Autoedition CIMA
Ligne Maginot
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Installations of the part "housing"

Work management of Fortification. Nice 16.12.1933. (Extracts)

"The construction of the carcass work of the quartering of the Works of FRESSINEA and VALDEBLORE being finished, it is necessary to proceed without delay to the installation of the furnishing of underground quartering. This installation will be made in accordance with the indications given hereafter, which are extracted, to some extent, of the instruction of June 2, 1931 relating to installations to be envisaged in the works of permanent fortification and of the Note of September 2, 1933, relating to installations of the buildings of the Intendance and the Department of health. It is advisable to put aside however, the buildings of the underground quartering whose interior installation will be carried out later on according to last special markets with specialized manufacturers [the Factory, the room of ventilation, water reserves]."

Cook

"The installation will comprise a sink, one to égoutoir, two tables of 0,70 X 1m. and two stools. In each kitchen [Fressinea and Valdeblore] a furnace for 50 will be installed rationnaires. The call for tender for this supply will have to be prepared under the conditions indicated by the Notification n° 3909 of September 19, 1933 of Colonel Directeur, relating to the kitchen range of CAP-MARTIN."

Wash-hand basin

"One held for FRESSINEA part of gallery of 2 Mr. to place the wash-hand basins. - The installation will comprise 3 spaced taps of 0m60 and being able to produce 1 liter at the minute and per tap."

Rooms. List furniture

Room for 20 men: Room of the s/officiers: Room of officer (ordering fort):

Rescue station

This room, at the entry of the latrines, was tiny room to its more simple expression so much so that it cannot even contain the unfolded bed. It, which is a minimum, is equipped with a medecine-chest!

Doors

"The doors of closing of the casemates under rock of quartering will be out of sheet and angles and not out of wood. These doors should be provided with no waterproofing system. On the contrary, of the openings for the exit of the foul air must be bored in the lower panel of the door."

Group candidate

It is a whole of sheaths which extracts the foul air coming from the WC, the factory, the general water reserve, the coal bunker and the kitchen. It is locatable with its yellow color in the forts whose painting is of origin (In the others, often only the collars are yellow).

An extractor of 150 W located in the factory, expels the air, close to the entry.

One notices, on this diagram drawn from the official documents, that piping coming from the kitchen and the coal bunker "was curiously forgotten"!

It is also noticed that the extraction is very important on the level of the cistern with cooling of the engines (260 m3/h). Indeed, in Fressinea there is no aerorefroidissor (mechanical system of heat exchange between the water of the engines and outside). It is the ventilaton "foul air" which plays this part by extracting the hot air released with the top from the cistern.

Generating factory

Overall picture of the factory since the bottom of the casemate: two generators SMIM in the center, ventilation on the left.

Energy needs electric

A document of the 13.11.1930 gives precise indications on the forecasts as regards electric output necessary:

That is to say a maximum total of 6990 W. This power was to be obtained by the coupling of a petrol engine of 6,5 kw with another petrol engine of 2,5 kw. A third engine, also of 2,5 kw would be useful in the event of help. However this instruction was based on a note of 16.07.1930 relating to the use of the generators. Another correction of the 16.06.1931 recommended the use of diesel engines; thus the 19.02.1932, Colonel REDON (directing of the material of the Genius) takes again calculations and proposes the installation of two diesel engines of 11,8 kw (1 engine moving, the other in help). It is about what was installed in Fressinéa.

The first engine was started the 23.07.1935 (with 5:00 of the morning!) and the second 22.10.1935.

Characteristic of the generators

Detail of the SMIM n°2 (2 cylinders), on the level of the cylinder head. One sees the long bars clearly connecting the camshaft (in bottom) with the tumblers (in top). The green pipes are those of starting to the compressed air stored in two bottles.

Starting of the engines, with the compressed air

A characteristic of the engines of company SMIM is to have a compressed-air starting. A pipe leads this air of the bottles to the cylinder head where is a special valve and a tap which makes it possible to send it in one of the cylinders. It is during the phase of relaxation of the thermodynamic cycle that the air is sent reducing the piston. At the end of some towers the phase of compression is enough to ignite the gas oil and the engine starts. One stops the air inlet then.

