, Netherlands. Photograph: Gil Dowdall-Brown. Van Coehoom had been sent to Namur by the King-Stadhouder to improve the defences before Louis XIV attacked it. He designed a new fortification, an irregular homwork, but it was not finished by the time the besiegers arrived in May 1692 with 45,000 infantry and 33,000 cavalry led by the king himself. The garrison at Namur comprised 8 to 9, 000 men, of which 1500 were under van Coehoom's command in Fort William, the new homwork. The town on the east side fell, and Vauban, with about 70 guns and more than 50 mortars, started the attack with saps and cannon fire on La Casotte and Fort William. The former fell on June 13. Van Coehoom was "the soul of the defence", trying to get the defences finished, fighting, forcing the attackers to change their positions and leading a sally which successfully destroyed some of the enemy works. The final push came on June 22 at 9 in the evening. Van Coehoom received a serious head wound, and Fort William surrendered. The Castle gave up 8 days later. The French had lost 3,000 men. Vauban sought out van Coehoom and praised him highly (he was after all "the Dutch Vauban"), and the following professional discussion ensued: Vauban: Do you think the manner of attack could have been better? Van Coehoom: If I had been attacked in the usual manner, with saps to the curtain and half bastions, I could have held out a good fortnight longer, but since the saps were on all sides, there was no alternative but to surrender. Vauban strengthened the defences of Namur, only for it to fall to the Dutch in 1695, and it was van Coehoom in charge of the successful siege. The two engineers have been regarded by some as equally gifted, but "Vauban excelled with the spade, van Coehoom with the cannon". Margaret Pinsent, from material in Stichting Menno van Coehoorn Jaarboek 1990/1. Association Vauban AGM at Lyon. 29 May-1 June 2003. Visits to Forts Corbas (Mougin cupola), St. Priest, de Bron, de 1'Ecluse, les Banes Pierre Chatel, du Paillet, du Mont Verdun, De Feysin, d'lrigny. Applications before 14 May to M. Ribiere, Association Vauban, 22 Avenue des Breguieres, 06.800-Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. Great celebrations are intended for the Vauban tri-centenary in 2007.   NEWS OF FORTS The Western Heights Preservation Society (WHPS) based in Dover, Kent, is delighted to announce its attendance at the annual Western Heights Open Day, on Sunday June 8, 2003, from 11.00 on the site of the former Grand Shaft Barracks, Western Heights, Dover. As in the past, the Open Day will be organised by the White Cliffs Countryside Project (WCCP), and the WHPS will be represented by a stall and small display on the history of the Western Heights fortifications. It is also hoped we shall be able to open the Grand Shaft once again, giving visitors an opportunity to marvel at the engineering of the 19thC.

triple helix spiral staircase. In addition the Society will have on sale a series of information sheets and publications on the Western Heights as well as being on hand to answer visitors' questions about the history and future of these fascinating fortifications. We hope to be able to announce details of more events nearer the time, so please keep an eye on the website: www.dover-western-heights.org. and contact the WHPS for more information of this year's event. Further details from: Dave Mallinder, Hon.Sec., 66 Union Road, Deal, Kent, CT14 6AR. e-mail: dave@discovercentre.freeserve.co.uk. Fort Gilkicker, Gosport. The fort has been "named as a shining example of a historical site we should be protecting for future generations". English Heritage's State of the Historic Environment Report 2002 says the area is "under threat from lack of funding, development, climate change and natural erosion". Although the Phoenix Trust pulled out of a scheme to transform the fort into flats, planning permission has been given for 17 homes, an education centre, a small museum and public access, and several developers have expressed interest. The News [Portsmouth], Nov.29 2002. Three of the Solent seaforts are still up for sale - No Man's Land, Spitbank and Horse Sand Fort. The News [Portsmouth], Oct.21 2002 These two items sent by W.E.J.Parker The English Heritage Activities calendar for Oct. 2002 - March 2003 advertised visits to nine castles, the NMR Swindon and the Air Defence Radar Museum, RAP Neatishead (led by Wayne Cocroft). 9.2s around the world. "I have been responsible for the research and development of the Princess Royal Fort at Albany, WA., research and planning at the National Artillery Museum, Sydney, and latterly with preparing an interpretation and development plan for the Oliver Hill 9.2s on Rottnest Island, WA. The project that I have started is to develop a 9.2 club which is intended to be a loose association of all those with responsibility or interest in the history, etc., of all 9.2 installations around the world. The idea is to present a rationale for the installation of 9.2" Coast defence counter-bombardment guns - the days of the Empire - and to develop a basis for the exchange of information and assistance in interpretation. The first step is to contact as many of the installations as possible. The assistance of interested members is sought to create the network of contacts". Roger Martin. e-mail:rosemart@ozemail.com.au   FIVE DAYS/FIVE YEARS The Stickling Menno van Coehoom Jaarboek 1989/90 recalls, on the fiftieth anniversary of the five "May-days" in 1940 when the Germans successfully invaded Holland, the experiences in various sectors: the inundations, the Peel-Raamstelling and the battle at Mill, the successful defence ofAfsluitdijk at Komwederzand, and the "monumental end" of Fort Westervoort. There is also an article by P.C. van Kerkum evaluating the strength and performance of the Grebbe Line (Valleistelling) in 1940. A. van Sluiters quotes lines by J.C. Bloem on the cemetery monument at the Grebbeberg, which I have roughly rendered in English: Five days - and loss of freedom was our fate. Five years - then it was first regenerate: Justice prevailed, but hardly won and late... And to that thought this ground is consecrate. Margaret Pinsent Bastion, Wawel Citadel, Cracow, Poland Photograph: Bernard Lowry.

