Casemate 77

Tangiers; from Andrew Saunders:

One error in Dennis Quarmby's piece on Tangier, in the historical background; the English did indeed hold Tangier from 1662 (not 1661) until 1684 but it was not 'taken by siege'. Upon coming into English possession, Tangier's fortifications were improved first by Martin Beckman and then by my old friend Bernard de Gomme. At the same time came the construction of a massive mole to protect the harbour from Atlantic storms. A significant element of the new defences was small forts and lines of earthworks or rather blockhouses beyond the city walls. Such was the nature of the guerilla-type warfare with the Moors that outworks were the best means for keeping them at a distance. Improved siegework techniques later spread westwards following the long siege of Candia, and the nature of warfare changed at Tangier. In 1680 there was a siege in which most of the outworks were taken by the Moors. The English were driven back almost to the walls of the city but there was a truce and Beckman came out again and did some more work. However, in 1683 the financial burdens were too great and Charles II was getting no support in parliament so he decided to pull out and abandon Tangier altogether. Lord Dartmouth (Master General of the Ordnance) and a party which included Beckman, Pepys and Thomas Phillips sailed out to arrange the demolition of the defences and the unfinished mole. The demolition of the latter took 3 months - well over the estimate. The garrison and the inhabitants were evacuated in 1684. Phillips, who was a very fine draughtsman, drew before and after views including the blowing up of the mole.

Major E R Kenyon; from John Kenyon:

The Peninsular war has much to interest the fortification enthusiast. Contemporary reports of actions are numerous and detailed, the savagery of the fighting is well known, and descriptions of the fortifications and the attack and defence thereof are very well documented. The period of the war covered the last days of the classical Vauban style defences, with its formalised siege methods, and this volume is a useful addition to study as it describes the fortifications themselves rather than the sieges; their rationale and place in the War, the principles of defence (some problems here), the fortress in war, and what can be seen today. Ian Fletcher knows his stuff, is well known for his work on the Peninsular War and has written several books on the subject, so is on familiar ground here; the book is a very useful introduction to the subject and would be a very handy companion to a trip around the sites. The names are familiar; in Spain - Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos, San Sebastián, and in Portugal, Almeida and Elvas, all playing a significant part in the conflict. I would like to have seen more on the last two, which tend to lose out to the more eventful locations.

FORT APPOLLINAIRE; from John Southcott:

I have a great interest in fortress archaeology, having been stimulated by the Heugh Battery project of which I am chairman (www.heughbattery.org.uk).
Having just received Casemate 76 I was intrigued by the comments on p8 regarding Fort Appollinaire; I have seen two such emplacements before. Both were co-located on a slight hill near the village of Fricourt and are AA emplacements circa 1939, I believe for the ubiquitous 75mm. This is confirmed by Michael Stedman on page 148 of his book Fricourt-Mametz published by Pen and Sword, although he does not mention the Artillery.

From Mike Brock:

Since getting back from France I have been looking in my photo record for the fort in which I saw a similar base.
I have photographs of the fort and its interior but unfortunately not of the base. It is in Fort de Bois l'Abbé outside Epinal and close to Fort Uxegeny and from memory it is very similar to that in the photograph you published. Four 75mm AA guns were installed in Bois l'Abbé in 1915. I believe the French word for this type of mounting is cuve which I translate as bowl.
The fort is interesting in that, from memory, it was almost unmodified from original; it was the bakery for the whole ring of forts and contains the most enormous traditional bread oven, also a very large cooking range which the society transported from L`Infernet near Briançon. When we were there about three years ago it was stacked with recovered original railway lines which it was intended to reinstall between the forts.

From André Bruns, Luxembourg:

The picture of the 'thing' at Fort Appollinaire shown in Casemate 76, p9, is a static platform for a revolving mounting of an AA gun consisting of a simple centre-pivot mounting and a barrel with its cradle of the famous French 75 mm model 1897. These were designated: Postes fixes de DCA (DCA = Défense contre avions = AA defence).
Ian Hogg states that a few of these were also deployed 'somewhere in the London defences. It was never graced with an official nomenclature.' Some technical details, p170 (autocanon): muzzle velocity: 550m/sec; max ceiling: 5,000m; shell weight: 5.56kg
(HOGG, I V: Allied Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury: Crowood 1998, p167).

From a postcard. André Bruns.

