Furggels fortress

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Cover with armored turrets and external defense
Sketch of the Furggels fortress

The artillery -Werk fortress Furggels (older term Furkels, Army designation A 6355) is located on the St. Margret Berg ( Pfäfers ) at Bad Ragaz in Switzerland. The factory, which was ready to fire in 1940, was shut down in 1998, released from secrecy on October 31, 2002, sold by the Swiss Army and has been open as a museum with a restaurant since 2010 .

The Furggels fortress, as part of the Sargans fortress, together with the forts of Saint-Maurice and St. Gotthard, was one of the most important and largest fortresses of the Reduit defense system in World War II .

history

This plant was built from November 1939 with an armament of two 10.5 cm turret cannons 39 . These towers represented a new type of fortress guns (model 1939 L52) and were ready to fire in July 1940. In 1941 two 10.5 cm turret cannons (tank turret) were added. These were ready to fire in May 1942. In a third stage, four 15 cm bunker cannons were installed in Furggels from January 1945. These casemates were ready to fire from 1946 to 1947. With this armament, the artillery plant was one of the largest plants built in Switzerland.

Division of troops

During the period of partial mobilization in 1943, the plant was operated by the Fortress Artillery Company 34 (Fest Art Kp 34). This company belonged to the fortress artillery division 11. Other companies of this division 11:

The Fest Art Abt 11 was in turn subordinate to the fortress regiment 20. The following departments were in this regiment:

  • Fest Art Abbot 11
  • Fest Art Abbot 12
  • Fest Art Abbot 13
  • Mot Kan Abt 32 (Motorized Cannon Department)
  • Sch Mot Kan Abt 24 (Heavy Motorized Cannon Division)
  • Sch Flab Abt 33 (Heavy Air Defense Department)

Workforce

With its infrastructure, the Furggels Fortress was dependent on a fairly large number of factory staff. The main task of the plant was to support the section troops with artillery fire. In order for the guns to fire, a relatively large amount of logistics was required in the rear area. These are functions such as plant security, supply, medical and infantry. This stock meant a team of 420 men for the operation of the fortress, made up as follows:

  • 350 factory crew
  • 70 men fortress infantry

This workforce level has not been matched by any other plant in the Sargans region. The Magletsch (400 men) and Kastel (400 men) plants were only slightly smaller. The firepower of the other two works mentioned did not come close to that of Furggels.

plant

As with most plants, a truck (up to 7.5 t) could be driven into the inside of the plant from the main entrance. The very narrow tunnel leads into a large room where, among other things, the goods handling of the trucks could be carried out protected from the outside world. So that the truck could turn around again, a turntable is embedded in the floor, which could be turned with relatively little muscle power. This construction saved the laborious blasting out of rock in order to obtain a sufficiently large cavern for maneuvering.

Until the 1990s, the Furggels plant was continuously adapted to the new forms of threat. Pressure doors against the pressure waves in explosions and gas locks against chemical warfare agents were installed and existing facilities improved. The two floors are separated from each other by approx. 20 m of rock. This height can be overcome by means of a transport elevator or the stairs running parallel to the elevator. Both floors are connected to each other by a sloping tunnel.

  • Main entrance A 6355
  • Input 2
  • Exit Sappeurbrücke
  • Concrete bridge exit
  • West exit
  • Panzer turret 1
  • Panzer turret 2
  • Panzer turret 3
  • Armored turret 4
  • Bunker cannon 1
  • Bunker cannon 2
  • Bunker cannon 3
  • Bunker cannon 4
  • Stand picture
  • Stand Tobel Nord
  • Stand Tobel Süd
  • Stand Tobel center
  • Stand mushroom
  • Prättigau observation station
  • Supply air

External defense and observer

  • Artillery observer Chimmispitz A 6352: shelter for 50 men
  • Artillery observation station and KP Pizalun A 6353
  • Shelter cavern A 6354
  • Bunker East A 6356
  • Bunker North A 6357
  • Solitaire A 6358
  • Solitaire A 6359
  • Solitaire A 6360
  • Solitaire A 6361
  • Shelter cavern Flab A 6362
  • Shelter cavern Flab A 6363
  • Shelter cavern Flab A 6364
  • Shelter cavern Flab A 6365
  • Shelter cavern Flab A 6366
  • ASU transmission F 13139

Infrastructure

Upper floor (first basement):

  • Three ammunition magazines for the four 10.5 cm turret cannons
  • Four ammunition magazines for the four 15 cm bunker cannons
  • An observation dome
  • A 9 cm anti-tank casemate with observation
  • Two casemates with a light machine gun and a machine gun
  • A rescue station
  • hospital
  • Emergency hospital at the south entrance
  • Three detox stations. These are located at the “Concrete Bridge” entrances, the main entrance and the south entrance.
  • Workshop
  • Switchboard
  • Company office
  • Filter room
  • Engine room
  • Water reservoir (3 basins with a total of 1.35 million liters and a day reservoir with 12,500 liters)
  • Fuel reservoir (2 tanks with 100,000 liters each)
  • Crew accommodation for the 15 cm bunker cannons
  • KP Südfront (reporting driver, reporting collector, adjutant, Of Gst.Uem AC / AZ, logistics, cipher room, switchboard, news office, Kdt. Südfront, chief artillery)
  • Shooting range for the 15 cm bunker cannons
  • Shooting range for the 10.5 cm turret cannons
  • 3 Sulzer diesel generators to generate electricity

Lower floor (second basement):

  • Officers, NCOs and two crew quarters (541 beds)
  • Field Post Office
  • several canteens
  • Open plan kitchen
  • bakery
  • Food magazine
  • Death chamber
  • Detention center
  • washroom
  • Oxygen devices
  • air conditioning

Todays use

The Furggels Fortress was declassified in 1998 as part of the Army Reform 95 and sold to the Furggels Fortress GmbH. It was opened to the public from autumn 2010 to autumn 2018.

The main entrance is above Pfäfers on the road to the village of St. Margretenberg, about 200 m before the Tristeli restaurant.

The fortress has belonged to Erich Breitenmoser from Widnau since January 2019.

Web links

Commons : Furkels  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Festung-Schweiz.ch> Hedgehogs photos and documentation> fortress brigades> Fortress Brigade 13> artillery factory A6355 Furggels
  2. Oberland: A6355 Artillery Works Furggels

Coordinates: 46 ° 58 '54.8 "  N , 9 ° 30' 7.6"  E ; CH1903:  756 976  /  205,490