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BOOK REVIEWS

Review contributions are welcome from all. If you have read a good book you would like to recommend to others, why not contribute a review? You can see the basic information needed, and the style of material, from the reviews which follow. If you do not want to write a review, I would be equally happy for you to send me the book details, and I will try to obtain direct from the publisher - most are perfectly willing to send me a review copy. Possibly too, you have an old favourite you would particularly recommend - why not review it or send details? The internet is now a marvellous source of even long out-of-print books. I look forward to your contributions; they won't always appear immediately or exactly as you send them, but will be most welcome.

Any contributions, via email or disc if possible please (including for Casemate generally if by email, disc etc), to: Charles Blackwood, Reviews Editor.
Email: charles@braemont.freeserve.co.uk
tel: 01352 741556
Braemont, Cilcain Road, Pantymwyn, MOLD CH7 5NJ, UK.

Three reviews by Paul Holford:

E. Coenen & F. Vernier, La Position Fortifiee de Liege: Les Nouveaux Forts, Editions De Krijger, ISBN 90-5868-060-6, paperback, pp204. glossy paper, €28. This book is the fourth of a series describing the Liege Fortified Position developed in Belgium during the 1930s. Previous volumes cover the individual casemates of the advanced position and the main defensive line. The volume under review relates to the four major new forts built as part of the Liege Position during the same decade (Aubin-Neufchateau, Battice, Eben-Emael and Tancremont). I found this book a cracking introduction to a subject relatively new to me. I am sure all FSG members will be familiar with the daring and well documented airborne assault on Fort Eben-Emael in 1940, but little seems to have been published on the Belgian defensive arrangements at that time. This book does not relate to any of the fighting the forts were involved in, but it does describe very well the steps taken by the Belgians to defend Liege, and the form the fortifications took. There are four chapters. The first traces the genesis of the Liege scheme. It is a fascinating tale of arguments and counter-arguments, whether to defend the border itself or the line of the Meuse, and whether or not to retain and modernise Antwerp as a Reduit National. Also fascinating are the political factors involved, as well as the role of the King. The second chapter reviews the various elements of the fortifications. The 120mm and 75mm guns and cupolas are well documented, as are anti-tank weapons and small arms. The different types of armoured cloches are thoroughly explained too. Particularly fascinating is the ventilation system, which had an air intake in a block outside the main body of the fort; in the event of a gas attack, an intake pipe could be extended to a height of between 12 to 18m, theoretically above the layer of gas. If this was insufficient, the gas would be removed through a bank of filters. Initially, only the underground barracks were served by the system, soldiers in the fighting blocks relying on gas masks. Just before WWII, the systems were modernised to include the fighting blocks. Every feature of the fortifications has a photo of it, and the weapons have some excellent line drawings (if a little small). Chapter three describes each individual fort in turn, with a plan of the fort, as well as cross-sections and photos of individual blocks. There is also a plan of each work's underground barracks. One remarkable feature was at Fort Battice; because the fort was relatively close to the German border, it was deemed imperative for the troops to be able to reach their underground barracks as quickly as possible. Thus, a toboggan was built down which the fully-kitted soldiers could slide from their surface peace-time barracks on the glacis to the underground galleries [see Casemate 52, p7, V1997/3] - echoes of the Grand Shaft at Dover! The role of each fort and individual block is also described. The final chapter is a brief one, giving the current state of the forts and their opening times (they can all be visited). There are also a few wartime photos (including the removal by the Germans of a cupola) and a short bibliography. In the middle of the book are 16 colour plates, mostly of murals painted by soldiers in the forts. I came away from this book with a very good idea of how Belgium's 1930s forts worked. The book is extremely well organised and profusely illustrated. It is of course written in French, but given the number of photos and drawings, any non-Francophone with a dictionary at their side should be able to learn a good deal. After all, if you are interested in 1930s Belgian forts there is very little else on the market (Kauffmann and Jurga's Fortress Europe excepted, which devotes 26 pages to Belgium). If this book is anything to go by, I have every intention of purchasing the other three volumes in due course. [Members of the FSG Spring Tour in 2001 will remember the impressive banks of filters in Fort Tancremont]. Ventilation tower. Fort Barchon, (Position Fortifiee de Liege), Belgium.   Photograph: George Metis Christian Dropsy, Les Fortifications de Metz et Thionville, 1995, 205pp, Edited by C Dropsy, no ISBN number. Following a brief introduction to the military history of Metz, the book divides broadly into four main parts; the first describes the inner ring of forts, initiated by the French before 1870, completed, and added to, by the Germans after their annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. The second part describes the equipment of these forts, notably the 15cm and 21cm artillery cupolas, and the ditch-flanking artillery used. The bulk of the book is taken up by parts 3 and 4, which describe the Festen built by the Germans between 1896 and 1918, and the equipment used in them. Parts 1 and 3 follow the same very clear layout; each fort or Feste is described in turn, with an ordnance survey type map of its location, a plan of both the surface and underground parts of the work, as well as plans and cross-sections of selected individual elements of the

