Extremely dunes

The extremely of the Dunes is a fort of the Système Séré de Rivières located on the commune of Leffrinckoucke at 6 km at the north of Dunkirk.

Construction

The creation of the fort of the Dunes answered, following the war of 1870, with the need to protect the city-borders by a belt from fort.

In 1874, the General Séré de Rivières who directed the services of the genius was project superintendent of the construction of a system of fortifications.

Only one extremely terrestrial of type “Séré de Rivières” was built on the littoral: the fort of the Dunes which was to become one of the showpieces of the strategy of defense of the territory and the Dunkirk agglomeration.

One chooses the narrow part of Bray-Dunes formed of the dune cord and of primitive polders, having a channel, two roads and a railway coming from the Belgian border, to build the fort.

The dune sector made it possible to incorporate in the landscape a strengthened work. Who could suspect that the sand mount at the exit of Leffrinckoucke shelters a fort of twelve hectares and realized with more than 40.000.000 bricks made on the spot?

The fort

The fort was designed to shelter 600 men. It included/understood residences, bakery, slaughter-house, stores, explosives magazine, well and cistern, infirmary, prison… It was surrounded by a ditch provided with Caponnière S. the access was done by a bridge levis.

Operation Dynamo

In June 1940 the fort was the headquarters of the 12th Division of Motorized Infantry (DIM)

Its commander, the general Guillaume Jansen was killed the June 2nd 1940, in an interior court, with part of his frameworks, during an air raid.

The June 3rd 1940 a new air raid caused the death of a hundred soldiers and caused important property damages.

Shot fort of the dunes

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