Germersheim Fortress
| Germersheim Fortress | ||
|---|---|---|
 Germersheim Fortress, one of the entrances to Fronte Beckers (2005) |
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| Data | ||
| place | Germersheim | |
| builder | German Confederation | |
| architect | Friedrich von Schmauß | |
| Construction year | 1834-1861 | |
| demolition | 1920–1922 in parts | |
| Coordinates | 49 ° 13 '7 " N , 8 ° 22' 18" E | |
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 Model of the fortress in Fronte Lamotte city park (view from the east; 2007) |
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The fortress Germersheim was a royal Bavarian fortress in the Palatinate city of Germersheim . It was financed by the German Confederation and was part of a fortress system in western Germany to protect against feared French attacks . The fortress of Germersheim was not, as is often claimed, a federal fortress . During the construction begun in 1834 and completed in 1855 or 1861, it created jobs, but later slowed down urban development and prevented any growth in population or the establishment of industry . Since 1878 the fortress was the location of the royal bay. 17th Infantry Regiment "Orff" of the Bavarian Army . As a result of the Treaty of Versailles , it was largely razed between 1920 and 1922 ; the parts that are still preserved are now regarded as local cultural assets. (See list of cultural monuments in Germersheim )
Background and construction of the city fortifications
After the city became French in 1792, the French built new fortifications, which were strengthened in 1814 after the takeover by Bavaria. The German federal government the importance Germer home already realized a year later as a strategically important junction. In the event of a French attack, troops should be assembled as quickly as possible on the Luxembourg - Landau - Rastatt line to repel it. Germersheim was of great importance because it was the first military center where the French, whose attack was to be expected primarily from the south, could cross the Rhine and invade Baden . Furthermore, at the time, the city would have been difficult to recapture from the east, where the Rhine was a natural border, and the north, where at that time there was pure marshland .
Against this background, the first surveying work began on the city as early as 1818 , during which a plan to build a fortress according to the polygonal system, which was soon rejected , was drafted. In this context, the Austrian sapper officer and later General Joseph Zocchi von Morecci (1787–1880) stayed here from 1818 to 1823 . He is considered the father of the illegitimate in Germersheim born priest Paul Josef Nardini (1821-1862), the first blessed of the Palatinate .
The final decision of the Federal Assembly to fortify the city did not take place until 1832. Friedrich von Schmauß was entrusted with drawing up a plan and managing the construction work .
On June 30, 1834, construction of the fortress began with the excavation of the main trench ; on the anniversary of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in the same year, October 18th, the foundation stone of the fortress was laid. The actual construction was completed in 1855, but the digging of the mine tunnels dragged on until 1861. It took a total of twenty-seven years to build.
During the Palatinate uprising , the district president Franz Alwens relocated his official residence to the Germersheim fortress in May and June 1849 in order to avoid a confrontation with the rebels.
Building the fortress
The main work of the polygonal fortress, in addition to a city wall, was divided into six fronts (from the northwest clockwise: Carl, Reuss, Diez, Lamotte, Schmauß and Beckers ), to which there were also the fronts Hertling and some caponiers . Furthermore, there were ten offshore defenses: The three strongest ( Friedrich (the Victorious) in the northeast, Wrede in the east and Deroy in the Southeast) were Vorfesten (contemporary yet -veste written) called; six weaker, so-called Vorwerke , of which four were on the right bank of the Rhine (from south to north: Zandt , Brückenkopf , Seydewitz and Treuberg ) and two ( Siebein in the north and Vincenti in the south-west on the banks of the Rhine) on the left bank of the Rhine ; Finally, there was also the particularly weak wing factory in Ysenburg on the left bank of the Rhine in the northwest. There were two entrances to the city, namely the Ludwigstor (originally the German Thor ) in the northwest and the Weißenburger Tor (originally the French Thor ) in the east. Furthermore, the area outside the main wall was almost completely traversed by mine tunnels. There were originally four barracks, including three defensive buildings ( Stengelkaserne , Seysselkaserne and Theobaldkaserne ), as well as the non-defensive (Franciscan) monastery barracks . Later three more ( Zollerkaserne , pontoon barracks and machine gun barracks) were added, so that at the end of the fortress' existence the number amounted to seven barracks.
