Lona Mondascia
Map with all coordinates: 
The fortress line Lona (Lona as an abbreviation of LOdrino - OsogNA) was a blocking point of the Swiss Army with an anti-tank line, flanking fortifications and artillery rock works in the Riviera and Valley Riviera district in the canton of Ticino .
It comprises 100 fortification objects located on both sides of the Ticino river in the municipal area of Lodrino , Osogna , Iragna (Mairano) and Biasca (Mondascia). The lock point is considered a military historical monument of national importance.
history
Until the 1930s, the Leventina could be defended by monitoring the passes of San Jorio and Monte Ceneri and the lakeside roads of Magadino and Gordola.
With the new possible deployment of parachute troops, the Magadino plain became an ideal landing area. The fortress line Lona was the answer to this danger and to a possible intrusion by the Misox .
The lock point was built during the Second World War from 1939 to 1942 by troops and private companies based on construction plans of the 9th Division.
After the war, in the years 1950–1960, it was reinforced in the Iragna area with prefabricated shelters (spherical bunkers) and 8.1 cm mortar systems.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War , the line was declassified in 1995.
Mission and military importance
The locking point had the passage in the upper Leventina (Gotthard axis) and the Bleniotal to lock and during the period of Reduits to serve as a fall-back position in the event of a breakthrough.
During the Second World War, a nation's fighting strength was judged by its fortifications. In this sense, the Line Lona not only served to strengthen the defense line in Ticino, it was also the last and central bar of the entire southern defense system against an attack on the Reduit and at the same time protected Bellinzona's defenders from an attack in the rear by possible airborne troops.
The blocking point on the Gotthard axis is of national importance because it would have played a major role in the event of a southern attack. As the protector of the apron of the Reduit, she was the last defense point of the Border Brigade 9 and the Italian part of Switzerland.
Works and armament
The Lona dam comprised three lines of defense with 62 fortress weapons, the majority of which were planned in 1939 and built in 1940/41:
The command post for the Lona A 8160 position was in Pollegio . It was disguised as rustico and was abandoned in 2003. ⊙
Armored terrain obstacles with flanking fortifications in the valley and in the rock caverns
Lodrino (right side of the valley):
- Infantry bunker Chiesa A 8123 ⊙
- Verscio A 8127 ⊙ infantry rock factory
- Infantry bunker Grande A 8128, Piano sports field ⊙
- Tank obstacle T 4275 ⊙
- Artillery rock factory San Martino A 8148, church San Martino as namesake ⊙
Infanteriefelswerk Verscio A 8127, Lodrino (rock face left)
Infantry bunker Grande A 8128, Lodrino
Tank barrier T 4275, Lodrino
Artillery plant San Martino A 8148, at the top of the quarry, left
Osogna (left side of the valley):
- Infantry bunker Cava Serta A 8131 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Boggera A 8135 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Boggera A 8136 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Boggera A 8137 ⊙
- Osogna infantry bunker A 8140 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Osogna A 8141 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Osogna A 8142 ⊙
- Mine throwing rock A 8146, prototype 1956/60 ⊙
- Artillery rock works Santa Pietà A 8147 ⊙
Infantry bunker Cava Serta A 8131, Cresciano
Infantry plant, Osogna
Infantry plant, Osogna
Church of Santa Pietà, namesake for the nearby artillery rock works A 8147
Defense line from the post-war period with prefabricated shelters (spherical bunkers)
Iragna (right side of the valley):
- Searchlight Serta 2 IR 1946 F 9735 ⊙
- Double spherical bunker Capella Gerra 1-2 A 9800.01, A 9800.02 ⊙
Defense line with one-story artillery works and artillery rock works
Iragna-Mairano (right side of the valley): four one-story artillery works, one of them in the rock
- Artillery Works Mairano 1 A 8151 ⊙
- Artillery Works Mairano 2 A 8152 ⊙
- Mairano Artillery Works 3 A 8153 ⊙
- Artillery Works Mairano 4 A 8154 ⊙
Biasca-Mondascia (left side of the valley): two one-story artillery works A 8155, A 8156
- Artillery plant Biasca A 8155, dismantled in 2004 ⊙
- Artillery Works Biasca A 8156 ⊙
- Artillery monoblock movement Mondascia 3 A 8157 ⊙
- Mondascia artillery rock works 4 A 8158 ⊙
Artillery plant, Iragna-Mairano A 8153
Artillery plant, Iragna-Mairano A 8154
The anti-tank line crossing the entire valley could be flanked by fire from the fortifications on the side. In addition, there were three support works, each with two 7.5 cm cannons with Knobellafetten, which were a little behind and two of which were housed in the rock. The two artillery rock works Santa Pietà (Osogna) and San Martino (Lodrino) were named by the neighboring churches. The Infantry Bunker Grande on the Lodrino sports grounds was formerly surrounded by a house dummy. In a quarry near Osogna, a prototype as a rock work (A 8146) for two 8.1 cm fortress mine throwers approx. 30 m apart was created in the post-war period.
