Fort Dubois: A Nineteenth-Century Blocking Fort in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page6 sections
History
Fort Dubois is a nineteenth-century French military fortification in Buire, France, built between 1877 and 1880 to protect Hirson railway station. It formed part of the defensive system designed by French military engineer and general Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières after the Franco-Prussian War, a network of forts and related works intended to defend France’s borders and important transport routes.
Construction and military purpose
Construction began on 14 April 1877 and continued until the end of 1880. Captain Félix Lhéritier supervised the work, which was carried out by the Adrien Hallier company according to Séré de Rivières’s plans. The fort was designed as an isolated blocking fort, known in French military usage as a fort d’arrêt. Its purpose was to prevent an invading force from using the railway at Hirson to bring in supplies, while also protecting the station itself. The construction cost 2,604,521 francs, not including the armored gun turret.
Originally named Fort d’Hirson after the municipality, the fort briefly became Fort Dubois in 1887. A presidential decree of 21 January, implemented by Minister of War Georges Boulanger, gave it the name of Paul-Alexis Dubois, a French general of the Revolutionary era. Minister Théophile Ferron revoked the decree on 13 October of the same year, and the fort resumed its original name. The name “Fort de Dubois,” however, remained engraved above the main entrance.
Garrison, armament, and decommissioning
The wartime garrison numbered 1,030 men in 1880. After its reduction, the 1891 garrison comprised 103 infantrymen, 123 artillerymen, and three cooks. The fort was not modernized through the late nineteenth-century programs of 1900 and 1908, and it was decommissioned in 1912. In 1914, German forces removed and scrapped its obsolete Mougin turret, a rotating armored gun turret used in late nineteenth-century French fortifications.
The fort is privately owned and has been partly destroyed. A demining operation took place in May 2006, but weapons remain on the property, which is dangerous.
Remains
Fort Dubois was built entirely of brick and enclosed by a dry ditch. An earthen covering protected the roof of the central structure. The entrance was defended by a removable bridge, while the fort’s defensive perimeter included ramparts and four caponiers, fortified structures projecting into the ditch so defenders could fire along it. One caponier stood at the gorge, two at the shoulders, and a double caponier faced the front.
Buildings and internal facilities
The central complex contained barracks, a bakery, eastern and western powder magazines, a medical station, stables, wells, and the armored gun position. The medical station had 66 beds, and the stables held 12 horses. Two ovens could each produce 200 loaves per day. The eastern magazine stored 75 tonnes of black powder, while the western magazine held 91 tonnes. The fort also contained 1,000,000 cartridges.
Defensive works and services
The ramparts carried 28 guns, and an annex battery held another 10. The four caponiers housed 10 guns used to sweep the ditch, while the rampart guns remained in open positions. The armored installation consisted of one Mougin turret mounting a 155 mm model 1876 gun, designated “B’”. Two wells could each provide 40 cubic metres of water per day, and three additional springs lay in the ditches.
The fort is now ruinous. Entire sections of its galleries have collapsed, and the ditch has been filled in, leaving a damaged but identifiable record of its brick construction, defensive organization, and military infrastructure.
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