Fortification Hauenstein

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Fortification Hauenstein
Trench Spitzenflüeli (2012)
Spitzflüeli trench (1914–1918)

The fortification Hauenstein formed next to the fortification Murten and the fortification Bellinzona the most important line of defense of the Swiss army in the First World War . It was intended to secure the Swiss plateau against an attack from the northwest.

location

The 48 kilometer long front lay on the Jura heights in the area of ​​the two Jura passes Unterer Hauenstein , Oberer Hauenstein and eight other crossings. The 66 trenches - starting from the Aare - formed a semicircular bridgehead north of Olten on the following line :

Boningen an der Aare ⊙ - Kappel ⊙ - Hägendorf ⊙ - Eggberg ⊙ - Unterwald ⊙ - Allerheiligenberg ⊙ - Gwidemfluh 1071  m above sea level. M. ⊙ - Düreggsattel - Chilchzimmersattel 991  m above sea level M. ⊙ - Schattenberg - Spitzenflüeli 1037  m above sea level. M. ⊙ - Schellenberg - Lauchfluh 1042  m above sea level. M. ⊙ - Unter Lind - Wallburgstüel ⊙ - Wengen - Eptingen ⊙ - Walten 912  m above sea level. M. ⊙ - Läufelfingen ⊙ - Wisenberg 1002  m above sea level M. ⊙ - Bad Ramsach ⊙ - Geisshörnli ⊙ - Blattenrain - Isenfluh 835  m above sea level. M. ⊙ - Burgflue 935  m above sea level M. ⊙ - Dottenberg 938  m above sea level M. ⊙ - Lostorf ⊙ - Eihübel ⊙ - Eibach ⊙ - Obergösgen an der Aare ⊙ .

The line of fire with connecting trenches was over 27 kilometers long. There were open and covered positions for 126 guns and eight switchboards.

history

After his election as Chief of Staff of the Swiss Army, Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg assessed the threat situation for Switzerland in 1906 because of the increasing tensions in Europe, and came to the following conclusions: Germany would not violate any Swiss territory on its own, while France would in the event of war with Germany through Switzerland could attack the unfortified German southern front. On the basis of this analysis, engineer officers worked out detailed plans for the key areas west (blocked position fortification Murten ) and north (bridgehead Olten with fortification Hauenstein), which were ready by the start of the war in 1914. After the war it turned out that in December 1915 the French army had developed a "Plan H" (H = Helvétie) with a thrust through Switzerland towards southern Germany.

Operational functions

The Hauenstein fortification had to form a bridgehead to the north to protect the Olten railway junction and the bridges in the Olten area (north-south threat) and to form the north corner pillar of the Hauenstein- Napf army position across the Central Plateau (east-west threat) . The draft of the army chief of genius from August 1914 envisaged 30 infantry battalions and 4–5 foot batteries, 2–3 howitzer batteries and 18–24 field batteries with a total of 96–128 guns for sustainable defense for the Hauenstein fortification .

Preparation of the positions

Immediately after the general mobilization of August 3, 1914, thousands of soldiers began to build 26 kilometers of military roads on the basis of the prepared plans in 24-hour operation. The most important of these supply routes were on the Wisenberg ( Winznau to Bad Ramsach) and on the Belchenflue (north and south streets Trimbach SO to Gwidenfluh). 8 km of trenches were built between the Gwidemfluh and the Aare. In addition, there were around 500 civil engineering and structural engineering work for searchlight positions, command posts, telephone lines, ammunition stores, genie depots, reservoirs and water pipes, accommodation, stables and destruction measures for the Olten bridges and the Hauenstein railway tunnel. Evacuation plans were drawn up for 50,000 people living in the defense room. The Belchenflue viewpoint was blown into its present form as an observation post.

From August to mid-November 1914, the infantry, the foot and field battery positions in the field-based rough construction in the three group bases were completed and ready for action. By August 1917, all important work with 39 casemates (bunkers) had been completed.

A large part of the Swiss Army was deployed at Hauenstein, as can be seen today in the canton's arms of the troops along the new Belchen-Südstrasse. The militiamen put in two million hours of work for all of these structures . They worked around the clock in three shifts, with one shift consisting of eight hours plus a return trip. 14,000 men and 1,100 horses were used for the construction. These would have been increased to 42,500 men and 6,500 horses in an attack.

Section Chilchzimmersattel

  • Bunker Chilchzimmerweid

  • Switchboard Chilchzimmersattel

  • Artillery battery position Chilchzimmer

  • Lauchflue observation post

  • Lauchflue observation post, rifle gallery

  • Schützengalerie Lauchflue

Belchenflue section

  • Military road to Belchenflue, built 1914–15

  • Belchenflue observation post

  • Belchenflue water reservoir, First World War

  • Military road Belchen Süd

  • Coat of arms of the Bernese troops on the military road

  • Artillery positions Obere and Untere Hupp

Second World War

During the Second World War , 4 new fortifications were built in the area of ​​the Hauenstein fortification ( blocking point Unter Hauenstein ) and the border brigade , which, as a forward position, first of the Limmat position and later of the Reduit, were part of the staggered defensive fortifications that, for reasons of neutrality, were part of the border fortifications on the Swiss border began.

  • Challhöchi bunker

  • Rüeblikeller bunker from 1943

literature

  • Hans Rudolf Fuhrer : The Swiss Army in World War I, Threat, National Defense and National Fortification . NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 1999.
  • Hans Rudolf Fuhrer: Key area north. Hauenstein, fortifications from the First World War . GMS travel documentation 1999.
  • Georges Berger: Fortification Hauenstein . Trimbach 1984.
  • Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the cantons of SO, BS, BL . VBS General Staff, Bern, 2001.
  • Adolf Merz, Paul Suter: The fortification Hauenstein at the time of the First World War . In: Baselbieter Heimatblätter , 1983.

Web links

Commons : Fortification Hauenstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fortification Hauenstein: History
  2. ↑ www.schweizer-festungen.ch: Plan H
  3. ↑ see Olten-Lucerne railway line , railway line Olten-Bern , railway Olten-Aarau , railway Olten-Solothurn , railway Olten Rothrist