Fort Buhl
As an artillery work (A 8675), Fort Bühl was part of the Gotthard fortifications in the Andermatt area and in 1892 one of the first rock works in Europe. The fort, built in 1892, was used as a combat facility in 1947 and is now used as the army's logistics base .
Lock point Schöllenen
The strategic importance of the Andermatt transport hub is related to the transport routes. The Gotthard as the shortest north-south connection is of European interest. The narrowing of the Schöllenen Gorge was particularly suitable for securing it . In the Second Coalition War of 1799, the Russians under Suvorov and the French fought for the Devil's Bridge. With the construction of the first Gotthard road in 1830 and the first Gotthard tunnel in 1882, the importance of the Gotthard axis and the need for military security increased.
After 1882, the Schöllenen checkpoint was provided with around twenty defensive objects as part of the new Gotthard fortifications and was continuously modernized for over a hundred years. The lock includes, among other things, Fort Bühl, the Brückwaldboden log cabin at 1504 m above sea level. M. above the Schöllenen Gorge, a granite wall as an infantry obstacle in front of Fort Bühl, the Bühl war barracks and the Altkirch flanking gallery. Fort Bühl is located exactly above the Gotthard tunnel , which is 320 m lower. The Gotthard road tunnel, opened in 1980, is located around 400 m to the west. The Schöllenen barrier is a military-historical monument of national importance.
Battle for the Devil's Bridge 1799
Fortified narrow area Schöllenen
Factory entrance
Infantry weapon loops
Artillery factory Bühl
The fortification commission, as the planner of the central Gotthard fortress area, demanded fortification of the hill on the left side of the mountain in order to block access from Andermatt through the Schöllenen Gorge. The security should be done not only by artillery batteries, but by actual forts. Fort Bühl was to be built according to a new concept, whereby all weapons and rooms were built into a rock head, the masonry built as protection in the previous forts was no longer necessary.
In 1888 a bridge over the Reuss was built as an access point, in 1890 the interior fittings, the installation of the final gates above the Urnerloch and below the Teufelsbrücke as well as the shell of the Flankiergalerie Altkirch took place. In 1891 the armor and reinforcement were installed and the ammunition started and in 1892 the fort was completed.
The Bühl-Altkirch plant was operated by the fortress brigade 23 (until 1951) and the fortress artillery company 13.
Mission and armament
The purpose of the facility was primarily to block the Schöllenen Engnis from the Urnerloch to the Teufelsbrücke .
The first armament was:
- two armored turrets, each with a 12 cm cannon (until 1951)
- a tank stand with two 12 cm ball mortars, which were replaced in 1903/04 by two 12 cm self-propelled howitzers model 1891 (until 1951)
- three 5,3 cm Fahrpanzer (rapid fire cannons with retractable armored turrets model 1887)
- two 8.4 cm bronze cannons in a caponier
- two rotatable observation turrets.
War barracks Bühl
As a replacement for the previous accommodation in the access tunnel, the Bühl military barracks with 340 beds were built behind Fort Bühl in the direction of Schöllenen in 1897/1901 for the fortress artillery . It had a caponier and a direct tunnel into the fort.
In the same years the Andermatt barracks (so-called peace barracks) with 400 beds for training infantry and positional artillery was built in Andermatt-Altkirch.
Altkirch infantry factory
The Flankiergalerie Altkirch A 8665 on the opposite side of the Reuss served as a close defense of Fort Bühl.
Devil's wall
The tunnel carved in the mountain in the Teufelswand was used to bypass the Schöllenen Gorge, in case the Teufelsbrücke (s) had to be blown up. Today the tunnel can be visited as part of the Schöllenen circular route.
Middle entrance to the Teufelswand tunnel
Tunnel devil's wall
Schöllenen circular route
Behind it is the protected military data center "Kastro II" in rock caverns. From 1940 to 1991 an army B laboratory was operated in the Teufelswand .
literature
- Eduard Dietler (Colonel and Commander, Preface): Album of the St. Gotthard crew. Album della Guarnigione del S. Gottardo 1914-1916 . Atar Publishing House, Geneva 1916
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Zug . DDPS 2005
Web links
- Fortress Switzerland: Fortress Brigade 23: Fort A8675 Bühl and Sperrstelle Schöllenen
- Bunker friends: Andermatt facilities
Individual evidence
- ↑ Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Zug . DDPS 2005
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Artillery Works Bühl ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Jost Auf der Maur: Switzerland underground. Real time, Basel 2017.
- ↑ Cadastre of the polluted locations of the DDPS, object no. FWK5 A 076 Teufelswand, plot 720 Andermatt. Organizational unit space and environment DDPS, Bern 2017.
Coordinates: 46 ° 38 ′ 35.4 " N , 8 ° 35 ′ 25" E ; CH1903: 688 169 / one hundred sixty-six thousand four hundred seventeen