Barchon Fort
The fort overlooks the right bank of the Meuse, and is located around 6.5 km northeast of the center of the city of Liège. Its mission was to interdict river crossings and control the road to nearby Aix-la-Chapelle. Its equipment and architecture were comparable to those ofFort de Loncin.
The Fort de Barchon was besieged in the early days of the First World War by German troops. It was the first fort in the Liege Fortified Position to surrender, on August 8, 1914.
The fort was considerably improved and reinforced in the interwar period. The most visible modification was an 18-meter-high tower (visible from the E40 freeway), which served to draw fresh air a respectable distance from the fort. The tower lies a few hundred meters to the west of the fort, to which it is connected by an underground passage.
The fort is relatively well preserved, and a museum is currently in preparation. It is open to the public a few days a year. Highlights of the visit: the ventilation tower, whose top floor is still accessible, and the 75 mm obusier cupola (at salient II of the escarp), imported from the d'Elsenborn campbut identical to the one there in 1940 (incidentally, it's the only 1940 cupola still in place in a rearmed Belgian fort). Interesting also to observe what modifications the Belgians made to the fort (digging new galleries under the central massif.
Photo credit: Tom Penay
Text: wikipedia