Main work
The fortress consisted primarily of the 3200 m long city wall, which was divided into six fronts. Their strongest fronts were the Becker front in the west-southwest and the Schmauß front in the south-southwest. Both sections were the same length, each 490 meters. Their main works were two-legged moat defenses and in front of which at the base about forty meters wide, with galleries at the top , rose earth walls, in front of which there was again a dry ditch. Next to the ramparts were oval-shaped redoubts , which on the front side were two-story walk-in buildings, but on the back only consisted of a three-meter-high wall with loopholes. From the galleries, posterns in the form of wall trusses led back into the city. These wall trusses also formed the entrances to the casemates of the rear weir gallery. Between these adjacent and identically structured fronts was (before Hauptumwallung and the trench), the bezel no. 83rd
If you proceed counter-clockwise from the Schmauß front, you come to the south-east within the main wall of the 480-meter-long Lamotte front , in which the Weissenburg Gate was also located. Since, in contrast to Beckers and Schmauß, it was against the Rhine (only about four hundred meters from the bank) and therefore a French attack was not to be expected directly from this direction, it was weaker and the trench weir was only one-legged. From the Weißenburger Tor a road led over a drawbridge, on which one got on a country road around the city; this led left to the north in the direction of Lingenfeld and on to Speyer , to the right south around the city and then further west in the direction of Bellheim - Landau . Two hundred meters southwest of the Lamotte Front was and still is the city's cemetery, which in turn was joined by the Hertling Front, also a lunette. It was connected to the main plant by an approximately 280 meter long tunnel.
North of the Lamotte Front was the Diez Front in the east of the complex, which was the shortest section of the fortress at just 360 meters. Of this, the wall was replaced over a total length of 230 meters by a single building designed for rifle and artillery defense, which also served as a provincial office store, garrison bakery, war mill and slaughterhouse. Around its middle this made an almost right-angled bend, so it could be defended directly without a moat weir. The bed of the Queich runs through the ditch of the front , from which, in the event of a defense, the ditch of the Fronte Diez, as well as the Fronte Reuss and parts of the Fronte Carl could have been flooded by damming.
The north-east of the main wall was dominated by the 530-meter-long Reuss Front. It was the weakest part of the fortress, as it was the last to offer a potential target. Since the area was also very swampy, there was no strong wall. The strongest building instead of the wall was the armory to prevent the fortress, built on stilts to sinking. It was connected to Fronte Diez by a single wall only 1.30 m thick. In parlance, this was usually called the “ Carnot wall ”. Behind the armory, however, there was a moat with a wall in front of it, as with the Fronte Lamotte.
To the northeast of the Diez Front was the Ysenburg wing factory , which was only separated from the Rhine by an infantry sub-area. The fort should help with the defense, should a French attack actually occur from the right bank of the Rhine.
The last connecting piece to get back to the Fronte Beckers was the Fronte Carl , which at 830 meters made up the largest part of the system. It was most similar to the Fronte Reuss, so it also had a ditch that was normally dry, but nevertheless (at least in sections) floodable. It differed from other structures mainly in that it had a relatively large protruding bastion. The other city gate, the “Ludwigstor”, was also located in it, the streets of which led to Speyer and to the individual forts.
Vorwerk and festivals
There were the three pre-festivals Wrede , Deroy and Friedrich the Victorious , of which Wrede was considered the main work of the fort belt . She was in shape to a classic bastion , long with two each about 150 meters Facen and the about one hundred meters long edges . The trench was about 33 meters wide at the sides, but narrowed to twenty meters on the sides of the flanks; it was built about 650 meters west of Becker's front. Deroy , about 700 meters from the Schmauß Front, and Fort Friedrich the Victorious were on the road to Lingenfeld , about 1.4 kilometers from the Carl Front.
On the left side of the Rhine is also that were outworks Vincenti in the southeast on the Rhine, which was about 1.1 kilometers from the Fronte Lamotte removed and Siebein of transition in the north, about 900 meters north of the Fronte Reuss in the Fronte Carl (or vice versa ). Both had a fifty (Vincenti) and fifty-five (seven and one) meter wide trench.
The northernmost Vorwerk on the right bank of the Rhine was Treuberg . It was about 1.7 kilometers northeast of the Reuss Front and was surrounded by a 45-60 m ditch. A little south of it was the smaller Seydewitz Vorwerk (about 1.2 kilometers east-northeast of the Reuss Front). The largest of the works was the bridgehead , about a kilometer east of the city. Seen from above, it had the shape of a large "B", the line of fire was about 640 meters and was surrounded by a 70 meter wide ditch. To the south of the Rheinsheimer Altrhein was ultimately the Vorwerk Zandt , whose distance from the Fronte Lamotte was about 1,100 meters.
Barracks
The soldiers stationed in the fortress were originally housed in four barracks , three of which served as defensive barracks. Later also were Zoller barracks that Pontonnierkaserne , and the machine gun barracks (the latter two outside the city wall) as a non-defensive barracks added.
