Mougin turret
Encyclopedia
The Mougin turret is a land-based revolving gun turret
that housed some of the heaviest armament in French fortifications of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While not reliably resistant to the explosive shells of opposing artillery, Mougin turrets remained active through 1940, when they engaged German and Italian forces during the Battle of France
and the Italian invasion of France
. The turrets were used at twenty-two forts of the Séré de Rivières system
built in the 1870s.
The Mougin turret was named for its designer, Commandant Mougin, who developed the first turret in 1875. The turret consists of two 155mm guns under a bowl-shaped armor shield, sunk into the ground and surrounded by a thick concrete apron that protected the multi-level traverse and loading facilities below. The turret is distinguished from naval turrets by the absence of protruding barrels. Two oval ports show just the muzzles of the guns. By contrast with naval practice, in which guns pivot in elevation on trunnions
near their breeches
, their muzzles and barrels protruding and moving in an arc, the Mougin turret's guns pivot at their muzzles, the barrel, gun carriage and breech ends rising and falling within the turret. This reduces the chances of enemy fire hitting the guns, a small risk on a moving ship, but significant for a fixed fortification. When the turret was under fire it moved the gun apertures away from the incoming fire, returning fire while rotating without pausing, when contact was made on the correct target azimuth.
Mougin guns had a maximum range of about 7500 metres (24,606.3 ft). The guns themselves were made by de Bange
. 25 turrets were built at a cost of 205,000 francs each, primarily at Commentry
near Montluçon
.
. The casemate has exceptionally low overhead clearance, resulting in a low profile above the ground. The gun can be traversed over a 60 degree arc, and can be elevated between -5 degrees and +20 degrees. This narrow range limits the gun to direct fire with a range of 7100 metres (23,294 ft), as most indirect fire requires greater elevation. The firing port measures 40 centimetres (15.7 in) by 35 centimetres (13.8 in), and can be blocked with a thick counterweighted armored shield when not firing. An interlock prevents firing while the shield is in the way. The gun's muzzle remains behind the movable shield and is not visible from the outside.
The shielding around the firing chamber is a mixture of masonry, concrete, steel armor and earth shielding. The limited angle of fire, coupled with problems of noise and ventilation, limited installations to ten locations. None were ever fired in action, and most were removed for scrap by the Germans in 1943, or by the French Army after the war.
guns took place at Bucharest
in 1883–84 under the supervision of Belgian General Henri Alexis Brialmont
, who was then overseeing the design of the fortifications of Bucharest
. The trials at Cotroceni
revealed that the French turrets were more reliable,and had a higher rate of fire, but the German guns were more accurate. The French armor proved to be less durable under fire as well.
on the eastern defensive curtain of France near Belfort
.
Surviving Mougin turrets may be found at Fort de Saint-Cyr
(guns missing), Fort de Villey-le-Sec
, Fort de Vaujours
(guns missing), Fort de Frouard, Fort de Liouville
, Fort de Corbas, Fort Suchet (two turrets, one with guns, the other turret's guns removed to Villey-le-Sec), Fort de Domont
(guns missing), and Fort de Stains (guns missing).
(gun missing, replica in place), Fort de Condé-sur-Aisne
(gun remains, training mechanism missing), Fort de Joux
(two casemates, guns and mounts missing), Fort Tête de Chien (gun missing), Fort des Ayvelles
(destroyed) and the Batterie de l'Eperon (two casemates, parts of the mounting remain).
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
that housed some of the heaviest armament in French fortifications of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While not reliably resistant to the explosive shells of opposing artillery, Mougin turrets remained active through 1940, when they engaged German and Italian forces during the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
and the Italian invasion of France
Italian invasion of France
The Italian invasion of France in June 1940 was a small-scale invasion that started near the end of the Battle of France during World War II. The goal of the Italian offensive was to take control of the Alps mountain range and the region around Nice, and to win the colonies in North Africa...
. The turrets were used at twenty-two forts of the Séré de Rivières system
Séré de Rivières system
The Séré de Rivières system was an ensemble of fortifications built from 1874 and first used at the beginning of the First World War along the frontiers and coasts of France...
built in the 1870s.
