Mueterschwanderberg fortress
Map with all coordinates: 
The fortress Mueterschwanderberg was a defensive position of the Swiss army . It is located in the municipality of Ennetmoos between Stans and Alpnach in Switzerland. The fortress was the largest artillery in the Swiss Army. The plant, completed in 1944, was declassified and shut down in 2001.
Works
The fortress consists of the three plants Blattiberg A 2288.01 ⊙ , Drachenfluh A 2288.02 ⊙ and Zingel A 2288.03 ⊙ .
location
The plants are located on the north side of the Mueterschwanderberg below the top of the Zingels ( 859 m above sea level ), the Zingel plant north of the Zingel, the Drachenfluh plant east of the Zingels near the Drachenfluh, the Blattiberg plant east of the Zingels below the Drachenfluh near Ober Blattiberg.
The works are arranged on two main levels, which were connected by stairs and an underground funicular near Blattiberg / Drachenried. The entrance area of the Zingel plant can be reached from Alpnach on Polenstrasse . The road could be used with trucks.
View from the Stanserhorn to Lake Lucerne, Mueterschwanderberg (front left) and Stans (right)
Mueterschwanderberg with the location of the works, Pilatus in the background
Mueterschwanderberg, north side
Western rock face of the Blattberg
Military cable car and stairs
The 432 m long underground funicular, opened in 1941, connected the valley station at the lower entrance in Ober Blattiberg (bunker) 530 m above sea level. M. with the plant Drachenfluh 757 m above sea level. M. and had two intermediate stops at Blattiberg and Dachstellung . The funicular had two cars for twelve people or 1500 kg of material, a height difference of 227 m, a track length of 432 m and an average gradient of 62%. A staircase with 1,372 steps led parallel to the railway line. The railway was dismantled in 2007.
Blatti valley station with walled-up bunker notches
Mountain station, originally disguised as a barn
Plant entrance above the mountain station
Camouflaged factory entrance at the mountain station
Armament
The Zingel plant was ready to fire in 1941. The guns had a firing sector from Kriens - Obernau to Weggis . The plant had the following guns:
Zingel, rock face and Alpnachersee
Zingel, bunker external defense
Zingel, air supply
Zingel, flanking bunker
The Drachenfluh plant was ready to fire in 1942. The guns had a sector of fire from Vitznau to Emmetten . The plant had the following guns:
Eastern rock face of the Drachenfluh
Scharten Drachenfluh G1, G2
Shot sector Vitznau-Emmetten
The Blattiberg plant was ready to fire in 1942. The guns had a sector from Stans to Emmetten . The plant had the following guns:
AW Blattiberg: East G1–4, middle G5–8, West G9–12
Blattiberg East
Notches G3 and G4 Blattiberg Ost
Scharten Blattiberg West: Observer, G9–12
In the years 1956–1958 the technical installations of the fortress Zingel were improved, the command wing was newly installed, the kitchen was modernized and the access to the Bttr on the right G5 + 6 was blown up again. No changes were made to the Blattiberg and Drachenfluh. In the mid-1980s, the system was "re-drilled", that is, the old 7.5 and 15 cm guns were replaced by more modern 10.5 cm howitzers. As a result, the combat power was massively upgraded by increasing the range while at the same time reducing the number of guns. In the Zingel, the door on the left with 4 × 15 cm Hb 16 and in the door on the right the two 7.5 cm Kan 03/22 and through a total of 4 × 10.5 cm Hb 35/41 in the Bttr replaced on the right. In the Blattiberg the 12 × 7.5 cm Kan 03/22 were abandoned and replaced by 6 × 10.5 cm Hb 35/41. At the same time, the old ammunition in the eleven bullet and charge magazines was replaced by ammunition for the new guns. During the exchange of ammunition, a funicular car loaded with 15 cm steel grenades derailed at the alternative station. The 50 kg bullets thundering down the route demolished almost all rope guide pulleys; People were not harmed.
Thus from 1987 to 1993 the troops had the following artillery guns available:
- Zingel: 4 × 10.5 cm howitzers 35/41 L22, HL
- Drachenfluh: 2 × 10.5 cm cannons 35/39, L42 HL
- Blattiberg: 6 × 10.5 cm howitzers 35/41, L22 HL
In 1993, the pipes of all 10.5 cm Hb 35/41, L22 were replaced by newer pipes from the 46/48 year. The bottom piece with closure was reused. For safety reasons, the top cargo group 5 was not allowed to be fired with the pipes of the model 35/41 because of the poor quality of the steel. After re-panning, the new 10.5 cm howitzers 42/46, L22 HL could use the full firing distance of almost 10 km. The old pipes were disposed of directly at the Monteforno steelworks.
Infrastructure of the fortress
- A total of 715 berths for the crew
- Two kitchens with six kettles of 100, 150, 175, 250 and 300 liters, capacity 1200 people or meals; Blattiberg kitchen with wood burning, Zingel kitchen with electric connection value of 140 kW
- 34,000 stored food rations
- 3 Saurer 6 cyl BXDSL diesel engines with 220 HP / 200 kVA each and a fuel reserve of 3 × 26.4 m³ diesel
- 1 groundwater pumping station for the water supply
- Zingel: two cisterns with a capacity of 128 m³ and 120 m³ each
- Blattiberg: 1 × 5.5 m³ from emergency feed, 1 × 8.5 m³ daily reservoir, 1 × 144 m³ storage reservoir
External defense
For external defense of the loopholes and entrances, 6 × 7.5 mm Mg 51/80 were used in the Zingel from four bunkered positions. The Mg bunkers had the system numbers A 2289, A 2290, A 2291. For the Fest-Flab Bttr, a tunnel A 2292 was excavated approx. 150 m below the Zingel summit cross along the edge of the forest towards Kerns . In addition, flaps were prepared in the same area, i. H. Blasted from the rock and covered again.