fortifications. There are also photographs to further enlighten the reader. To give a few examples, p24 has pictures of the barracks and ammunition hoists at the Fort de Queuleu (Fort Goeben), p86 shows a very unusual nickel-steel armour flanking casemate for machine-guns at the infantry work of Bois-la-Dame, whilst p117 shows the early diesel generators and switch-board at the Chesny-Sud work. At the end of each description, the author relates whether the fort is accessible or not, and its current condition. Parts 2 and 4 describe the weapons, armour and other equipment used in the forts and Festen. Again, with the aid of original drawings, diagrams and photographs, the author clearly explains the workings of the 10 and 15cm cupolas, 7.7cm flanking batteries, ventilation systems, observation turrets etc. The book concludes with a short chapter relating the history of the forts after 1918, including their remarkable resistance to American assaults in the autumn of 1944. This is followed by a final 16-page chapter describing the three Festen at Thionville designed to block the Moselle valley in conjunction with Metz. If the reader is at all interested in the concept and development of the German Feste type of fortifications, since there is so little available in the English language, this book is pretty much a must. Given the profuse use of drawings, plans, maps, cross-sections and photographs, it would be almost fair to describe it as an illustrated history of the subject, but this would be to demean the excellent and very informative text. Do not be put off if you have a limited understanding of French; the illustrations alone are well worth the £27 (€43) asking price. Highly recommended. I obtained my copy from Fortress Books, Zuiderdiep 140, 9571 BH 2e Exioermond, NL (www.fortress-books.com) Frederic Saffroy, Les Canons de Porquerolles, Editions Patrimoine & Medias, 1999, ISBN 2-10137-42-2. Softback, ppl37, 165x230mm, numerous b&w photos and plans, block of colour plates, chapter notes and bibliography. €15 + p&p from the author at 148, rue de Lourmel, 75015, Paris, France. This book traces the story of the Medes battery on the isle of Porquerolles, one of several defending the Eastern seaward approaches to the French fleet's base at Toulon. The introduction opens with a description of the site in a French worthy of Maupassant, but soon passes from the poetic to a more business-like style with a brief outline of the history of the island and of French coast defence policies. Chapter 1 gives the background to French post-WWI plans to modernize their coast defences. Many batteries had had their guns removed by the Army for action on the Western Front, and the experience of the Dardanelles, where French as well as British ships suffered at the hands of shore batteries, together with the obsolete nature of many batteries, made a modernisation program essential. The next chapter outlines the plans drawn up by the French Navy (which was responsible for coast defence) for the defence of Toulon. The story is a familiar one of reduced budgets, the fortifications competing for funds with much needed warship construction, and only part of the scheme being completed. The author goes on to describe the battery, pointing out its unique conservation value, because as a 'green-field' site when built on, it is especially representative of French thinking between the wars. Other batteries frequently had to be fitted into existing structures, some dating back to the 1840s. As well as the four 164mm guns (1893-96 models) of the main battery, the site had two ancillary batteries some distance from the main position; the section eclairant had two adapted 75mm guns whose purpose was to fire star shells to illuminate the target at night. This was not entirely satisfactory and was later supplemented by a projector. The other annex was the batterie de semonce whose task was to fire warning shots with its two ageing 1888 Lahitolle 95mm guns without revealing the position of the main battery. These guns were considered expendable, and therefore not a very popular assignation with the crews, one would imagine! Fire-control, magazine, and other ancillary arrangements are also described. The fifth chapter is entirely devoted to the camouflage of the battery, which was very thorough. The purpose of this was not to make the battery invisible as such, but to confuse enemy gunners as to the exact location or purpose of the various structures. It was also intended to break shadows, thus making such obvious features as the gun-pits or narrow gauge rail tracks less obvious from the air. The range finder thus ended up looking like a giant rotating rock. Great thought was given to replanting and the "random" positioning of rocks to make the position blend into its background. A very attractive set of colour plates in the middle of the book shows the vegetation and colour schemes used. The author doesn't hide his criticism of the design, though; whilst air reconnaissance was guarded against, air attack was not, and the battery offered no overhead protection, and only towards the end was equipped with totally inadequate anti-aircraft defence. Likewise, the underground magazines could be sealed against gas attack, but there was no means of ventilation provided, and the crews above were left to fend for themselves. The final chapter outlines the story during the war years. Under the terms of the armistice of June 1940, ammunition was returned to central magazines, the gun breech-blocks and weapons smaller than 20mm returned to the arsenal, and a "care and maintenance" only crew retained. The Italians at first occupied the island, followed by the Germans, when Italy surrendered in 1943. In 1944 the Allied landings in Provence took place further along the coast, and only when the German guns on the island interfered with minesweeping activities did the island and Medes battery come under fire from allied naval units. The book closes with an annex giving a technical description and diagrams of the structures. This is followed by ten pages of footnotes and a five page bibliography. It is obvious that this book is the result of considerable research; I found it very readable, and the organisation of the chapters is of the highest order, all the information being presented in a very logical way. There are a good number of monochrome photographs, many originals from the military archives at Vincennes, but they are often a little small to show much detail. The coarse texture of the paper doesn't help here, but they do their job and are certainly adequate. This is more than compensated for by the sixteen colour plates which are of very good quality. The author has done an excellent job of describing an individual coastal battery, and placing it in its historical, technical and financial context. 1 would have no hesitation in recommending this to anyone interested in the subject, and it makes for interesting comparisons with British practices. You will however, need a thorough understanding of French.