The strongest and largest defensive barracks was the so-called Seyssel barracks , which in an emergency was supposed to be the last obstacle for enemies charging on the south-western front (provided that the lunette no.83, as well as the Becker front and the Schmauß front, had fallen, at least at their interface should). It was a two-story long building with a 284 m long front, and short side wings at the ends that jumped off at 45 ° angles. The entire front was provided with loopholes so that the main wing could take an enemy into the crossfire with the side wings . Its main entrance faced the city side towards Ludwigsstrasse. In addition, the side wings also had side entrances that led directly to the right wall traverse of the Schmauß front (left wing) or the left wall traverse of the Becker front (right wing) across the street.
The other defensive barracks was the Stengelkaserne , a 220 m long building that made a 225 ° bend in the middle (angle measured outwards) so that its lines of fire pointed in different directions, i.e. had no overlap in favor of a crossfire. It was in the west of the city. Your left entrance was directed towards the right wall traverse of Fronte Beckers, your right towards Fronte Carl (where there were no wall trusses).
The third defensive barracks was the Theobald barracks in the southern tip of the wall. It was only about 160 m long and at an obtuse angle towards the wall, so that its lines of fire also resulted in a crossfire. Her left entrance pointed in the direction of the (only) right wall traverse of the Lamotte front, her right entrance in the direction of the left wall traverse of the Schmauß front.
The oldest, the (Franciscan) monastery barracks, got its name from the fact that it was the Franciscan monastery in the city before it was established as a barracks (see the article on the Germersheimer Jakobikirche ). At least with the Catholic town church, it formed a rectangular inner courtyard.
The first newly built barracks was the Zollerkaserne built in 1867/68 , which was laid out on a grid square . Against three of the four surrounding streets there was a wing, the rest again formed a rectangular inner courtyard. Its main wing was about 170 m long, the side wings each about 80 m. Furthermore, the pontoon barracks were built outside the wall later . It was near a curve on the Germersheim – Philippsburg railway line near the Rhine by a bridge. In 1914/15 the machine gun barracks were built west of the city.
designation
Originally, the individual fortifications did not have their own name, but were numbered with Roman numerals. The preliminary works and festivals had numbers from I. to XXIV., Whereby some works also consisted of several partial numbers and some number ranges were skipped. The fronts of the main wall were numbered in their transitions. The numbering began with the transition from Lamotte-Schmauß with XII. and increased clockwise. The Carl Front was originally called “Front No. XIV. XV.”. The decision to change came from King Ludwig I :
"Under the 26th, His Royal Majesty deigned to give the main and outlying works of the fortresses Ingolstadt and Germersheim the names contained in the following two lists with the addition of the fact that from now on intended works will only be named and listed under these names, should, which is hereby announced.
Munich, January 29, 1842 "
The following table gives an overview of the numbers, names and names of the works:
| Original name | Changed name | Named after |
|---|---|---|
| No. I. | Deroyveste | Bernhard Erasmus von Deroy |
| No. III. IV. | Wredeveste | Carl Philipp von Wrede |
| No. V. | Friedrichsveste 1 ) | Frederick the Victorious |
| No. VI. | Siebein | Justus Siebein |
| No. VIII. | Vincenti | Karl von Vincenti |
| No. IX | Zandt | Leopold Balduin von Zandt |
| No. X | Treuberg | Friedrich Freiherr von Treuberg |
| No. XI. | Seydewitz | Karl Friedrich August Graf von Seydewitz |
| No. XIX. XXI. XII. | Hertling | Franz Joseph von Hertling |
| No. XXIII. XXIV. | Ysenburg fronts | Georg August Graf Ysenburg & Wilhelm Christoph Graf von Ysenburg |
| Front XII. XIII. | Fronte Schmauß | Friedrich von Schmauß |
| Front XIII. XIV. | Fronte Beckers | Karl August von Beckers zu Westerstetten |
| Front XIV. XV. | Fronte Carl 2 ) | Karl Prince of Bavaria |
| Front XV. XVI. | Fronte Reuss | Heinrich LII. younger Reuss |
| Fronts XVI. XVII. | Fronte Diez | Karl Philipp Diez |
| Front XVII. XII. | Fronte Lamotte 3 ) | Peter de La Motte |
Notes:
1 ) On October 25th, 1847 the king changed the name again to "Friedrich des Siegreiches Vorveste"
2 ) Also written "Fronte Karl"
3 ) Originally written "Fronte La Motte"
The following table gives an overview of the names and cartridges of barracks and gates:
| Surname | location | Named after |
|---|---|---|
| Ludwigstor | in the front Carl | Ludwig I of Bavaria |
| Theobaldkaserne | behind front Schmauß | Karl Peter Wilhelm Apolinaris by Theobald |
| Seyssel barracks | behind Fronte Beckers | Max Count Seyssel d'Aix |
| Stengelkaserne | behind fronts Carl | Karl von Stengel |
| Zollerkaserne | behind Weißenburger Tor | Oskar Freiherr von Zoller |
Carnot's walls, like one in Germersheim, are named after the French fortress engineer Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot .
