Fortification Bellinzona
Map with all coordinates: 
The Bellinzona fortification , along with the Hauenstein fortification and the Murten fortification, was one of the most important lines of defense of the Swiss Army in the First World War . The key area south served to secure the Swiss plateau against an enemy incursion over the Alpine passes from the south.
prehistory
The participants in the narrow valley of Ticino situated dam in Bellinzona ⊙ owes its strategic significance of their transport policy position ( Nufenenpass , Gotthard Pass , Lukmanierpass , Greina , San Bernardino Pass , San Jorio Pass ). From a military point of view, Bellinzona served in the Roman Empire and in the High Middle Ages as a base for the central government and as a garrison for operational enterprises. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the garrison character was retained ( Battle of Arbedo , Battle of Giornico ) while the fortress became a north-facing dam against the neighboring confederates .
The Dukes of Milan gave the fortress its definitive shape with the three castles Castelgrande with Murata , Castello di Montebello and Castello di Sasso Corbaro, which are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site . With the transition to the Swiss Confederation (Peace of Arona 1503), the late medieval fortifications lost their military importance.
In the years 1853–54 a section of the line of fortifications designed by Guillaume-Henri Dufour was built south of Bellinzona . Ticino people, who had been expelled from the Lombardy-Venetian Kingdom in 1853 , were commissioned as a job creation measure to build a line of defense through the Magadino plain between Camorino , Sementina and Monte Carasso , which became known as the famine fortresses ( Fortini della Fame ). It was feared that Austria could attack Ticino from occupied Lombardy because the population had secured refuge for thousands of political refugees and conspirators despite the great poverty.
First World War
At the end of 1910 a loan was decided to expand the fortifications of Bellinzona as a supplement to the Gotthard fortifications. They were supposed to secure the basin of Bellinzona - as access to the passes San Bernardino, Lukmanier and Gotthard - against a surprise attack.
At the beginning of 1914 the construction of the projects could be started. Next to road construction They included expanding the line Verzasca ⊙ -Magadino ⊙ -Monte-Ceneri ⊙ -Cima-di-Medeglia ⊙ - Camoghè ⊙ -Alpe di Gesero (San Jorio Pass) ⊙ - Lumino ⊙ .
The barriers Cima-di-Medeglia , Gordola (flank battery and infantry work), Magadino (flank battery and blockhouse), two half-batteries for 12 cm pivot cannons at Cugnasco , and Monte Ceneri (flank battery and infantry systems, as well as further 12 cm half batteries) were built. The Gordola locking point and the symmetrical sister locking point Magadino represent in particular the defense concept typical of Switzerland during the First World War in the area of permanent fortifications (artillery flanking batteries and infantry locking points ).
After the outbreak of World War I, the facilities in southern Ticino were expanded by the troops and the San Jorio Pass was fortified in the east of Bellinzona. This created a closed defensive position in Ticino. The main task of the troops (two regiments of the 15th Infantry Brigade) - besides building the fortress - was to guard and secure the Gotthard Railway between Chiasso and the Gotthard fortress Forte Airolo as well as to hold the Bellinzona defense line in order to mobilize further troops (5th and 6th Infantry Divisions ) from Central Switzerland by rail. During this time, 14 gun positions for 12 cm cannons, 3 flanking batteries in the rock, 6 gun positions for 8.4 cm or 7.5 cm cannons, numerous bases for artillery and infantry, 700 m trenches in concrete and 12,500 m in rock, shelters for 2,000 men and barracks for 4,000 men as well as 44 km of roads and 50 km of mule tracks for mules.
Trench construction, Cima di Medeglia
Carpathian Trench, Piz Camoglie
Field kitchen in the bivouac, Alpe di Gesero
Flank gallery Spina-Magadino, Monte Ceneri
World War II and Cold War
During the Second World War , the LONA (LOdrino-OsogNA) barrier line and the San Jorio Pass Alpine Dispositiv as well as the Gola di Lago barrier were created.
Between 1920 and 1970 various modifications and extensions were carried out in the area of the Bellinzona fortification (locks Monte Ceneri, Gordola, Magadino plain). In the 1990s, Army 61 set up the Camorino locking point with two centi bunkers for anti-tank defense.
The throat barracks (on the back / throat side of the fortress) and the rifle gallery on the north side of the Gordola infantry factory on a hill above Gordola were renovated in 1996.
literature
- Hans-Rudolf Fuhrer: The Swiss Army in the First World War, threats, national defense and national fortifications . NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 1999/2003, ISBN 978-3-03823-018-2 .
- Hans-Rudolf Fuhrer: South Key Area: Bellinzona, From the Milan Wars to the Second World War . GMS travel documentation 1997.
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Ticino , inventory of combat and command structures . EMD / VBS, Bern 1996.
- Walter Lüem: The fortifications in southern Ticino , in: History of Swiss fortifications . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1992.
- Roberto Moccetti: Inspection of our national borders VI - Ticino western border . GMS travel documentation 1996.
- Werner Rutschmann: Gotthard fortification, planning and construction 1885–1914 . NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3858233633 .
- Werner Rutschmann: Fortified Ticino, castles, jumps, works, stands . NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 1994, ISBN 385823513X .
- Ronco Minola: Fortificazioni di Montagna dal Gran San Bernardo al Tonale . Guide Macchione, Azzate, Italy 1999.
- Roberto Corbella: Le fortificazioni della Linea Cadorna tra Lago Maggiore e Ceresio . Guide Macchione, Azzate, Italy 1999.
Web links
- Bellinzona UNESCO World Heritage
- Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport: Military Monuments in the Canton of Ticino (PDF; 5.5 MB)
- Oberland fortress: Monte Ceneri lock
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Meyer Patricia Cavadini-Bielander: The castles of Bellinzona . Swiss Art Guide GSK, Volume 866/867, Bern 2010 ISBN 978-3-85782-866-9
- ^ Homepage of the Fortini della Fame in Camorino
- ↑ Swiss fortresses: blocking the Magadino plain
- ↑ Lockout Camorino TI