[Explanatory text about the twinning]

Fort de Troyon is of the “central massif” type, also known as the “low battery” type, designed by General Séré de Rivières and built in 1878. It stands in the municipalities of Troyon and Lacroix-sur-Meuse, at an altitude of 264 metres, in the Meuse department.

Dimensions

• width 320 m
• length 270 m
• area 5 ha

Garrison

800 men, but 450 in 1914

Armament

• Defence of the ditches:
  6 12 cm breech-loading guns for close defence
  6 40 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannons
• Firing platforms:
  12 90 mm guns in 3 batteries of 4
  4 120L guns
• Indirect-fire weapons:
  2 bronze 15 cm “Louis-Philippe” muzzle-loading mortars
• The fort had 2 sections of 1907 “Saint-Étienne” machine guns, as well as 3 periscopic observation posts. There was no armoured cupola as at Loncin, but 18 double platforms for 2 guns in the open air.

History

Like Fort de Loncin, Fort de Troyon put up stubborn resistance to the German armies during the offensive of August and September 1914 and, as at Loncin, a powder magazine in the fort exploded, crushing many of its defenders beneath the ruins.