Military importance
At the start of construction, Germersheim was to become one of the strongest fortresses of all. If it had already existed at this point, it would undoubtedly have been considered “impregnable”. But it did not come to that: Even during the construction work, a wave of reinforcements from firearms began. The new cannons in particular proved to be bad for the fortress: the range increased so much that it was now sufficient to be able to fire both the forts and the main wall at the same time. Since the city walls, as it later turned out, only hindered the city's development unnecessarily, Heinrich von Heß recommended adding a second row of forts to the works during a visit to the fortress in 1860. These should be arranged as follows:
"1. On the left bank of the Rhine near Sondernheim .
2. On the ' Sondernheimer Höhe ' west of the train station .
3. At the Hexenbrücke on the main street Germersheim – Bellheim train.
4. At the wood mill in the Bellheim forest .
5. At the Kulbrücke on the left high valley edge of the deeply cut Druslach .
6. At the mouth of the Druslach south of the village of Lingenfeld .
7. In the northeast tip of the island of Green .
8. On the right bank of the Rhine, just east of the village of Rheinsheim .
9. At the Bruchgraben , east of the fort 'bridgehead'.
10. On the Elisabethenwörth on the Old Rhine, (at the ' roller ferry ').
11. In the upper Elisabethenwörth close to the right bank of the Rhine. "
This would have had advantages for the city, as the main wall could have been abandoned for lack of use. As a result of this measure, the city could have developed further. For reasons of cost (it would have cost almost 5½ million guilders ), however, this was not implemented.
Especially after the victory of the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine , attention was primarily focused on the new fortresses of Metz and Strasbourg . Furthermore, the even more outdated Landau fortress was abandoned, whereupon the city developed almost explosively. Germersheim was not fortified any further, so that the outdated facilities had almost no military use during the imperial era.
In 1908 a breakthrough was made through the fortress wall for the first time. The was Orffstraße extended and created today's Zeppelinstraße and thus a new approach to the city. From then on, this acted as a shortcut to the Germersheim – Bellheim road, without travelers having to first pass the city south of the city before finally entering it in the east through the Weißenburger Tor. The fact alone that the Schmauß front (i.e. the main front) was broken through shows very well the state of aging of the fortress.
In 1904 an official application was made to abandon the fortress. However, it took nine years before the application was granted in 1913. The outbreak of the First World War in the following year, however, initially prevented any noticeable further development of the city.
garrison
As early as 1815, the city was the location of the Bavarian Army , the garrison changed annually until 1840, then every two years until 1870. In 1850 the garrison was 4499 men (including 64 commanders) and 285 horses; it was composed of different military units. For 1868 the following garrison was in the fortress:
- 2nd and 3rd Battalion of the 4th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment "King Wilhelm of Württemberg" ;
- 1st and 3rd Battalion of the 8th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden" ;
- 4th foot battalion of the 4th Royal Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment "König" ;
- 3rd Fortress Genius Company.
From 1871 the garrison consisted of the following units:
| Troop | Garrison time |
|---|---|
| 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment | June 28, 1871 to August 30, 1874 |
| 1st battalion of the 5th regiment | July 3, 1871 to August 30, 1874 |
| 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment | July 3, 1871 to August 30, 1874 |
| 2nd battalion of the 6th regiment | September 7, 1874-1878 |
| 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment | September 19, 1874–1878 |
| 2nd Battalion of the 9th Regiment | September 20, 1874-1878 |
The 6th (arrived on September 15, 1878), 8th and 10th Royal Bavarian Jägerbataillon (each arrived on September 16, 1878) became the 17th Infantry Regiment "Orff" (which received this name later, however ) through the highest development ) united and formed the fortress garrison until the outbreak of the First World War . The following list of all troops is as of 1897:
- 78 officers ;
- 6 doctors ;
- 18 officials ;
- 301 NCOs ;
- 76 minstrels ;
- 1,767 Corporal , Corporal , one-year volunteers and Common ;
- 24 hospital assistants;
- a military sub-official and
- twelve civil servants.
- So a total of 2283.
