a howitzer cupola and three of the quick-firers. The heavy guns and quick-firers used black powder ammunition, long superseded in other armies, which raised clouds of smoke and obscured the view of the gunners. The guns had the greatest range at but the black powder smoke limited the realistic range to about . The forts contained magazines for the storage of ammunition, crew quarters for up to and electric generators for lighting. Provision had been made for the daily needs of the fortress troops but the latrines, showers, kitchens and the morgue had been built in the counterscarp, which could become untenable if fumes from exploding shells accumulated, because the forts were ventilated naturally. The forts could communicate with the outside by telephone and telegraph but the wires were not buried. Smaller fortifications and trench lines in the gaps between the forts had been planned by Brialmont but had not been built. The fortress troops were not at full strength and many men were drawn from local guard units, who had received minimal training due to the reorganisation of the Belgian army begun in 1911, which was not scheduled to be complete until 1926. The forts also had soldiers and of the 3rd Infantry Division and 15th Infantry Brigade to defend the gaps between forts, fortress troops and members of the paramilitary , equipped with rifles and machine-guns. The garrison of men and was insufficient to man the forts and field fortifications. In early August 1914, the garrison commander was unsure of the troops which he would have at his disposal, since until 6 August, it was possible that all of the Belgian army would advance towards the Meuse. The terrain in the fortress zone was difficult to observe from the forts because many ravines ran between them. Interval defences had been built just before the battle but were insufficient to stop German infiltration. The forts were also vulnerable to attack from the rear, the direction from which the German bombardments were fired. The forts had been designed to withstand shelling from guns which, in 1890, were the largest mobile artillery in the world but the concrete used was not of the best quality and by 1914 the German army had the first of the much larger 420 mm howitzers, (L/12 14 ) and could call on Austro-Hungarian 305 mm howitzers ( M. 11). The Belgian 3rd Division (Lieutenant-General Gérard