Cognelée Fort

The fort de Cognelée is one of 9 forts built between 1888 and 1892 around Namur in Belgium in conjunction with those at Cork, to defend the country's neutrality against French or German ambitions to invade through the Meuse valley.
All these forts were designed by General Henri Alexis Brialmont and feature unreinforced concrete, a fairly innovative material at the time. It is positioned to the north-northeast of the city.
In 1914, the fort was subjected to intense bombardment by the German artillery.
The latter having learned during the siege of Liège that taking these forts by infantry was difficult, they brought their heaviest guns into play (notably big Bertha, machine guns of 420 mm caliber, i.e. twice the size of ammunition taken into account to dimension the armor of the forts).
Among the 9 forts, Cognelée is one of the two buildings not to have been upgraded between the two wars as part of Namur's fortified position. It was used as an ammunition depot and was poorly defended. Like most of Namur's forts, with the exception of St. Héribert, it is not the subject of a museum presentation
Photos: Alain Walthery
Source: wikipedia

The fort de Cognelée is one of 9 forts built between 1888 and 1892 around Namur in Belgium in conjunction with those at Cork, to defend the country's neutrality against French or German ambitions to invade through the Meuse valley.All these forts were designed by General Henri Alexis Brialmont and feature unreinforced concrete, a fairly innovative material at the time. It is positioned to the north-northeast of the city. In 1914, the fort was subjected to intense bombardment by the German artillery.The latter having learned during the siege of Liège that taking these forts by infantry was difficult, they brought their heaviest guns into play (notably big Bertha, machine guns of 420 mm caliber, i.e. twice the size of ammunition taken into account to dimension the armor of the forts). Among the 9 forts, Cognelée is one of the two buildings not to have been upgraded between the two wars as part of Namur's fortified position. It was used as an ammunition depot and was poorly defended. Like most of Namur's forts, with the exception of St. Héribert, it is not the subject of a museum presentationPhotos: Alain WaltherySource: wikipedia