German Fortifications in WWII; defence and attack Reviews by Charles Blackwood

There is currently a wealth of books available on German WWII concrete. Sutton Publishing have now completed their Fortress Europe series, starting with Hitler's Atlantic Wall (reviewed in Casemate 64), and adding V-Weapon Sites, U-Boat Bases and The Siegfried Line, all with the prefix 'Hitler's'. This follows the trend of TV programmes to include the word Hitler or Nazi wherever possible, as I understand the viewing figures are thereby substantially increased.
The assault on Germany is also covered in Spellmount's nine-book Siegfried Line series, by Charles Whiting (mainly reprints of books published earlier by Leo Cooper), of which West Wall, Bloody Aachen, and The Battle of Hürtgen Forest are particularly relevant, finishing off with Bounce the Rhine. Osprey Publishing has entered the fortification arena with 4 books in a new series called Fortress, with another 10 in the offing for publication this year (see flyer in this issue). Fortress 3 is on U-Boat Bases and is reviewed below. Essential to any study of fortifications, is a knowledge of the means of attack they were designed to resist, and their success or failure against whatever was thrown at them; so an excellent book from Tempus, A Hell of a Bomb, dealing with Barnes Wallis's highly original weapons, complements Osprey's U-Boats and Sutton's series very nicely.
The latter's books keep to a format; hardback, 170x243mm, illustrated with b&w photos, with maps, plans and diagrams, bibliography and index, £19.99.