Grinding
Article 180 of the Peace Treaty of Versailles stated that "all fortified structures, fortresses [...] that were located on German territory west of a line 50 km east of the Rhine, [...] would be dismantled and razed . […] ”, Which also concerned Germersheim, but was unnecessary on the one hand because of the military use of the fortress that was no longer in existence and on the other hand because the fortress had already been closed.
The execution of the razing work was a matter for the empire. After Germersheim had already asserted that not everything had to be destroyed, the Inter-Allied Military Control Commission in Berlin wanted to grind more than was ultimately razed, as it showed concession with these facilities, which functioned as emergency accommodation after the war. The outworks and festivals were initially only removed so that the outlines were still recognizable. The mine tunnels were blown up at junctions.
The grinding work began in the autumn of 1920 and lasted until the winter of 1921/22. Some foundation walls were torn down before and after the Second World War, when the city began to grow again after over a hundred years and the floor plans also prevented the construction of further apartments.
Todays use
All former and preserved fortress walls are now listed. The following works are fully preserved:
| plant | Todays use |
|---|---|
| Seyssel barracks | Department of Translation, Language and Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz |
| Stengelkaserne | former Bundeswehr building (currently without function) |
| Monastery barracks | Integrated back into the church building |
| Ludwigstor | City and Fortress Museum Germersheim |
| Armory | German Road Museum and seat of the Germersheim Art Association |
| Provision office | former Bundeswehr building (currently without function) |
| Detention building | Club use |
| Garrison hospital | former Bundeswehr building (currently without function) |
| Weissenburg Gate | Tourism center, fortress wedding room, international union, haunted theater |
| Officers' mess | Townhouse |
| Headquarters | Evangelical Dean's Office |
| fortification | District administration (health department) |
The following works are partially preserved:
| plant | Preserved clipping | Todays use |
|---|---|---|
| Fronte Beckers | 250 m wide section of the entire system, around the moat weir | Municipal youth center, as well as municipal music school and music academy Germersheim; continue to perform various cultural events such as concerts etc .; Wanderheim of the Palatinate Forest Association . |
| Fronte Lamotte | Trench weir, as well as individual wall sections | Park ( City Park Fronte Lamotte , since 2001), artist studio, club use |
| Carnot wall | Everything except a street breakthrough ( Rudolf-von-Habsburg-Straße ) |
All other works within the main works have been destroyed, and rough courses of the former forts can still be seen. The Germersheim sports center Wrede was built on the ruins of the Vorfeste Wrede . Almost all works (and other parts of the fortress with namesake) are included in street names.
literature
- Georg Ball: Germersheim - The looped fortress , Steimer Druck und Verlag, 2nd edition, Germersheim 1984
- Ludwig Hans: 175 years for Fortress Germersheim , Chroma Druck & Verlag GmbH, Römerberg-Berghausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027876-1
- Hermann Helmes: The name of the fortifications in Germersheim , J. Lindauersche Buchhandlung, Munich 1903
- Joseph Probst : History of the city and fortress Germersheim , Verlag der Buchhandlung Johann Richter, 2nd edition, Pirmasens 1974, ISBN 3-920784-16-2 (Note: There is also a newer edition of this book); First edition Speyer 1898 in the Internet Archive
Web links
- www.festungswelt.de: Fortress Germersheim
- www.burgenwelt.de: Fortress Germersheim
- www.germersheim.de: The Germersheim Fortress
Individual evidence
- ↑ Personal communication from the postulator in the process of beatification, Prelate Norbert Weis (Speyer, 2014).
- ↑ Pronunciation: [ 'iːzən- ]
- ↑ Quoted from: Hermann Helmes: The name cartridge of the fortifications in Germersheim , p. 6.
- ↑ Quoted from: Georg Ball: Germersheim - The looped fortress , p. 45 f.
- ↑ Probst: History of the City and Fortress Germersheim , pp. 136–148. All information in this section comes from there.
- ↑ Quoted from: Peace Treaty of Versailles. Articles 159 to 213. Regulations on Land Army, Sea Power and Aviation (June 28, 1919). In: www.documentarchiv.de (publisher), as of December 1, 2006.
- ↑ In the street directory of Germersheim there are the names An der Stengelkaserne , An Deroy , An Fronte Beckers , An Fronte Diez , An Fronte Karl , An Fronte Lamotte , Hertlingstraße , Ludwigsring , Ludwigstraße , Reussstraße , Ritter-von-Schmauß-Straße , Siebeinstraße , Theobaldstraße , Vincentistraße and Ysenburgstraße , in addition, the street Am Vorwerk Friedrich is located in the southern area of the municipality of Lingenfeld . From: Official city map of Germersheim , City Administration of Germersheim (ed.), Pietruska Verlag, Rülzheim 2004.
