Naters Artillery Plant
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The artillery plant Naters (army designation A 9000) is a former artillery plant in the fortress area Oberwallis of the border brigade 11 , which is located in the municipality of Naters in the Swiss canton of Valais . The artillery was part of the Brig-Simplon tunnel and the Simplon axis. Together with Gondo, these blocking points are considered to be military-historical monuments of national importance.
Naters Fortress
Naters is located on the young Rhone in the Brig district next to the Brig traffic junction, where the traffic routes (roads, railway lines) from the Bernese Oberland via the Grimsel Pass and the Gotthard region via the Furka and Nufenen Passes with those from the Rhone Valley coming from Sion and the route via the Meet the Simplon Pass . This is where the railway line from the Lötschberg tunnel via the Lötschberg south ramp meets that of the Simplon tunnel.
For the second Italian campaign , Napoleon and his army crossed the Great Saint Bernard in May 1800 and his general Antoine de Béthencourt crossed the Simplon with 1000 men at the same time. Napoleon recognized the strategic dimension of the Alpine crossings and in September 1800 passed a decree for the construction of a road over the Simplon, which was completed in October 1805.
The north portal of the newly opened Simplon Tunnel was secured with a machine gun position in 1906 and in 1909 the construction of Fort Gondo on the Simplon Pass road began.
In order to protect the Brig traffic junction and the road over the Simplon Pass during the Second World War , the artillery plant was built above Naters. The first large fortress on the young Rhone is located on the north side of the traffic axes and the Brig traffic junction. The rock, which can be reached via a narrow road, was built on two levels. The gun alignment was chosen so that both the exit from the Goms and the Simplon region lay in the field of fire of the artillery. The Naters artillery factory was commissioned to control the Brig basin and the north portal of the Simplon tunnel.
Construction of the plant began in 1939. In 1940 the troops were able to move into the first finished parts. Since then the fortress has been modernized again and again. The armament initially consisted of four 7.5 cm cannons. In 1941–1943, two 10.5 cm fortress cannons were installed in a new, western part of the fortress. These were able to coat the Simplon Pass road with their fire.
The external defense was ensured with the mutually covering flanking bunkers ( caponiers ) east with machine gun and west with a 9 cm anti-tank cannon and machine gun. As anti-aircraft protection, 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons were available in the east and west of the facility . The driveway could be blocked with a barricade. The infrastructure includes around one kilometer of tunnels with cross passages and an area of around 4000 m², gun positions for artillery cannons, ventilation room, engine room (three Sulzer ZG 3 marine diesel engines), death chamber, small and large kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, officers' mess, detention cell, post office, fire control center and transmission centers .
The air defense evaluation center was located in the facility and in the eastern part there was a small room as a gold and valuables safe for the Swiss National Bank . Up to 200 men could be accommodated in the Naters fortress. The plant was operated by fortress company 26 (mountain brigade 11) and from 1978 by fortress department 26 (fortress artillery company 26, fortress detachment company 26, infantry company I / 26) of border brigade 11.
In the 1990s, the last regular refresher course took place in the fortress. She was released from secrecy in 2002.
Signpost and shelter
Gun loops with camouflage
East flanking works
West flanking works
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Simplon Fortress Museum «La Caverna»
In 2005 the municipality of Naters bought the fortress from the federal government. The Simplon Fortress Museum has been run by the Association of Friends of the Fortress since 2008. Some rooms are rented out as wine and cheese stores. Since 2006, two former ammunition magazines (10.5 cm cannons) from the Naters artillery plant have housed the Swiss Guard Museum .
In 2011 a cultural space was set up. From the time of the Second World War, 555 contemporary witnesses tell stories in the film hall "L`histoire c`est moi" and image sequences can be seen in the Kulturfels (since 2012). Fifteen locations with original fortifications can be seen on a tour. The Swiss Museum of Radiation has been open to the public in the fortress since 2016 . In 2018, the fortress museum was expanded to include the four themed rooms “medical room”, “death chamber”, “currency reserves national bank” and fortress guards .
The Simplon Fortress Museum and the Guard Museum can be visited every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. from the beginning of June to the end of October, and for groups on request.
Brig-Simplon tunnel blocking point
The north portal of the newly opened Simplon Tunnel was secured in 1906 with entrance structures for a machine gun position and a large mine chamber was built around one kilometer from the north portal. The explosives detachment had sheltered accommodations in the long gallery that led to the explosive object. During the Second World War, preparations were made on both sides of the state border for a possible blasting of the tunnel tubes. The Naters artillery factory was commissioned to protect the north portal of the Simplon Tunnel with its cannons. Most of the shelters were built in the post-war period.
The defense system of the two tubes consists of around 20 objects. Lattice and armored gates blocked the tunnel tubes. In the middle of the tunnel on the Italian border, a small barracks with a lighting device for inspecting the trains as well as a derailment device and two explosive objects were built. In 1997 part of it was disarmed. The explosive charges placed under the tracks in the Swiss tunnel section were removed in 2001.