Philip Henshall, Hitler's V-Weapon Sites, 2002, ISBN 0-7509-2607-4, pp 208. The V-weapons were conceived to enable Germany to fight a war on two fronts - while the main thrust would be against Russia, offensive operations could continue against Southern England by replacing manpower with technology. An excellent 'Brief History', gives the background to the rationale and development of the four 'V'-weapons, V 1-3 and the Rheinbote multi-stage rocket. A further aspect, still debated, is exactly how far the development of the A9/A10 'America' two-stage rocket had reached, how much was known about it, by whom and when. Designed to reach the East Coast of America, the rocket would soon have been the first inter-continental missile. Building of V-related sites in Northern France started in early 1943, with a date of 15 February 1944 to start launches. Bombing of manufacturing facilities, and subsequently construction sites, delayed the start until 12/13 June. It is clear that in August 1943, the Allies had no clear idea of exactly what they were dealing with except there were some very large construction sites and smaller locations where ramps appeared to be lined up precisely with London. The assumption was correctly made that their purpose was inimical to the Allies. Chapter 2 describes the full range of site types in Northern France: the Original and New V1 organization, bunkers, storage and launch sites; the original and new V2 organization and storage; the A9/A10 America rocket sites; the Rheinbote sites and the V3 'Supergun' site near Mimoyecques (FSG 2001}. A fascinating chapter covers the Allied Intelligence War and Bombing Campaign, which makes it clear that there was great scepticism over the very existence of a real threat from unmanned rockets, and the August 1943 bombing of Peenemünde took place without complete understanding of its purpose. It was not until the end of October 1943 that it was accepted that there was a real long-range missile threat and it was clear that so many of the sites such as Watten (FSG 2001}, which had been bombed since August 1943, were part of this threat. Allied Intelligence was always one step behind the attack and although the bombing damaged sites and delayed construction and operation, improvements in operational techniques made the rockets much more mobile and difficult to locate, doing away with the need for monstrous concrete structures. Only the Allied advance overrunning launch sites eventually halted the offensive. The meat of the book consists of descriptions and locations of the hundreds of sites, mainly in northern France, dividing them into: V1 Original and New storage sites; Original and Modified launch sites, in four regions of France, with Holland and Germany; V1 bunkers and Special sites. V2s stick to a similar format, followed by 'Hottot' (a mystery, these, but the author plausibly proposes them as multi-role launch facilities for the V1, V2, and Rheinbote), A9/A10, then Rheinbote, V3, V2 radar guidance sites, Blizna and 2 possible Italian sites. As a gazetteer this whole section is excellent, with numerous maps, plans, photographs (contemporary and current), descriptions, current state, accessibility, and how to get there. Tables and maps are numerous and extensive, listing and marking sites by name and purpose, though the arrangement is decidedly odd, with all the tables at the front and the matching maps at the rear. A superb book, comprehensive, very well illustrated, thoroughly researched and a fascinating read. Jak P. Mallmann Showell, Hitler's U-Boat Bases, 2002, ISBN 0-7509-2606-6, pp 198. The U-Boat bases, particularly the great bunkers, are, like some of the V-Weapon structures, an icon of German military engineering which have attracted numerous myths and stories, one of which is the degree to which they were or were not damaged by Allied bombing, especially by 'Tallboy' and 'Grandslam' bombs. Clearly the answer is - not a lot. The author gives us a very well told story of the genesis of the bases and the thinking behind them, describing the 'Builders', the 'Building' and the 'Buildings'. There follows the main substance of the book, describing all U-Boat bases, from Trondheim and Bergen in Norway via Kiel, Hamburg, Bremen and Heligoland to Bordeaux, the southernmost of the five bases on France's Atlantic coast. This section is by no means dry and repetitive, as it could so easily be, and the narrative style maintains the interest throughout and makes easy reading. The last section, 'Coming to the Crunch' and 'Busting the Bunkers' will be of some interest to many as it very much puts the effects of bombing into perspective; there is already more general recognition that wartime reports of damage were frequently exaggerated, (hardly a remarkable event in wartime), a fact not appreciated until the release of secret information years later, and certainly not by Paul Brickhill when he wrote his seminal book The Dambusters' in 1951, at which time the Bames Wallis bombs were still on the secret list. Probably the biggest effect bombing had, was well before 'Tallboy' when raids with conventional bombs totally wrecked everything outside the bunkers, delaying their construction. The author maintains that some of the damage claimed as being caused by bombs, was in fact caused by post-war demolition, and some of his other assertions and interpretations of Allied and German conduct of the war will cause some eyebrows to be raised - especially relating to the Todt Organization and Allied bombing policy. While these parts of the book will grate with some readers, they should not be allowed to detract from the substance of the work, which is well written and thoroughly researched, very informative and very readable. The book concludes with listings of the Naval command structure and senior German officers in Norway and France, and U-Boat regulations, instructions and signals for Kiel. The wide selection of photographs is excellent, especially those of construction, though some captions have been transposed, and although there is a location map for each base in its port, an obvious omission is any plan of a bunker or base, with layout, dimensions and design. While the bunkers are listed in an Appendix, with their name, exterior dimensions, capacity and commencement year, the list does not define the type - construction, fitting-out, repair and maintenance — and if you want to know the fate of a particular bunker and its accessibility today, you will have to delve into the relevant text. Minor irritations should not put you off a good book. Gordon Williamson, Fortress 3: U-Boat Bases and Bunkers 1941-45, Osprey, 2003, ISBN 1-84176-556-2. Softback, pp64, 184x248mm, lots of b&w, some colour photos, and some very fancy digital pictures and cutaways. £10.99. An immediate comparison between the two books is obviously invited, and in many ways they complement each other. This one has a higher proportion of illustration to text, and remarkably few of the photographs are duplicated, though the quality of reproduction is not of the best. The digital cutaways are all very modem and obviously very clever and nice to look at, though they give no more information than a good plan and isometric drawing would do and in some cases are dark enough to detract from the image. The digital picture of 'Inside a U-Boat Base' is very good though. An obvious omission in this book too, is the complete lack of any kind of location map, or plan. The material is necessarily briefer, especially on design and construction, but all the essentials are there, with descriptions of all the bases, mention made of other U-Boat operating locations, including the Far East and the same points are made about the ineffectiveness of the bombing, and the devastating effect it had on the towns. As the author points out, the U-Boat war was lost at sea, not at the bases. There are some small discrepancies between the two books - the sinking of U4708 and the survival of U170, in the Kilian bunker at Kiel, for instance. 