The 12 × 20 mm Flab Kan 51 including ammunition of the Fest-Flab Bttr I / 22 (-) were also stored in the Drachenfluh (A2288-02). The infantry weapons including ammunition included 8.1 cm mine throwers, 8.3 cm rocket tubes , 300 anti-personnel mines and 450 spring mines .
The machine weapons available at the level of the lower entrance (Blattiberg infantry factory) were part of the Drachenried barrier . The T 1361 tank barrier in the access road to the Blattiberg entrance did not belong to the Drachenried barrier. This only had to prevent the entrance to the facility. This lock could be used from a bullet bunker F 20501 with assigned corps weapons. Barrack B 1073, which was used as a garage for vehicles, stood immediately in front of the Blattiberg entrance. The material barrack B 1072 on the level of the Drachenried rounds off the inventory.
The loopholes and access areas were additionally protected with barbed wire obstacles. A total of around 6 km of infantry obstacles, some in vertical rock walls, were disarmed.
Road block in front of the valley station
Material barrack B 1072
Inscription on Polenstrasse above Alpnach: Poland is not lost yet
troops
Allocated troops according to troop order 61
- Staff Fest Rgt 22
- Stabskp Fest Rgt 22
- Staff Fest Art Abbot 23
- Fixed Art Kp I / 23
- Fest Art Kp II / 23
- Fest Art Kp III / 23
- Fixed Inf Kp I / 23
- Fest D Kp II / 23
- Fest Flab Stabsbttr 22
- Fest Flab Bttr I / 22
The corps material for around 2200 men was stored, made available and restored within the facility for all nine units.
Allocated troops according to troop order 95
- Fixed type Kp 16/3
The corps material was outsourced in 1995 and subsequently handed over to the armories.
history
Construction of the fortress began in July 1941. The artillery fortress was blasted into the rock as a rock and casemate and connected with underground tunnels. In 1943 the first parts of the fortress were completed. Not until the end of 1944 were all the plants ready for use. The construction costs for the entire facility amounted to 8 million Swiss francs (excluding ammunition and artillery).
The fortress was handed over to the Reduit Brigade 22 . The crew consisted of the fortress department 23 (type A). The guns were operated by the fortress artillery company III / 23.
Tunnel entrance
Rock tunnel
Sapper Company III 6 - WW 1960
Dismantling and end
After the decision in 1998 to shut down all the large artillery forts in Switzerland for reasons of economy, all ammunition was first outsourced. Around 15,000 grenades 10.5 cm and corresponding loads were packed and transported to the Altdorf ammunition factory. The fortress A2288 Mueterschwanderberg was declassified and shut down in 2001.
In 2004, with around 30 members of the newly formed Infrastructure Battalion 2 (Infra Bat 2), all furniture was removed and all wooden fixtures were dismantled.
Since January 2007, the definitive permits for the dismantling of the fortress were available. In the same year the construction company Anliker AG was commissioned with the final dismantling of the installations down to concrete or masonry. All camouflages of the entrances and guns were removed. After 60 years in secret, the fortress Mueterschwanderberg came to light.
Lock point Drachenried
The Blattiberg infantry plant, located at the level of the lower entrance of the Mueterschwanderberg artillery plant, was part of the barrier. The task was to block the Drachenried plain between the Allweg and St. Jakob in the direction of Kerns.
The armament comprised 2 × 7.5 mm Mg 11 (replaced by 2 × 7.5 mm Fest-Mg 51/80 on Schartenlafette) and a 4.7 cm Festungspak (replaced by 1 × 9 cm -Pak 50 on pivot mount). There was also the Ennetmoos Ost A 2293 infantry bunker with an MG and a 9 cm anti-tank gun.
Known objects of the lock:
- Blattiberg infantry factory (in A 2288.01, armament like A 2293)
- Infantry bunker Ennetmoos Ost A 2293 (1 × 7.5 mm MG 11 later MG 51/80, 1 × 4.7 cm IK35 / 41 PL later 9 cm anti-tank gun 50/57) ⊙
- Off-road tank barrier Drachenried T 1360 with Mehlbach weir
Obstacle with weir
The obstacle consisted of inclined concrete blocks with a ditch in front, a heaped earth dam and a weir: the Mehlbach would have been dammed as a precaution, a flood west of the cantonal road would then have been possible.
The beveled concrete blocks were only pulled up to the edge of the forest on the southern flank. The upstream trench was continued in the forest and was reinforced along its entire length with a barbed wire obstacle.
Web links
- Web archive: Obwalden and Nidwalden newspaper from December 24th 2010: Poles created arable land from swamp: Bunker in the mountain ( Memento from January 16, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- Fortress Oberland: 15 cm howitzer 16 L14 ( memento from October 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- Overview, plans, notch photos
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Artillery Works Mueterschwanderberg ( Memento from July 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Funicular railways Switzerland: 6372.01 Ennetmoos Blattiberg - Artillery works Mueterschwanderberg
- ↑ Swiss fortresses: 15 cm fortress howitzers, model 1916, L 14, HL
Coordinates: 46 ° 57 '6.5 " N , 8 ° 19' 21.6" E ; CH1903: six hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred ninety-five / 200460