Tschingel Fortress
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The Tschingel Fortress (army designation A 6225) is an underground defense system built in 1940 in the rock face of the Fläscherberg, municipality of Fläsch . It is the largest artillery fortress in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and forms the easternmost cornerstone of the Sargans fortress . It was part of the Ellhorn blocking point (blocking point no. 1307) and belonged to the fortress brigade 13. The facility was declassified on January 1, 2000.
assignment
The fortress was given the task of protecting the anti-tank barrier in the Sarganserau and Melserau with a direct shot with the four anti-tank guns in the event that the main barriers on the Schollberg had been breached. With the usual 10.5 cm grenades it could have an effect as far as the Seeztal area . Tschingel would have received fire support from the Furggels fortress with its four 15 cm bunker cannons. The anti-tank order was valid until 1984 when the required ammunition was withdrawn.
Due to its central location, which provided a good overview of the Sargans fortress area, Tschingel not only housed the fire control center of the artillery department of four fortresses, but was also the antenna location for the VHF transmitter of the Sargans fortress, from which the radio of the fortress region would have broadcast.
Ellhorn 758 m - Heidenkopf 719 m - Ellstein 792 m, with Sarganserau in front
Tschingel (Ellstein) fortress wall with notches, view from the motorway
Tschingelwand
history
The plant was planned as part of the Sargans Fortress from 1938 and built from 1940. The Swiss Army acquired the property in question from the municipality of Fläsch. The four-story fortress was broken out of the massive rock and connected with 4 km of corridors. The upstream restricted area, the Sarganserau, could be flooded up to 80 cm.
The fortress was renovated in the 1960s during the Cold War and adapted to the increased requirements. The crew part was converted to be AC-safe and operated with overpressure.
Because of a rock fall in the 1970s, a new cable car had to be built for the material and a new footpath to the main entrance.
Military cable car
Valley station
Mountain station, main entrance to the plant in front of the rock
Rock demolition
Tschingel artillery plant
The plant infrastructure was designed for the around 160 men necessary for operation so that the operating personnel could survive independently over a longer period of time and secure their order. In addition to the emergency power system, there was powerful ventilation, large drinking water reserves and food supplies, fuel supplies, an emergency hospital, as well as large ammunition stores and spare parts for weapons and technical equipment, as well as a burial niche.
Scharten 4th floor
On the 4th floor (150 meters above the level) the spotlights for the night lighting of the restricted area Melser- and Sarganserau were installed, on the 3rd floor the machine gun stands and observation posts and on the 2nd floor the cannons. A 7.5 cm bunker cannon and a machine gun defense protected the main entrance on the 1st floor. The headlights were removed again in the 1950s as they would have been an easy target for the enemy. A VHF antenna for the Sargans fortress was installed in its place.
Scharten 4th and 3rd floor
Scharten 3rd and 2nd floor west
Scharten 4th to 2nd floor
For external defense there were small caverns carved into the rock for air defense in addition to the infantry positions outside the fortress. At that time, the construction cost around 5 million francs.
After the Second World War, four anti-tank guns and all crew and supply rooms with additional tunnels were installed on the 2nd floor. On the 4th floor, in addition to the fire control center for its own battery, the departmental fire control center was set up to coordinate the fire for four fortresses. For the latter, all telephone connections from the Sargans boiler were brought together in the Tschingel distribution center.
Scharten 2nd floor
Scharte gun 3
Inclined elevator
The 63 m long funicular is an inclined elevator for people and material transport between the 1st and 2nd floor and was built in 1946 by the Bell Kriens company. It is a winch that is powered by the mountain station and has not been approved for passenger transport since 2000. The valley station is on the 1st floor at 545 m and the mountain station on the 2nd floor at 578 m. An inclined elevator, which has since been dismantled, transported material from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor.
Armament
Initially, the fortress only had machine guns and the 1.5 meter anti-aircraft floodlights to illuminate the barrier on the level in front of Sargans and a 7.5 cm BK 39 bunker cannon to protect the level in the direction of Bad Ragaz.
1st floor: large notch on the left for former 7.5 cm bunker cannon, notch at the bottom, observer's stand
After 1945, four additional 10.5 cm anti-tank guns, model 1946, were installed. In the 1960s, the bunker cannon, as well as the machine guns and the 1.5 meter flab searchlights were expanded.
today
With the army reform in 1995 , the Tschingel Fortress was abolished as a combat facility, declassified in 2000 and sold by the army to the Tschingel Fortress Association in 2005.
The fortress is not a museum, guided tours are available on request. The complex is looked after by the fortress association and has been continuously renovated since January 2006 in order to preserve it for posterity.
Tamina artillery plant
The Tamina artillery plant (army designation A 6370, built in 1942) is located in Bad Ragaz at the entrance to the Tamina gorge ⊙ . It had to protect the Tschingel artillery plant with a 7.5 cm bunker cannon as a counter-work, act on the blocking point Fläsch 1318 and cover the area northwest of Bad Ragaz. Access was from above via several stairs and via 51 steps inside the mountain.
Lock point Ellhorn
The area of the Ellhorn , which is strategically important for the fortress Sargans , was acquired by Switzerland in 1948 through land exchange with Liechtenstein and immediately fortified with an infantry bunker (A 6229) and a battle cavern (A 6224). The main parts of the Ellhorn blocking point (blocking point no. 1307) are located in the blocking point Schollberg (blocking point no. 1306) in the canton of St. Gallen. The infantry bunker was armed with two machine guns, the battle cavern with a 7.5 cm anti-tank gun 38 L49 and a machine gun. The Ellhorn infantry factory was decommissioned in 1982.
Infantry factory Ellhorn A 6224: 7.5 cm BPak 38 L49, 1 Mg
Infantry bunker Ellstein A 6229: 2 MG
Bunker Ellstein
Sarganserau bunker
literature
- Peter Baumgartner, Hans Stäbler: Fortified Graubünden. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Military History Foundation Graubünden, Chur 2006 ISBN 978-3-85637-321-4 . Extended edition Verlag Desertina, Chur 2016, ISBN 978-3-85637-485-3 .
Web links
- Official website of the Tschingel Fortress Association
- Swiss television from January 10, 2006: Colonel buys huge fortress
- Fortress museum lock Trin: 1307 Ellhorn
- Oberland Fortress: A 6225 Tschingel
- Webcam Tschingel Fortress
- Fortress Switzerland: Sargans, Mels, Wartau, Fläsch - lock point Sarganserau (1307) with IW A6224 Ellhorn
Individual evidence
- ^ Tschingel Fortress Association: Fortress History
- ↑ Photo blog of the "forgotten hedgehogs" of Fortress Switzerland: Tschingel aerial cableway
- ↑ Funiculars in Switzerland: Fläsch Artilleriewerk Tschingel
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: A6370 Artillery Works Tamina ( Memento from August 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ bunker friends: A6370 kind Wk Tamina
- ↑ Fortified Graubünden 1941
Coordinates: 47 ° 2 '29.2 " N , 9 ° 29' 21.1" E ; CH1903: 755,821 / 212080