The Mougin turret was named for its designer, Commandant Mougin, who developed the first turret in 1875. The turret consists of two 155mm guns under a bowl-shaped armor shield, sunk into the ground and surrounded by a thick concrete apron that protected the multi-level traverse and loading facilities below. The turret is distinguished from naval turrets by the absence of protruding barrels. Two oval ports show just the muzzles of the guns. By contrast with naval practice, in which guns pivot in elevation on trunnions
Trunnion
A trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point. In a cannon, the trunnions are two projections cast just forward of the centre of mass of the cannon and fixed to a two-wheeled movable gun carriage...
near their breeches
Rifled breech loader
A rifled breech loader is an artillery piece which, unlike the smooth-bore cannon and rifled muzzle loader which preceded it, has rifling in the barrel and is loaded from the breech at the rear of the gun....
, their muzzles and barrels protruding and moving in an arc, the Mougin turret's guns pivot at their muzzles, the barrel, gun carriage and breech ends rising and falling within the turret. This reduces the chances of enemy fire hitting the guns, a small risk on a moving ship, but significant for a fixed fortification. When the turret was under fire it moved the gun apertures away from the incoming fire, returning fire while rotating without pausing, when contact was made on the correct target azimuth.
Description
The visible portion of the turret was 6 metres (19.7 ft) in diameter, in cast and rolled iron of four segments 60 centimetres (23.6 in) thick, with a fifth casting forming the 20 centimetres (7.9 in) thick top. The rotating gun and turret assembly weighed 160 tons, rotating on a circular rail around a hydraulically-supported pivot. The movement of the turret initially required three teams of six men. After 1901 steam engines were installed to replace men. A full revolution took about two minutes, enough time to reload before the target azimuth was obtained again. Elevation varied from -5 degrees to +20 degrees.Mougin guns had a maximum range of about 7500 metres (24,606.3 ft). The guns themselves were made by de Bange
Charles Ragon de Bange
Charles Ragon de Bange , often simply called de Bange, was a Polytechnician and a French artillery colonel of the 19th century. He invented the first effective obturator system for breech-loading artillery. Its basic principle of functioning is still widely in use to this day...
. 25 turrets were built at a cost of 205,000 francs each, primarily at Commentry
Commentry
Commentry is a commune in the department of Allier in central France. It lies southwest of Moulins by the Orléans railway.-Population:-Economy:...
near Montluçon
Montluçon
Montluçon is a commune in central France. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's préfecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as Montluçonnais...
.
Mougin Casemate
A variant on the Mougin turret is the Mougin casemate, which employs the 155mm Model 1877 gun on a hydraulic traversing carriage within an armored concrete casemateCasemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
. The casemate has exceptionally low overhead clearance, resulting in a low profile above the ground. The gun can be traversed over a 60 degree arc, and can be elevated between -5 degrees and +20 degrees. This narrow range limits the gun to direct fire with a range of 7100 metres (23,294 ft), as most indirect fire requires greater elevation. The firing port measures 40 centimetres (15.7 in) by 35 centimetres (13.8 in), and can be blocked with a thick counterweighted armored shield when not firing. An interlock prevents firing while the shield is in the way. The gun's muzzle remains behind the movable shield and is not visible from the outside.
The shielding around the firing chamber is a mixture of masonry, concrete, steel armor and earth shielding. The limited angle of fire, coupled with problems of noise and ventilation, limited installations to ten locations. None were ever fired in action, and most were removed for scrap by the Germans in 1943, or by the French Army after the war.
Trials
A comparative evaluation between French Mougin turrets with de Bange guns and German Schumann-Gruson turrets with KruppKrupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
guns took place at Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1883–84 under the supervision of Belgian General Henri Alexis Brialmont
Henri Alexis Brialmont
Henri Alexis Brialmont was a Dutch-born Belgian military engineer. He was one of the leading fortifications engineers in the 19th century....
, who was then overseeing the design of the fortifications of Bucharest
Fortifications of Bucharest
Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is surrounded by a ring of 18 fortifications built in the late 19th century.A report by the War Ministry led the celebrated Belgian military architect Henri Alexis Brialmont to draft a plan for the city's fortifications, with construction beginning in 1884...