'Visiting sites today' is sensibly gathered together at the end, gives directions from Roscoff, describes what is there and its accessibility but only covers the French bases. This book packs a lot into a small space, is an excellent introduction to the subject and the style and format promises well for the new series. Back to the final book of Sutton's series: Neil Short, Hitler's Siegfried Line, 2003, ISBN 0-7509-2762-3, ppl74. Like the V-Weapons and the Atlantic Wall, the Siegfried line was designed to help Germany fight a war on two fronts by fending off the opposition while Hitler got on with his plans in the East against, initially, Czechoslovakia. Like the Atlantic Wall, it well deserves the prefix 'Hitler's', as he involved himself heavily in both, conceiving himself to be an expert in fortification after his experiences in WW1. 'The Siegfried Line' is the Allies' name for the German 'West Wall', stretching 350 miles from Holland to Switzerland, and they borrowed the name from the German defence line of WWI. The French and Germans drew different lessons from their experiences in that war; the French felt that Verdun had demonstrated the effectiveness of powerful concrete forts and called a line of them The Maginot Line, while the Germans considered their Siegfried Line had demonstrated the effectiveness of defences in depth and their power to delay an enemy until reserves could be brought up. WWII demonstrated which was the more successful philosophy. The Line was built in 5 phases, from 1936 to spring 1940, starting in a fairly desultory way by the army, and carried forward with great energy and speed by the Todt Organization in 1938 at Hitler's urgent demand, when 10,000 or so works were completed, with over 100 miles of dragon's teeth. Owing to the speed of the later work, much construction was shoddy and inadequate, leading to concerns among German generals. In spite of knowing this, the French and British were misled by German propaganda and a great unwillingness to attack such an apparently strong position, both in 1938 when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, and in 1939 when Poland was invaded, though the French made a token effort. The deterrent effect of the Line was a great success. The genesis of the Line, the rationale and the development of it are all well described and covered in early chapters. The Allies spent much time and effort assessing the Line and the means of attacking it, without coming up with any method satisfactory to them, although the author points out that pretty well all the means available to, and used by, the Americans to break through in 1944/45 were available in 1939. With the invasion of France and a new western border on the English Channel, the Line was abandoned and stripped of its armament and much of its equipment to furnish the Atlantic wall, and it wasn't until the Allies were knocking on the door of Germany in autumn 1944 that frantic efforts were made to resuscitate the Line. The Allies' assessment of the Line was that it should not present a great obstacle, and indeed it did not, as early efforts to 'bounce' it were successful, at a price, but halted in the face of stiffening resistance, and, crucially, logistical difficulties, as Antwerp was not opened until early November. The October - December attacks were not a success either in spite of improved supplies and reinforcements, as mud, filthy weather and so lack of air support had allowed a much needed respite for the Germans to strengthen and reinforce their defences. The effectiveness of the Line allowed the withdrawal of troops for the Ardennes offensive and only the huge loss of troops and heavy weapons in that battle made the final assault somewhat easier, but once more the Line had served its purpose. The points are very clearly made that close support by heavy weapons was essential and the worst casualties occurred when mud, mines and obstructions prevented the tanks and SP guns from closing the action. The substantial section in the book, on the whole series of attacks from September to February, is excellent - factual and unemotional - but they would be much easier to follow if relevant maps were appropriately placed in the text, instead of in a block at the front. Larger scale maps of some of the more intense actions would be valuable too, and there are irritating errors on the maps where the Schamhorst/Schill Lines are transposed, Rur/Roer and Prem/Prum used for the same places, and many locations mentioned in the text not shown on any of the maps. There follows a Conclusion, and a Postscript, which emphasises that much of the Siegfried Line was destroyed in action and immediately after the war, and how even now the German Government is intending to remove what little remains for 'public safety'. While the author and many others make the point that it would be most unfortunate to destroy what should be a memorial to so many brave soldiers, this is not a book to help the visitor find their way round the sites. All chapters have copious end-notes, which in many cases add an extra dimension to the narrative. The book ends with a Timeline, a comprehensive listing of all the Types of works, their armament, crew, concrete volume and cost; and index. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading - the narrative is excellent, and it is a compact and valuable source of information. As a set of books on the German concrete fortifications and structures of WWII, and the attacks upon them, this series can only be highly recommended. All are particularly strong on 'readability' and narrative and one or two are let down only by a paucity of maps and plans, and their placement in the books. If you have this set you will be well informed indeed. As well as covering Napoleon, Spellmount Publishing do WWII. Their Siegfried Line Series is all in the same format and is all by Charles Whiting, a prolific military writer who served in WWII in an armoured reconnaissance regiment with both US and British Armies. Volume 1 tells the story of the Siegfried Line as a whole, and the others concentrate on different aspects of the conflict, starting from Normandy and ending on the Rhine, typified by the battles at Aachen, Hürtgen Forest and the Rhine crossings. Volume 1: West Wall: The Battle for Hitler's Siegfried Line, 1999, ISBN 1-86227-070-8. Hardback, pp 199, 150x234mm, 32 b&w photos, 5 maps, bibliography and index. £16.95. Charles Whiting and Neil Short take very different approaches to the same subject, and have produced two very different animals. This book is much more blood and guts, with some fairly purple passages - 'mournfully the raindrops dripped like tears from the trees' - and tabloid prose, which came as a bit of a shock after Neil Short's cool, analytical and objective style. Here too we have tabloid stereotyping - too much for my liking, unnecessary and unhelpful;

