Tong /
Terence Tong
February 17, 2002
Military Affair 121
Lieutenant Katz
Dark Defenseless Stronghold
It was not uncommon to hear stories of how soldiers being encircled by the enemies, defended their fort until it was shattered into pieces by rain of explosive shells from the enemies. In battle of Verdun, forts played an important role on French’s defensive line. Breakthrough of certain forts could severely affect the result of the battle. Attack of fort was nothing more than sending pioneer to fight their way up room by room. However, forts were not often captured by constant artillery bombardment. Instead, the defenders surrendered because they could not stand the torture of not eating, drinking and sleeping for weeks.
As it was mentioned before, forts were designed and built to withhold constant artillery bombardment. Forts were usually polygon in shape, located on high grounds. Wall on strong fortress, like Douaumont could withstand heavy artillery attack. They were made like sandwich, fillings of sand were stuff in between two five-foot thick concrete walls. The sand acted as a shock absorber, which was highly resistance to artillery explosive shells. Even the 420-mm “Big Bertha” could not cause a slight damage to it. In addition, as with anywhere in the battlefield in WW I, layers and layers of barbed wired slowed down enemies’ advancement. With shells dropping from the sky, soldiers had to make their way through the barbed wired, down the moat and finally up the thick wall of the fort. However, it was not any easier once the attacker get through all these obstacle. Machine gun and turret were positioned to maximize their defense. Yet the attackers would fight their ways to the commanding post with hand grenade and flame-throwers. No matter how much force the attacker had, the defenders would still had a slight advantage over the attackers, for they are being familiar with the font. Capturing a fort by brute force was not as easy as it seemed.
