Turret 120 Fort Eben Emael

On top of the Caestert massif, turret 120 is located at the center of the fort, referring to the 120 mm rapid-fire cannons.

The turret possessed 2 of these guns. The turret could rotate 360 degrees and had an armor of 60 cm.

During the battle of the fort on May 10th and 11th, a 50 kg hollow charge was placed on this turret. This caused no major damage on the outside. See photos 2 and 3. The spot was painted black afterwards. But the damage from the inward, explosion, pressure wave and vibrations to the space under the turret was there.

However, the guns were not disabled by the explosion of the hollow charge. This happened only after the Germans detonated grenades in the barrels.

The damage caused by the hollow charge was camouflaged after the capturing of the fort. From the looks of it, the hole the hollow charge hit was closed with concrete. The camouflage served to conceal the Germans' new secret weapon.

Even now almost 100 years after the fort was built, the dome (whose top layer of 21 mm, is made of a chromium-nickel alloy) and the reinforced concrete emplacement are perfectly preserved.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski
• La Position Fortifiée de Liège, Coenen & Vernier