Fritz Todt is 'Doctor Death'.. 'everywhere... in his riding breeches and high, polished boots ... bellowing orders'; Goebbels is only named in Chapter end-notes, in the text he is the 'Poisoned Dwarf; Col.Gen. Jodi is Hitler's 'cunning, pasty-faced adviser'. For the Allies on the other hand, we have 'the tall dark-haired Scot'; Horrocks, 'tall aesthetic-looking', and Winterbotham, 'tall, blonde and handsome'. You see what I mean. But get past these irritations and there is plenty of very good stuff indeed. The frightful conditions men fought, lived and died in, with appalling weather and most determined and bloody resistance, and the suffering they went through, is vividly and graphically conveyed. The major actions are all described in this way; Aachen, the 'Death Factory' of Hürtgen Forest, crossing the Sauer, and the British/Canadian attack on Geilenkirchen. Events are described very much 'of the moment', as though the author was present; there is over a page on an old gaffer smoking his pipe in the sun as the Germans retreat and the Americans arrive. We get far more too, of the well known intense rivalry at the top, amongst the Americans Eisenhower, Bradley, Hodges, and the loose cannon, brilliant self-serving Patton; and all of them with Montgomery. The author's contention that Eisenhower was well aware of the 'surprise' German Ardennes Offensive - even welcomed and encouraged it - will come as a new idea to many, and puts the desperate plight of those in the way - 'green' and exhausted, resting troops - in a new light; Ike was desperate to get the Germans out of their concrete and into the open. Many of the decisions as to where to attack, and who with, appear to have had as much to do with politics and personalities as military logic - as it always has been. Eisenhower is criticised for his insistence on an attack on a broad front, and failure to exploit an early crossing of the Rhine near Strasbourg. Much is made of Hemingway's jocular and bucolic presence and his lack of empathy with his country's soldiers, regarding their plight as 'material' for his writing. In this book, the message is much stronger that the extreme difficulties of breaking through the Line owed far more to the stubborn defence of the Germans, directly defending their own soil for the first time, than to the weather and lack of supplies within the Allied army. More maps and plans, placed in the text, would help back up the narrative, and there is no section on 'the Line today' to help visitors, but frequent references within the text and chapter end-notes mention things which can still be seen. The two books together tell very different but complementary stories and are well worth reading together too. Volume 3: Bloody Aachen, 2000, ISBN 1-86227-092-9, ppl55, 13 b&w photos 3 maps, no bibliography or index. £16.99. The town of Aachen, Germany's ancient imperial capital from the time of Rome and Charlemagne, was one of the most heavily defended sections of the West Wall, with the Schamhorst Line to its west and the Schill Line to its east, but the ground around it was better for the attacker than was available north and south; it was also a short route into Germany's industrial heartland, which was considered reason enough to forego the temptations of other routes through the Wall, which would mean a long hard slog through Germany. When the Americans arrived on 11 September 1944 and started probing attacks, their commander General 'Lightning Joe' Collins, was full of confidence, and interpreted his orders from Ike and Hodges for a 'reconnaissance in force' in as liberal a way as he could. But it took six weeks to take the town, and the 1st Army was fought to a standstill, with over 8000 killed, wounded or missing. After only a few days the Germans were expecting to be overwhelmed, but a two-day pause while Operation Market Garden took place in Holland enabled them to bring up supplies and reinforcements. More got through later as the US Army tried in vain to close the circle round the town. The battle was bloody and bitter and casualties on both sides horrific, with desperate attack and defence and awful weather. The author is good on the character and behaviour of leading figures on both sides - General von Schwerin, the town's first commander; Colonel Gerhard Wilck, who took the defence to the bitter end; Major Rink and his SS Battalion. Americans too; Captain Burt and his bravery, Hobbs, Huebner, Corlett and Collins. He is also good at using the testimony of participants and eyewitnesses, having talked to many German and Dutch people who were directly involved in the events. He tells of the families who lived an extraordinary life in the cellars, creeping out to gather food and hang out washing. Where he brings us up to date he is particularly effective: local Aachener Peter Schaaf dug from one cellar to another to prepare a defence for the SS Battalion, and thirty years later would deliver heating oil to the same house - and he still has the towel from the Hotel Quellenhof, fiercely defended by the SS. Once again, this is a book which suffers from a lack of appropriate maps, with many villages mentioned in the text but not on maps. Detailed unit actions require detailed maps to be meaningful; likewise there is no map showing any detail of the plan and layout of the town's defences. First published in 1976, and again in 1984 and 2000, some of the material has been updated in West Wall and a few passages are repeated in the latter too, but as a book to take you into the heart of the action and convey the awfulness of war, this is excellent. Volume 4: The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, this edition 2000, ISBN 1-86227-094-5, pp290, 21 b&w photos, source notes and index. £16.99. Hürtgen Forest lies on the southern flank of Aachen, and in November 1944 consisted of 50 square miles of thick, rugged, hilly woods, full of German soldiers in a network of concrete bunkers. Thirty thousand soldiers were killed or wounded in the five months of the battle, from September 1944 to February 1945 - the longest battle ever fought by the US Army. The author maintains that the objective had long since lost its purpose and only the pride and stubbornness of the High Command kept the battle going. The author and indeed anyone reading about the Siegfried Line will have asked themselves the obvious question, which was barely asked at the time and rarely since - why on earth were the Americans attacking through the Hürtgen Forest at all? To which there has been no good answer. Various reasons were given after the war; the attack was guarding Collins' assault on Aachen (but went on long afterwards); it was to take the Roer dams to prevent the Germans flooding the Roer valley; (but this wasn't mentioned until December), and so on. The Germans couldn't understand it either. The bloodbath of the 'Death Factory' of Hürtgen has since been portrayed as an American victory, but it was not. Thousands died to take a useless piece of ground, and did not succeed in preventing the dams being opened, delaying General Simpson's 9th Army attack, and costing the British and Canadians the most casualties in any of their WWII campaigns as they flogged through the flooded Reichswald to the Rhine. Whiting lays the blame squarely on the High Command who would not back off in the face of pointless slaughter, but insisted on maintaining the Army's prestige. He is also damning of the remoteness of Divisional and Top Brass, virtually none of whom came anywhere near the fighting, remained totally ignorant of the appalling conditions the troops were enduring, and issued impossible orders. Having read numerous military books, I still find it thoroughly depressing to be reminded of how consistently military commanders - all through the ages, and no doubt still today - are motivated by personal and national prestige and their careers, with little or no consideration for their troops. There are only so many words and phrases available to describe the most brutal fights in horrible conditions, totally destructive of men, physically and mentally, and I guess Whiting has used most of them. The photographs