Fort Prince Karl

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Main entrance of Fort Prince Karl with Kehlkaserne
Vaulted walkway
Crew accommodation

The Fort Prince Charles is the only largely preserved Fort of the outer belt of the Fort Bavarian fortress Ingolstadt . It is located northeast of Ingolstadt on the Großer Weinberg south of the small town of Katharinenberg . It is named after Prince Karl of Bavaria .

history

Ingolstadt already had strong fortifications in the Middle Ages. After the bloodless surrender of the city of Napoleon Bonaparte but it left most of these investments in 1800 grind .

The Kingdom of Bavaria , which was newly established in 1806, was looking for a central arsenal under King Max I Joseph , a secure collection and storage site for the Bavarian army against future campaigns and a protected camp for regeneration after "unfortunate campaigns"; the decision was made in favor of Ingolstadt. For financial reasons, however, the specific plans were only under I. King Ludwig be included.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 it became clear that the fortifications that had been built in and around Ingolstadt were no longer sufficient to protect the city and the two railway stations from modern, far-reaching artillery . Therefore, an advanced fort belt was also built. A total of seven intermediate plants and nine outer forts were built at a distance of five to eight kilometers from the city center.

"Fort VI" was built on the Großer Weinberg, south of Katharinenberg. Construction began in March 1877 and the fort was largely completed by the end of November 1881; Small remaining work, however, continued until the middle of the following year. The official handover to the royal fortress government took place on October 27, 1882.

Construction of the fort

Essentially, Fort VI is a Biehler normal fort . The tip is oriented to the east-northeast. The fort measures about 300 meters in width and about 180 meters in length.

Since the fort should not be visible from the enemy side and should be protected against direct fire, large parts of the fort had to be blasted into the dolomite rock on the top of the Great Vineyard. The masonry was built with bricks or natural stone .

Fort VI, like the others, has a dry moat north of the Danube . This is 7 meters wide, approx. 5 meters deep and bordered on the faces and flanks towards the fort by a free-standing wall.

Is located at the top of the fort in the Eskarpemauer (the fortress grave side wall) a Saillantkaponniere from which the trench in both directions longitudinally with two guns of the caliber of 9 cm coated could be ( grave strokes ). The two trenches on the left and right flanks could each be covered by a shoulder cape . These also had two guns each on the upper floor and loopholes for the infantry on the lower floor .

The fort was initially designed as a pure artillery fort in which the infantry only played a subordinate role. In the event of war, it was designed for a crew of around 600 men. The armament originally consisted of the already mentioned 8 guns in casemates for close defense and over 22 guns that were set up above ground between trusses .

The side of the fort facing away from the enemy, the so-called throat , which did not appear to be threatened by direct artillery fire, was designed as a two-story building. The fort's crew was housed here. In addition to this Kehlkaserne there was another barracks at the top of the fort, which should only be occupied in the event of war.

The fort also had its own well with a riveted water reservoir.

Poplars were planted along the connecting roads in the vicinity of the fort in order to hide the movements of own troops from enemy scouts in the event of war .

modernization

Just a few years after its completion, fortifications such as Fort VI were increasingly endangered by the increasingly powerful explosive shells of the artillery. This was especially true for the openly positioned guns. Extensive reinforcement and modernization measures were therefore undertaken.

The fort was now to be manned primarily with infantry; For the heavy artillery, better armored connection batteries were built alongside the original systems. At Fort VI, the inner connection batteries were built in 1888/89, the right outer battery in 1889/90. A left outer connection battery did not allow the steep terrain in the north towards the village of Katharinenberg. In 1895/96 the internal connection batteries were converted again.

The covering of the casemate vault was reinforced by additional layers of concrete and sand. This work lasted at Fort VI from September 14, 1889 to May 31, 1892. However, this work was not completed. In the left part of the Kehlkaserne the transition from the reinforced to the unreinforced part can still be seen clearly on the course of the upper edge of the facade. The windows of the Kehlkaserne were fitted with iron shutters, which were supposed to offer protection against shrapnel in the event of enemy artillery fire. In order to facilitate the transport of materials for the reinforcement structures, a field railway ( Haarmann system ) was built in 1889 from the local train station to forts VI and Va as well as to the Großmehring intermediate plant.

