The Caponieres at the Western Enceinte   The revolutionary about "The Sommerfeldt Front" on the southern defense line was the construction, that forced the enemy to cross the channel under massive fire and shelling from the flank. "The Copenhagen Fortification Line" In this position he would be weakened and vulnerable. The southern line were scattered with bunkers in the channel for every 1800 feet.  These bunkers were called "caponieres" a French word for a cage with rooster-chickens. These cages were very small and describe very well how little room the soldiers in the bunkers had to live in. There were a single-sided and a Double-sided bunker. The first could only fire in one direction along the channel, and the second in opposite directions. The fire would hit the covered backside of the next caponiere in the line.   Blind angles were covered from machinegunpositions in small bunkers on the rampart.

Flanking fire along       the wet moad

A single-sided caponiere had one 7,5 cm. rapid-firing steel-canon, 2 machineguns (mitrallieuse) and 2 light machineguns.  At a test in 1902 95 % of the targets were hit within the appointed time .

Drawing of single-sided caponiere (from above). The backside of the caponiere is covered with a thick layer of stones under a layer of earth, to  protect the construction against grenades.

The Western Enceinte images