Modlin Fortress

Coordinates: 52 ° 26 ′ 18 ″  N , 20 ° 40 ′ 55 ″  E

Ruins of a granary building of the Modlin Fortress on the Narew River

The Modlin Fortress , also known as the Novogeorgiewsk Fortress in German-speaking countries ( Russian Новогеоргиевская крепость , Polish Twierdza Modlin ) is an important fortress at the confluence of the Narew and Bug rivers, about 50 km northwest of Warsaw . Modlin and the fortress are now part of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki .

history

Map of the individual forts of the Modlin Fortress

Map of the citadel of the fortress Modlin

In 1656 the Bugskansen was laid out as a jump under King Karl X. Gustav . Napoleon I expanded the ramparts in 1807 and began building the actual fortress.

In 1813 this was not yet finished when the Russians enclosed the fortress and forced the French General Daendels to surrender on December 1, 1813. Emperor Alexander I continued the fortification work until the Poles seized the fortress during the November uprising in 1830. Blocked by General Golowin, the Polish commandant Ignacy Graf Ledóchowski surrendered unconditionally on October 7, 1831. Then Emperor Nicholas I had the fortress completely rebuilt by General Dehn.

The fortress consisted of buildings intended for the garrison , surrounded by huge walls up to 40 meters high, which in turn were surrounded by a long series of outer works. The Modlin Fortress, together with the Warsaw Fortress and the Zegrze Fortress, formed the " Polish Fortress Triangle ", which, together with the fortresses in Ivangorod and Brest-Litowsk, was referred to as the "large" or "Polish-Russian fortress triangle". The fortresses in Warsaw, Modlin, Ivangorod and Brest were also known in their time as the "Polish-Russian fortress square ".

First World War

During the First World War , Novogeorgiewsk was besieged and taken by German troops under Lieutenant General Hans von Beseler from August 4 to 20, 1915 (→ Siege of Nowogeorgiewsk ) . Around 90,000 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner.

Second World War

Wiktor Thommée handing over the Modlin Fortress to Adolf Strauss on September 29, 1939

The Battle of Modlin in World War II began on September 13, 1939 and ended on September 29, 1939 with the surrender of the 30,000 remaining Polish defenders under the command of General Wiktor Thommée . The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was also involved in the attacks .

War crimes

In the course of the fighting over Modlin the first documented war crime of the Second World War occurred : At this point in time Kurt Meyer , commander of the 14th anti-tank company, whose unit was also subordinate to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, was involved in heavy fighting in the Modlin area. Kurt Meyer was accused in an Allied investigation report of having rounded up and shot 50 Jews near Modlin. Meyer was sentenced to death by the Canadians in 1945 for other war crimes , later pardoned and released from prison in 1954.

Web links

Commons : Fortress Modlin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Lieb : Conventional war or Nazi ideological war? , Warfare and the Fight against Partisans in France 1943/44, Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-57992-5 , p. 159.