Fort de Loncin

Welcome to Fort de Loncin, located in the municipality of Ans, approximately seven kilometers west of the center of Liège towards Brussels and Tongeren. Positioned on the left bank of the Meuse River between Fort de Flémalle to…

This massive concrete fortress was ironclad against frontal enemy assaults, but the living quarters where the soldiers slept and ate were exposed in the most vulnerable area at the rear. According to the defensive plan designed…

Every time the heavy artillery cannons were fired, thick clouds of black sulfur powder smoke backfired into the turrets, causing the soldiers inside to choke on suffocating gas produced by their own ammunition rather than enemy…

This deep ditch surrounding the fortress was designed as a deadly trap to ensnare invading enemy infantry, but because essential sanitary facilities were located across the ditch, the defenders could not even reach the latrines…

On August 15, 1914, a single heavy German artillery shell struck the powder magazine containing twelve tons of explosives, instantly burying three hundred and fifty soldiers beneath massive falling blocks of concrete. At…

Ninety-three years after the explosion, during a major mine clearance operation in October 2007, twenty-five additional bodies of fallen soldiers were discovered alongside one hundred and forty-two tons of unexploded munitions…

This concludes our self-guided audio tour of Fort de Loncin. The dark concrete corridors, heavy rotating turrets, and gaping explosion craters you have explored today are far more than mere historical ruins of an ancient conflict. …