Saturday, 06 June 2009 20:21
(From the book by Pierre Richard - the license to build a strong Sere de Rivieres)
The construction of forts Sere de Rivieres will almost standard. All the forts, for economic reasons, are made from such plans.
Chefferie Engineer Champigny sur Marne responsible for the construction of Fort de Villiers. The adjudicator, usually the contractor is responsible for work performed.
Approximately 600 to 1000 workers are employed in construction. The vast majority are Italians. A local workforce, unemployed, unskilled, and some craftsmen are also part.
The police watch on sites where there is plenty of material. Social conflicts and espionage are monitored.
The Book of the Engineer Officer shall day by day and the workflow of construction and the additional costs are postponed. All these documents (the specification, the record of commitment and plans) are very useful in case of dispute. They are all indispensable for the construction of a fort. The price schedules Service Engineer set the price: the day's work for 10 hours by occupational categories are on the site.
All construction work is supervised by the Corps. This will execute the work under the guidance of Artillery for the powder magazine and the gun emplacements. Once built premises, the Quartermaster landscape the barracks, stores and fuel to live ...
The earthwork and digging ditches are made by hand using picks, shovels, crowbars and sledge. Transportation and Land rock extracted is made using wheelbarrows carts and wagons pulled by horses. Later following the developments in technology, networks of rail wagons to the metric with side dump, steam engines, (winches) for pulling and lifting cables are implemented.
Datas
A stock of food is planned for three months.
The water supply is 5 liters per man.
Housing for the troupe leaves 2m2 per man.
Space Ambulance (care beds) is 0.5 m2 per man.
Dimensional Data for some local
The food store with about 180 m2 for 560 men.
The seller of genius is 100 m2.
Corridors and circulation areas should be for example 5 meters to the street wall.
Kitchens and circulation ducts 830 m2.
Datas for the Artillery
It takes 12 men to serve a gun.
The homes of men and officers
For a workforce of 560 men, the bedrooms are made for 44 men, 11 beds, 6 on one side and 5 on the other because it is a place for the stove. Comptons NCOs in 10-pillboxes housing. The commander of the fort provided accommodation.
The troops are separated from the officers. We must give proper facilities for officers and NCOs to make a difference.
The troops are also separated from the herbal tea (infirmary) and ancillary services, ambulance and livelihood. They live on the first floor of the barracks.
The magazine
The magazine contains 80000 kg of powder. You should know that this black powder stored in boxes of 50 kgs, cartridges revolvers and rifles, dynamite and incendiary devices, all sensitive to moisture. The remarkable construction of the storage room is fully ventilated and isolated by galleries of ventilation around the floor itself is built on vaulted galleries. Skylights allow natural light.The access road to the fort is never direct. It is hosted and defended by a ravelin intended to protect the fort from enemy blows.
courtesy of Peter Richard "Extract from the book - the license to construct a strong Sere de Rivieres.
Postcard collection - Frederique Lalisse-MuGard
Map with the permission of the SHD Vincennes