. The trials at Cotroceni
Cotroceni
Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 6.The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered by the forest of Vlăsia, which covered most of today's Bucharest...
revealed that the French turrets were more reliable,and had a higher rate of fire, but the German guns were more accurate. The French armor proved to be less durable under fire as well.
Installations
The first two Mougin turrets were installed at the Fort de GiromagnyFort de Giromagny
Fort de Giromagny, also known as Fort Dorsner, was built between 1875 and 1879. The fort forms the southern end of the defensive curtain of the Haute Moselle Region, abutting the Fortified region of Belfort , which lies to its south. The Haute Moselle defenses form a link between the fortified...
on the eastern defensive curtain of France near Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...
.
Surviving Mougin turrets may be found at Fort de Saint-Cyr
Fort de Saint-Cyr
The Fort de Saint-Cyr, located in the commune of Montigny-le-Bretonneux, , is one of the forts built at the end of the 19th century to defend Paris. After the first world war the fort was used as an army weather station and arms depot...
(guns missing), Fort de Villey-le-Sec
Fort de Villey-le-Sec
Fort de Villey-le-Sec, also known as Fort Trévise, is a fortification of the 19th century, built as part of the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications in Villey-le-Sec, France, one of the defenses of Toul. It is a unique example for its time of a defensive enclosure around a village...
, Fort de Vaujours
Fort de Vaujours
The Fort de Vaujours, located in the commune of Courtry, Seine-Saint-Denis, near the town of Vaujours, is one of the forts built at the end of the 19th century to defend Paris. The fort became a research center for the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique , France's Atomic Energy Commission...
(guns missing), Fort de Frouard, Fort de Liouville
Fort de Liouville
The Fort de Liouville, also known as Fort Stengel, located between the communes of Saint-Agnant-sous-les-Côtes and Saint-Jullien-sous-les-Côtes, near the town of Commercy in the Meuse departement of France, is one of the forts built at the end of the 19th century to defend the valley of the Meuse...
, Fort de Corbas, Fort Suchet (two turrets, one with guns, the other turret's guns removed to Villey-le-Sec), Fort de Domont
Fort de Domont
The Fort de Domont was built following the Franco-Prussian War to defend Paris. Located to the north of Paris in Domont, the fort was part of an outer ring of fortifications built in response to improvements in the range and effectiveness of artillery since the construction of the Thiers...
(guns missing), and Fort de Stains (guns missing).
Casemates
Surviving Mougin casemates exist at Fort du Mont BartFort du Mont Bart
Fort du Mont Bart is located to the south of Montbéliard, France. It was built between November 1874 and July 1877 as part of the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications. The fort overlooks the valleys of the Doubs and the Allan at an elevation of , standing to the south and rear of the fortified...
(gun missing, replica in place), Fort de Condé-sur-Aisne
Fort de Condé-sur-Aisne
The Fort de Condé, or Fort Pille, is a fortification of the Séré de Rivières system, built in France between 1877 and 1883 to defend the area between Soissons and Laon. It is located on the heights of the confluence of the Aisne and the Vesle near the communes of Condé-sur-Aisne and Chivres-Val...
(gun remains, training mechanism missing), Fort de Joux
Fort de Joux
The Fort de Joux or Château de Joux is a castle, transformed into a fort, located in La Cluse-et-Mijoux, in the Doubs département, in the Jura mountains of France. It commands the mountain pass "Cluse de Pontarlier"....
(two casemates, guns and mounts missing), Fort Tête de Chien (gun missing), Fort des Ayvelles
Fort des Ayvelles
The Fort des Ayvelles, also known as the Fort Dubois-Crancé, is a fortification near the French communes of Villers-Semeuse and Les Ayvelles in the Ardennes, just to the south of Charleville-Mézières. As part of the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications, the fort was planned as part of a new...
(destroyed) and the Batterie de l'Eperon (two casemates, parts of the mounting remain).
External links
- Mougin Model 1876 at fortiffsere.fr
- Mougin 155mm casemate at fortiffsere.fr
- Mougin turret installations at fortiff.be