Around 1890, a large oven was installed in Fort VI , as it was discovered that in the event of an enemy attack, the supply of bread from the central war bakery in Ingolstadt could no longer have been guaranteed.

In 1891/92 the fort, based on the French model, was surrounded with a lattice fence to improve the freedom from storms.

In 1893 the fort was also given two armored, rotating observation stands , which were obtained from the Gruson factory in Buckau .

Picture gallery

  • Throat barracks; the windows in the foreground have iron shutters

  • Left part of the Kehlkaserne; the transition from the reinforced to the unreinforced part of the fort can be seen on the right edge of the picture

  • Saillant caponier, on the outer edge of the ditch the storm grids erected in 1891/92

  • Saillant caponier, on the right the free-standing wall

  • Right shoulder cape, also with a free-standing wall

  • Left shoulder cape with storm bars in the foreground

  • View along the left flank ditch to the left shoulder caponier

  • View to the southwest over the fort

  • oven

  • Armored, rotating observation post

  • Toilets for the officers

  • Toilets for the crew grades

Naming

Fort VI only got its own name thirteen years after its completion:

"In honor of the memory of my uncle who is resting in God, the long-time Field Marshal Prince Karl of Bavaria , Your Royal Highness, who is so highly deserved for the army, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hoechsthe's birthday, I decide that from 7 July 1895 on Fort VI in the Ingolstadt fortress was named "Prince Karl". "

- Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria , July 4, 1895 : quoted from Bauer, Karl

The renaming was celebrated with garrison guard parades and 50 gun salutes .

Use in the 20th and 21st centuries

During the First World War , the Prince Karl Fort was used to accommodate prisoners of war , although the occupancy figures fluctuated greatly. In March 1915, for example, Fort Prince Karl housed 1,131 French people, while in December 1916 it was only occupied by 200 officers. Shortly after the end of the war, around 300 Spartakists were imprisoned in the fort . The last political prisoner was evacuated on July 25, 1919. At the beginning of the 1920s, Fort Prince Karl was also used as a foreigner assembly camp.

In 1937 the Ingolstadt fortress was finally abandoned. The permanent forts went to the administration of the army stuff Office over and served Wehrmacht until 1945 mostly as ammunition depot or Component assembly of ammunition, as well as the Fort Prinz Karl.

After the end of the war, most of the fortifications around Ingolstadt were blown up by the US occupying forces . Fort Prince Karl was the only one to survive - presumably because the nearby village of Katharinenberg would have been too badly damaged if it had been detonated due to the large quantities of ammunition stored.

Until 1973 the Bundeswehr used Fort Prinz Karl as an ammunition depot. Today it houses the Ingolstadt explosive unit . The interior of the fort can only be visited on special tours.

Since 1999, the listed fort has been partially renovated in several sections in order to remove at least the worst damage (mainly due to moisture) and to prevent the further destruction of the original structure.

The Bavarian Army Museum has been offering guided tours of the fort since 2016 .

literature

  • Karl Bauer: Fort Prinz Karl - The Fort No. VI of the Royal Bavarian Main State Fortress Ingolstadt (Globulus Special Volume III / 2009), 2nd edition, Polygon-Verlag, Eichstätt 2009, p. 190, ISBN 978-3-928671-56-9
  • Gerhard Wickern, Eduard Eiser: Die Bayerische Landesfestung Ingolstadt / Part II: The Vorwerks- and Fortgürtel , Förderverein Bayerische Landesfestung Ingolstadt (ed.), 1st edition, espresso-Verlag, Ingolstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-9812964-8-8

Web links

Commons : Fort Prinz Karl  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Bauer: Fort Prinz Karl - The Fort No. VI of the Royal Bavarian Main State Fortress Ingolstadt (Globulus special volume III / 2009), 2nd edition, Polygon-Verlag, Eichstätt 2010, ISBN 978-3-928671-56-9
  2. ↑ Bottom of the Bavarian Army Museum on the excursions to Fort Prince Karl. Retrieved October 5, 2016 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 47 ′ 12.8 "  N , 11 ° 31 ′ 33.6"  E