The infrastructure of the artillery fire cover on both sides of the valley in the south of Biasca for the Lona line was made up of around thirty fortifications equipped with 24 artillery pieces. At Mondascia (Biasca) and Mairano (Iragna) there were eight 12 cm ring barrel cannons in concrete and rock works, which were supplemented by a number of shelters and caverns for troops and ammunition. The 12 cm ring barrel cannons (orderly model 1882) on rocker arm mounts had been produced in only 16 copies (the remaining eight were installed in the fortress Klein-Durren ). The gun emplacements were designed so that pipes of different calibers could be used. In 1954, a further modernization phase followed with the construction of shelters and the replacement of the 12 cm cannons with 10.5 cm howitzers.
Combat group Lona
The Combat Group Lona, which belonged to the 9th Division of the 3rd Army Corps, was formed to fill the line. It comprised two infantry battalions as well as a mobile and a fortress artillery division. In 1941 the border regiment Lona was formed, which was directly subordinate to the border brigade 9 and was reinforced with an infantry cannon company and a fortress company.
From 1944 the brigade's focus was again shifted south of Bellinzona. During the Cold War, the Biasca region was upgraded again as part of the static spatial defense concept. The combat group (regimental rank) Lona formed in the 1970s was disbanded in 1995.
Forte Mondascia Infantry Museum, Biasca and Fortificazioni Ticinesi (ForTi) trails
The museum was opened in 1999 and is run by the "Gruppo Escursionisti Liberi" (GEL). It wants to preserve the Lona fortress and show the infantry systems and defenses of that time. The establishment of an infantry museum inside a restored artillery position is symbolic of the interaction between the two branches of arms. The mere artillery fire - without the support of the infantry - could not have stopped an intruder.
The museum houses the cannons, mortars, machine guns and flamethrowers that gave the Lona line its military power. In addition, objects from the everyday life of the soldiers who served in the Lona position can be viewed. Part of the Lona fortress was placed under protection because of its historical, architectural and military importance.
The hiking routes of the Fortificazioni Ticinesi (ForTi) lead in different areas of Ticino to places of military and historical interest: from the arsenals of Monte Ceneri and Airolo, the flanking batteries in Magadino and Spina to the artillery works.
literature
Web links
- Official website of the Forte Mondascia Museum with opening times
- Ticino newspaper from March 15, 2013: Forti Association - Open the bunkers and let life in
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: command cavern of the Lona position, disguised as rustico
- ↑ Forti: A command post Pollegio 8160
- ^ ForTi: Infantry Bunker Cava Serta, Cresciano
- ^ Fortress Oberland: Lock point Lodrino-Osogna (LONA) TI
- ^ Official website of Fortificazioni Ticinesi (ForTi): 08 Linea Lona
Coordinates: 46 ° 20 '17.9 " N , 8 ° 58' 50" E ; CH1903: seven hundred eighteen thousand seven hundred and eleven / 133044