in this book are a very good selection, giving some sense of the Hürtgen battle, but though the main map of the location is reasonable, several place names are missing and it is all geography, with no actions depicted, no defences and no arrows of advance to help the picture. The chapter-end references are not additional notes, but simply bibliography in a different place. Overall, an excellent read - in Hürtgen Forest there is much to admire, and much to make you shake your head. Volume 9: Bounce the Rhine, 2003, ISBN 1-86227-151-8, ppl91, 37 b&w photos, 1 map, notes, index, £16.99. In a now familiar style, (but less 'tabloid' and on better paper; Volume 1 is 'wartime' in paper quality as well as content), this Volume closes the series covering the assault on Germany. Perhaps if the Allies had been able to continue the impetus of their charge across France, rather than running out of supplies and steam in Autumn, 1944. they might indeed have 'Bounced the Rhine' as Montgomery proposed, but there was very little bounce left by the time Allied forces reached the river. All the efforts to cross the Rhine are described; from the initial disaster of Arnhem in September 1944, and the four men who crossed at Strasbourg in November 1944 to the final American and British/Canadian crossings in March of 1945. The accounts of the actions are lively and colourful, with plenty of personal records and commentary, and the selection of photographs is atmospheric and evocative of a grey wet winter. The crossings themselves varied greatly in their difficulty according to the surprise achieved and the weight of resistance encountered. The author makes much of the conflict between Montgomery and the American commanders, who as the official US history records, were intent on getting across the Rhine anywhere, no matter how unsuitable, as long as it was before Montgomery. The plan agreed by the Allies years before was for crossings above and below the Ruhr to cut the area off and go for Berlin; a plan Montgomery believed was still extant. The author maintains that the decision, partly by Eisenhower and Bradley, and partly pre-empted by Patton and Hodges and Bradley, to abandon the agreed plan and exploit several ad hoc crossings, led to the eventual shape of Europe and loss of Berlin, as forces were withdrawn from Montgomery in the north to reinforce the southern crossings. It was also a decision deliberately kept quiet from the British, and apparently aimed more at thwarting Montgomery, keeping American troops from his command and gaining American prestige, than achieving an agreed result, and was taken by Eisenhower without reference to anyone. Montgomery's abrasive and arrogant attitude towards his American colleagues did no one any favours. This is a very satisfactory series, and the books are well worth reading. They convey much of the atmosphere of the war; the awful conditions the troops fought under, and the detached and self-seeking behaviour of many of the High Command. As a story of human endeavour they fascinate and appal. Stephen Flower, A Hell of a Bomb, Tempus Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-7524-2386-X. Paperback, pp320, 171x248mm, numerous b&w photos, 5 Appendices, glossary and chronology, but no index. The best known ofBames Wallis's bombs is 'Upkeep', the famous bouncing bomb used in the 'Dambusters' raid, which breached the Mohne and Eder dams in May 1943. Much less well known is its smaller round cousin, 'Highball', designed to be dropped by Mosquitoes and used against shipping, and possibly tunnels, by bouncing along the ground. Successors to these two were the 120001b 'Tallboy' and its big brother 'Grand Slam' weighing in at 220001b - the biggest bomb ofWWII, which only the remarkable capacity, adaptability and versatility of the 'Lancaster' could manage. This is an excellent and most thorough book which describes the conception, design, development, use and effect of all these bombs. The text is in small close spaced print, packing an awful lot of information into its 320 pages. The story is fascinating and extensively researched, through visits to the sites, official and personal records, and interviews with the participants. The large numbers of contemporary and current quotations bring the story vividly to life; from the difficulties for the designers, working with a very demanding Bames Wallis to an equally demanding timetable, through the usual difficulties with officialdom, red tape and inbuilt conservatism, to the action reports of those engaged in the operations. A particular feature is the author's determination to pay due respect to the crews who took part in the operations, many of whom lost their lives, and every operation in which the bombs were used is described in detail, naming the pilots, the loads carried, the stories of many of the aircraft and the success or failure of the attack. That's a lot of raids, but they are all eventful with enough difference between them to avoid repetition and boredom. I have been fascinated with these bombs since reading Paul Brickhill's book, 'The Dambusters', as a teenager in the 50's and this book answers so many of the questions that book left open, as the bombs were on the Secret List until 1962. Unsurprisingly, their limitations were not promulgated at that early stage, and the destruction they caused was not quite as dramatic as Brickhill recounted, but they were very effective in that they did enough to ensure the abandonment of the many massive V-weapon structures (Watten. Mimoyecques and Wizernes, were seen on the 1999 FSG Conference), and the destruction of E-boat pens. They drove the U-boats from their pens, albeit without causing major damage, and destroyed numerous vital tunnels, canals, viaducts, and battleships - and of course the two dams. 'Highball', sadly, was not a success and although persisted with from 1943 to the end of the war, 618 Squadron was disbanded in July 1945 without seeing action. The bombs were not without their problems, particularly getting enough of them, and persistent release problems with 'Tallboy' but were still impressive enough to feature quite heavily in historical records. So it is a bit surprising to be reminded that there were only ever 879 'Tallboys' dropped on active service between 8 June 1944 and 25 April 1945, and a mere 42 'Grand Slams' between 14 March and 19 April 1945, in 9 raids. These impressive beasts made quite an impact in their short career. The quality and wide selection of photographs is excellent, notably of the bombs themselves and aerial shots of before, after and during the raids - the before and after pair of the Glane by-pass on the Dortmund-Ems Canal is particularly good - and while several of them are well known 'classics', there are many that are new to me. The book concludes with an 'Aftermath', some very useful appendices and a very helpful 'Chronology', which helps put the whole story in perspective.

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Late Notices

Lt.Col. Henri Ortholan, Le General Sere de Rivieres - Le Vauban de la Revanche, 2003, from Bernard Giovanangeli Editeur, 116 rue de Charenton - 75012 PARIS, pp620, 14x22.5cm, €34 inc p&p.
The book describes the General's career and compares him to Vauban, giving his name to a system and completing more than 600 works in 10 years, infinitely more than Vauban in 30 years. It emphasises how his works received their baptism of fire in 1914, and brought the German offence to a halt at Verdun in 1916 (taken from the flyer).

From the CDSG Press; 3 reprint titles on American coast defence history, offered at reduced prices until 1 September 2003, inc p&p ex US, all H/B.

The Service of Coast Artillery (NY 1910), pp736, 100 illustrations & 33 plates, $45;
Permanent Fortifications and Sea Coast Defences, (1862), pp544, many drawings and tables, $35 (reviewed in FORT 26 by William Allcorn);
American Coast Artillery Materiel, (1922), pp522, $50 (see next FORT for review).

CDSG, 221 Scudder Ave, Northport, New York 11768-2945 USA, Attn: Leo Polaski. Cheques in US $ only, payable to the Coast Defence Study Group, Inc., (taken from the flyer).