- Artillery plant Naters A 9000 ⊙
- Command post of the 66th Brig VS Infantry Regiment
- Command post KP Weingarten (Naters) of Company 5/209 ⊙
Shelters, nuclear bunkers ASU, spherical bunkers U4
A 09003 ⊙ A 09004 ⊙ A 09005 ⊙ A 09006 ⊙ A 09007 ⊙ A 09008 ⊙ A 09012 ⊙ F 11458 ⊙ F 11459 ⊙ F 11500 ⊙ F 11501 ⊙ F 11503 ⊙ F 11504 ⊙ F 11505 Naters ⊙ F 11509 ⊙ F 11510 ⊙ F 11511 ⊙ F 11512 ⊙ F 11513 ⊙ F 11514 ⊙ F 11515 ⊙ F 11516 ⊙ F 11517 ASU terms ⊙ F 11518 ⊙ F 11519 ⊙ F 11520 ⊙ F 11521 ASU terms ⊙ F 11530 ⊙ F 11550 ASU 5S ⊙ F 11551 ⊙ F 11552 ⊙ F 11553 ⊙ F 11600 ⊙
Explosive objects
M 01592 ⊙ M 01593 ⊙ M 01593 ⊙ M 01593 ⊙ M 01594 ⊙ M 01595 ⊙
- Explosive object Simplon tunnel ⊙
Lock point Simplon axis
The blocking points on the Simplon axis stretched from Schallberg ( Ried-Brig ) to San Marco (Gondo) on the Italian border. On the plateau of the Simplon Pass , the 11 Mountain Brigade had a defense system built with over 20 standardized systems. The weapon positions are arched constructions while the accommodations are carved into the rock. The Simplon Pass blocking point is a military historical monument of national importance.
- Schallberg infantry factory with barricade ⊙
- Mountain accommodation Simplon Pass ⊙
- Simplonpass warehouse ⊙
- Infantry bunker Simplonpass Hopsche ⊙
- Blatten infantry factory (Blatte, Simplon Pass West) ⊙
- Infantry factory Simplon East (Niwen, Simplon Pass) ⊙
- Engiloch infantry factory ⊙
- Street barricade, blocking elements (SprO) Engiloch ⊙
- Observer / Lmg position Schletter, Simplon Dorf ⊙
- Simplon village shelter
- Infantry bunker Simplon Chluise West ⊙
- Infantry bunker Simplon Chluise Ost ⊙
Monument to the 11 Mountain Brigade, Simplon Pass
Blatten infantry factory
Infantry plant Simplon East
Infantry bunker Simplon Chluise West
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- Gabi West infantry bunker ⊙
- Infantry bunker Gabi Ost ⊙
- Terrain tank obstacle (GPH) / street barricade Gabi ⊙
Engiloch infantry plant
Gabi West infantry bunker
Infantry bunker Gabi Ost
Terrain armor obstacle Gabi
Lock point Gondo
The Gondo blocking point blocks the only possible passage ( “passage obligé” ) of the Simplon Pass road near the Engnis (“Casermetta”, “Fort-Gondo”) at 1067 m above sea level. M. above the mountain village of Gondo . Due to its location, it was not possible to bypass the fortress, as the gorge drops almost vertically for a few 100 meters at this point. In the Gondo Gorge a crenellated wall was built in 1815 on the right bank of the Doveria mountain stream in order to be able to set fire to the Simplon road on the left.
The Fort Gondo infantry plant (army designation A 9105), the main plant of the blocking point, was built between 1909 and 1918. During the Second World War it was equipped with two 9 cm anti-tank guns and machine guns. The barrier included the anti-tank barrier above the gorge, which runs through the valley, and the explosive device Gondo. When the lock was decommissioned, 20 objects were still available. The Gondo lock point is a military historical monument of national importance.
- Fort Gondo infantry plant A 9105 ⊙
- Counterwork to Fort Gondo A 9105 ⊙
- Barricade San Marco (Gondo) ⊙
- Nomad house San Marco B 9631
Fort Gondo West Flanking Gallery
Fort Gondo Fortress Museum
Fort Gondo 9 cm Pak East
Fort Gondo gallery east and counterwork (above street gallery)
Via Stockalper and Gondo Fortress Museum
Today the Via Stockalper cultural trail leads through Fort Gondo and gives an insight into the bunkered Gondo barrier.
The exhibition in the fortress museum Gondo shows the rooms of the fort for billeting the troops, the facilities and technical systems in their original state. In the former soldiers' parlor, active service during the First and Second World War is presented using objects, plans and models as well as the history of the fort's construction.
The actual access to the fortress and the Stockalperweg were buried in a landslide, which is why the fortress can now be reached via a bridge from the Simplon Pass road.
literature
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport , Bern 2002 [1]
Web links
- Naters Fortress Museum with Swiss Guard Museum
- Swiss Guard Museum Naters
- Umbrella organization La Caverna: Museum Center Upper Valais
- 800 years of Brig - The Simplon Fortress
- Cultural routes in Switzerland: Via Stockalper
- Fortress world: picture gallery fortress Naters
- Fortress world: picture gallery Fort Gondo
Individual evidence
- ^ Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military Monuments in the Canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport , Bern 2002
- ↑ Swiss Cultural Routes: Napoleon Bonaparte heralds the age of Alpine roads on the Simplon
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Artillery Works Naters A 9000
- ↑ Swiss television of November 10, 2006: First Swiss Guard Museum in Naters ( Memento of October 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Rhone newspaper of March 22, 2018: Naters Fortress Museum is being expanded
- ↑ La Caverna: Guard Museum / Naters Fortress
- ^ Brig-Simplon tunnel barrier In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, pages 28–29
- ^ Simplon pass blocking point In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, pages 30–31
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Brig-Simplon tunnel barrier
- ^ Gondo lock point In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, pages 32–33
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Gondo VS lock point
- ↑ Stockalperweg from Brig to Gondo
- ^ Eco-Museum: Fort Gondo
Coordinates: 46 ° 19 '19.7 " N , 7 ° 58' 55.8" E ; CH1903: six hundred forty-one thousand eight hundred sixty-two / 130226