It is definitely WWI.
I found one designation: pièces de 75 mm CA modèle 1915. In 1918 there were 600 guns on static platforms and a further 160 guns mounted on trucks (autocanons, DeDion Bouton chassis). Source: FERRARD, S: Les matériels de l'armée de terre française 1940. (2 vol.) 1: Infanterie, blindés, artillerie de DCA et divisionnaire. Paris: Lavauzelle 1982-1984, p110-111.
Gander/Chamberlain state that in 1940, 913 guns were in service which were pressed into German service and later used on the Atlantic Wall. It seems that these had another type of centre-pivot mounting on a cylindrical concrete bloc, which did not need the circular pit which can be seen in Casemate 76. (Source: I have only the German edition translated by Herbert Jäger. GANDER, T. / CHAMBERLAIN, P.: Enzyklopädie deutscher Waffen 1939-1945. Handwaffen, Artillerie, Beutewaffen, Sonderwaffen. Stuttgart: Motorbuch 1999.)

Fort Augustus; from Billy Robinson:

I guess you'll find Fort Augustus at the head of Loch Ness.(Casemate 76 p7); I wrote at the foot of Loch Ness, thinking in a sort of North/South axis kind of way, but thank you Billy for correcting the error. Ed.

Rock Casemate and Fort Adelaide; from Frank Garie, South Australia:

Herewith a photo copied from the newspaper The Town & Country Journal (Sydney, Australia) for 28 December 1895. It shows a 10-in SB, 86cwt Mk1 Shell gun being raised (by an 18ft gyn) up the ventilation shaft (grating removed) of one of the Rock Casemate emplacements at George's Head, Sydney Harbour.

The original caption is 'Promotion to Sergeant'.

These guns were replaced by two 80-pdr 5-ton Mk1 RMLs. In 1901 the latter were intended to be fired at a fixed elevation and training to defend the minefield; only shrapnel shells were provided. The battery was extremely damp when heavy seas prevailed. (It is a damp place.) The floppy hats were typical of the turn of the century in warm Australia. This 3-gun battery appeared in cross-section and plan on p43 of FORT 23 (1995).
Ref: Report of the Military Committee of Inquiry, 1901.
(A cross section of this battery also illustrated Frank's review of The Fragile Forts, Casemate 75 p26. Ed)

Fort Adelaide

[Frank's work on the 10-in RML at the fort. Edited]:
The work comprised the elevating and traversing mechanisms and now the gun can be moved by wheel and crank handle. Work has stopped on the mounting through lack of funding but I am getting ready to make the externally visible compressor parts (capable of being moved to demonstrate its function) and the shell and cartridge lift parts, including the crab winches (for hoisting up visitor's offspring).

(Roger Vella Bonavita).

I have been involved with HMVS Cerberus (Breastwork monitor) of 1869, that is with its gunnery system and turret machinery, not with respect to any hands-on work, because the unfortunate hulk, complete with all guns and turrets is being allowed to fade away. A great shame. The Save the Cerberus Alliance is trying to raise A$3m+ to lift the ship onto piles. The guns and turrets and much of the breastwork deck including the armoured pilot are still restorable, but the lower decks and hull are largely rusted away, suffering from the surf and elements since her beaching in 1926.

Maisy Battery; from John Harding:

Re the Note in Casemate 76 about the Maisy Battery site in Normandy, there were two quite detailed articles plus some photos in the Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr issues of The Armourer Magazine.

Mölkerbastei; from Bernard Lowry:

The walls of Vienna withstood the two great Turkish sieges of 1529 and 1683 but could not withstand the grand expansion of the city in the latter half of the C19th. The walls were torn down and replaced by the Ringstrasse, completed in the 1880s. However, a fragment of the walls survives in the form of the Mölkerbastei, close to the Burgtheater. It is possible that its survival is due to the presence of several houses built within the bastion. These houses are of interest. In the Pasqualati house Beethoven composed, between 1804 and 1815, Symphonies 4,5,7 and 8, and also the opera Fidelio together with other pieces. A few doors away was filmed the scene in Carol Reed's classic 1940s adaptation of Graham Green's novel The Third Man where Harry Lime first appears, illuminated in a doorway by the light from the Dreimäderlhaus on the corner of the opposite block.

The Mölkerbastei with the Burgtheater to the left. The doorway on the very far right of the photograph is where Harry Lime stood, illuminated by the light from a window in the elaborately gabled Dreimäderlhaus in the centre of the photograph. BL.

Isabella II Fortress, La Mola, Menorca; from Ian Stevenson:

The fortress is now open to the public daily, except Mondays between: 10am-8pm June-October; 10am-6pm May-October; 10am-2pm November to April (closed over Christmas and New year). There is an information leaflet available in Catalan, Spanish, English and German but no guide book as yet in English. The fortress is signposted and has an information centre. There are two 15-in Vickers guns in position, that can be visited; there were four 6-in Vickers of which two remain, but access is difficult though not impossible.
(Information from Ian's brother who spent 6 hours at the fort. See also p10 .Ed)