While the engine turns an astute system makes it possible to recover part of the air during compression and to send it in the bottles which are reloaded. A whole of piping and valves carry out of the bottles and the starting refuelling line of the engine (see below).

Cooling of the engines

They are cooled by the water of a cistern of 5000 liters. Here there is no aerorefroidissor (mechanical system of heat exchange between water and outside). It is the ventilaton "foul air" which plays this part by extracting the hot air released with the top from the cistern (260 m3/h).

Ventilation of the factory and assistance to the cooling of the engines

Ventilation "fresh air" is not traditional in the sense that the group driving back (sheaths red), independent of the general air ventilation system, has very large sheaths whose section seems disproportionate have regard to dimensions of the room to ventilate. Moreover this ventilation is coupled with a heat exchanger (see the box on the photograph below) which uses cooling water of the generators to heat the generators! Strange? Not, if one remembers that to cool the groups indirectly, 260 m3/h of air are extracted from the tops of the water cistern and that this extraction, not compensated, would create an enormous draught through the factory. Large ventilation "fresh air" avoids this disadvantage.

General water reserves

The water supply of Fressinéa is particular because, during its construction, the diggers discovered a source on the level of what will become the room. This source outputs between 0,5 l/s (in summer) and 2 l/s (in winter). In the content of the room thus was built a basin of 500 L of or leaves a pipe which feeds the general reserves, which avoids having to feed the fort by tanker.

Rise towards the reserves. They are elevated compared to the remainder of the fort so that the food of the water points is done by simple gravity.

In front of the general reserves, two small tanks are used one as decanter (before storage) and the other of carbochlorator to return the drinking water (daily consumption).

Together cisterns of the work

One can make two remarks on the figures above:
- The men were "privileged people" since they had 11 liters of water per day (440/40) whereas the "standard" was only of 8 liters.
- The capacity of the various tanks is low (for example compared to those of the strong "twin" of Valdeblore); but this weakness is due to the continuous spring water contribution.

Group driving back

It is a whole of sheaths, ventilators, filters, valves which takes the surrounding air and distributes it in all the fort. It is locatable by 3 colors:

The 3 colors are locatable below on the photograph, of the room of ventilation/neutralization of poison gases.

By a whole of valves and ventilators, according to the needs the air coming from outside can be filtered or not and driven back in the casemates with more or less large flow.

One notices, on the diagram above drawn from the official documents, that Fressinea has 2 air intake, one by armor-plated bell and another by grid. In the majority of the other forts the entry is single and what corresponds to the entry "roasts kitchen" is replaced by an air intake of recycling, inside even of quartering.

Heat exchanger

The fresh air which is sent in quartering is heated, by cooling water of the groups and/or boiler water, in a heat exchanger box (in top, in the center of the photograph).

Zones isolated by tight doors

Whereas the majority of the doors must be openwork to let pass the foul air, so that quartering is completely isolated from the sources being able to pollute its atmosphere (outside, shootings of the active casemate, cooks), it is necessary that certain doors are tight. The genius envisaged 4 of them:

"The only not armor-plated tight doors whose construction falls on the local service, are the doors indicated below. The project of these doors is to be established according to the directives contained in the letter n° 284/S of the 10.07.31 of the Service of the Materials of the Fortification to which the 2 plans n° 575-1386 and 576-1386 are joined. In addition, of the sketches of execution of tight doors intended to close bays of 0m80 X 1m95 were studied by Chefferie of STRASBOURG. These sketches already were addressed to Chefferie Work of Nice."

Doors tight envisaged (and installed) with FRESSINEA: Diagram below

Case of the active casemate

The pollutant gases produced by the shootings must be quickly directed towards outside. This is why not only the casemate is isolated from the remainder of the fort by a tight door but, moreover it, is put in overpressure (+ 10Pa for the casemates with JM and AC47 - to see photo below). And as the weapons are on tight kneecaps, thanks to this overpressure the pollutant gases which they produce are expelled outside the fort with each opening of cylinder head.

Strange! On the other hand, which can seem strange, is that between quartering and the casemate there activates is not that a tight door and not a hopper; 2 successive tight doors to prevent that the entry in the casemate does not depressurize it. Was it prohibits to enter during the shootings, or then, at this time there, all the work it with same pressure was? We did not find documents on this subject.

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