Fort Neuf de Vincennes: A Nineteenth-Century Defensive Fort in Paris
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
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- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page9 sections
History
Fort Neuf de Vincennes is a nineteenth-century bastioned fortification in France, built between 1841 and 1844 as one of the detached forts of the Thiers fortifications, a defensive system created around Paris to resist modern artillery and attacking armies. Its angular projecting bastions allowed defenders to cover the surrounding walls and ground with crossfire. The fort was constructed separately from the Château de Vincennes, formerly known as the Old Fort of Vincennes.
Construction and relationship with the château
Fort Neuf was built to provide Paris with a fort capable of using artillery and resisting artillery fire. It occupied the eastern side of the Château de Vincennes complex, while the château stood to the west. The two sites were separated by the opening of the Cours des Maréchaux in 1931. Fort Neuf lies in Paris’s 12th arrondissement, whereas the château is in the commune of Vincennes, in Val-de-Marne.
The Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune
On 17 September 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the fort received warning that enemy forces were approaching Paris. During the ensuing Siege of Paris, it served as the headquarters of General Ribourt, the senior commander of the Vincennes area. Colonel de Sillegur commanded the fort, Colonel Morel its artillery, Lieutenant Colonel Darrodes its engineers, and the naval medical officer Pellegrin its medical service.
In September 1870, the garrison included a staff of 10 officers and 22 soldiers, the 7th, 15th, and 18th Chasseur battalions, depot companies from the 38th, 66th, 82nd, 86th, and 100th Line regiments, and the 11th Mobile Battalion of the Seine. The latter consisted of 984 men and 24 officers and was sent to Saint-Denis on 21 September. Artillery personnel came from the 4th and 11th Artillery regiments and the 6th and 9th Artillery Workers’ Companies. Engineers, administration, and clerical staff were also represented.
The military inventory of 1870 listed 52 cannon at Fort Neuf and 75 at the Old Fort, with 60 shells for each piece. Their combined stores included 43 tonnes of rifle powder, 5,700,000 Model 1866 cartridges, 10 tonnes of cannon powder in barrels, 423,000 tabatière cartridges, and 500,000 percussion cartridges.
During the Paris Commune, a revolutionary government formed in Paris after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, insurgents controlled Fort Neuf. Encircled by the German army, the fort surrendered on 29 May 1871 during the final week of the Commune’s suppression, known as the Bloody Week. Versailles forces later executed the garrison’s nine officers in the ditches near the place where the Duke of Enghien had been executed.
Military experimentation and twentieth-century uses
In spring 1915, the fort’s testing ground was used for French experiments with chemical-warfare gases developed in response to German gas attacks at Ypres. One of these agents became known as Vincennite. On 11 March 1918, during the First World War, German aircraft raided the fort and struck the barracks of the 13th Artillery Regiment in the Fort Neuf courtyard.
In 1962 and 1963, the fort’s cinema hall hosted trials before the Military Justice Court involving members of the Secret Army Organization, a clandestine anti-government movement associated with opposition to Algerian independence, and participants in the generals’ putsch. From 28 January to 4 March 1963, the court tried those responsible for the Petit-Clamart attack on President Charles de Gaulle. Lieutenant Colonel Jean Bastien-Thiry, identified as the principal instigator, was sentenced to death and executed at Fort d’Ivry.
Contemporary military role
In 1970, Fort Neuf housed Selection Centre No. 1, where conscripts completed the compulsory “three days,” as well as the 24th Infantry Regiment. Since 27 June 2013, the headquarters and 1st and 2nd companies of that regiment have been based at the fort.
Since 2014, Fort Neuf has been one of the sites used by the support group of the Armed Forces Commissariat Service. Its occupants include military recruitment and information centres, the Île-de-France and Overseas recruitment and selection group, and the Val-de-Marne military delegation. Other facilities serve the Armed Forces Health Service, Défense Mobilité, the inter-service clothing stores function, accommodation, logistics, and military support. The fort has also hosted part of the Sentinelle deployment in the Île-de-France region. The Ministry of the Armed Forces owns the site, whose garrison numbered approximately 3,520 personnel in 2012.
Remains
Fortification and entrance
Fort Neuf is a nineteenth-century bastioned work in the northern part of the Bois de Vincennes, on the eastern side of the Château de Vincennes complex. Its entrance portal opens onto the Cours des Maréchaux. The fort’s angular defensive plan reflects its original purpose as a detached artillery fort within the wider Thiers system.
Barracks and service buildings
The complex contains barracks and other military accommodation and service buildings. The barracks of the 13th Artillery Regiment stood in the Fort Neuf courtyard and were struck during the German air raid of 11 March 1918. A cinema hall within the fort later served as a courtroom for the Military Justice Court trials of 1962 and 1963.
Testing ground and present occupation
The fort’s polygon, or testing ground, was used for French chemical-warfare experiments in spring 1915. The surviving complex is occupied by Ministry of Defense offices, military support services, recruitment and selection facilities, accommodation, logistics installations, and barracks. Public access is strictly restricted.
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