Reduit Brigade 21

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Scharte Artillery Works Faulensee
Room of the Reduit Brigade 21 in the basic disposition 1992

The Reduitbrigade 21 (R Br 21 "Berner Oberland") was one of three Reduitbrigaden the fortress troops of the Swiss Armed Forces have been newly created 1947th With Army 61 they were subordinated to Mountain Army Corps 3 and abolished in 2003 with Army XXI .

prehistory

In the Bernese Oberland fortifications (Letzi Letzinen, were from the 12th to the 14th century in the form of defensive walls Wimmis 13th century.) And castles built.

During World War II , the Bernese Oberland was fortified in the Reduit due to the withdrawal of the army. General Guisan determined the defensive outer border of the Reduit for the Bernese Oberland from Heiligenschwendi via Oberhofen am Thunersee , the Aare position in Einigen to the Simmentalsperre ( Wimmis ). With its strategically important heights, it was north of Lake Thun and west of the Sigriswilergrat before the actual reduit line Pilatus-Hohgant-Sigriswilergrat-Stockhorn-Kaiseregg-La Tsintre-Vanil Noir-La Tine-Rocher de Naye-Chillon.

The later operational area of ​​the Reduit Brigade 21 was taken over in 1940 by the 3rd Division ("Bern Division") with a focus on Lake Thun. The artillery works in the area of ​​the Kampfgruppe Thunersee had to support the central front Heiligenschwendi-Oberhofen-Kandergraben-Einigen-Simmentalsperre with fire together with the mobile army corps and division artillery . In May 1941 the 2nd Division was withdrawn from its fortification work between Zihl (Thièle) and Saane (Sarine) and moved to the Reduit position between Stockhorn and Gastlosen .

Reduit Brigade 21

The main units of the Reduit Brigade 21 were composed as follows from February 1, 1948:

  • Territorial Regiment 75: Battalion 135 FR (replaced by Bat 195 BE in 1968), 136 BE, 137 BE, 175 BE
  • Territorial Regiment 88: Battalion 164 FR, 165 FR
  • Fortress Regiment 21: Fortress Division 8 (Company 66 67 68 71 72), 14 (Company 73 77 78), 15 (Company 74 75 76)

While the obstacles and field fortifications from the Second World War were dismantled, the remaining permanent systems were expanded to increase combat value and the weapons were modernized. Among other things, the 4.7 cm infantry cannons were replaced by 9 cm anti-tank cannons and the Mg 11 machine gun with the Mg 51 . Various artillery works were only completed after the war and continuously improved and the armament and equipment modernized. Instead of the 7.5 cm cannons, there were the 12 cm fortress mine throwers. There were also modern shelters and protected command posts.

Special troops were to be assigned to the fortresses in the Reduit. With the Troop Order 47 (TO 47), the Reduit Brigades 21 (Bernese Oberland), 22 (Ob- and Nidwalden, Oberhasli), and 24 (Central Switzerland) were created. They each had a fortress artillery regiment.

With Army Reform 61 (TO 61), the three fortress brigades and three reduit brigades were subordinated to the newly created Mountain Army Corps 3.

The reorganization of Army XXI led to a significant reduction in stocks in 2003. The Mountain Army Corps, the large units, and the Reduit and Fortress Brigades were abolished.

Mission and type of threat

The Reduitbrigade 21 had the order to block the entrances from the Mittelland to the central area (Reduit) and the key areas with the axes Thun-Merligen-Interlaken in the Gunten, Thun-Spiez-Interlaken, Kandertal and Simmental in the Kandermouth area Einigen to Burgfluh Wimmis, Jaunpass in the area of ​​La Tsintre, Montbovon-Château-d'Oex near La Tine as well as the guarding of the Lötschbergbahn.

For an opponent, the Swiss Alpine region came into question less as a primary operational objective than as a bypass area or the safeguarding of a north-south connection.

Operations room, command post, artillery works and barriers

The area of ​​the Reduit Brigade 21 encompassed the western and central Bernese Oberland, in the east as far as the Lake Brienz area. They had to block the entrances to the central area and protect the traffic axes.

The works and barriers of the Reduit Brigade 21 were in the cantons of Bern and Friborg . The field and fortress artillery focused on the three main areas of Bödeliwerke, on both sides of Lake Thun with access to the Simmental and Jaunpass axis:

  • Command post: Heinrich A 1956 ⊙ , Kien A 1980 “K3” ⊙ , R Br 21 “Tanzplatz” A 1981 Frutigen ⊙ , “Schweizerhof” A 1689 Oberbort / Gstaad ⊙ , Div 2 Zweisimmen “Brèche” ⊙

  • Jaunpass artillery plant

  • Entrance to the Grosse Tosse artillery plant

  • Fire control center AW Faulensee

  • Euschel's artillery plant

  • Lock point sickle pass

  • Lock point Wimmis

  • Observation bunker in the catch

  • Scharte Nord-West im Fang

Outline (1994)

  • Werkkompanien 9 (Thunersee right bank), 10 (Thunersee left bank), 11 (Jaunpass) and 12 (Pays d'Enhaut)
  • Fortress Regiment 21 (KP Heinrich) with Division 8 Jaun (Company I / 8, II / 8, III / 8 and IV / 8), Division 14 (Kp I / 14, II / 14 and III / 14), Division 15 Lake Thun left Ufer (I / 15, II / 15 and III / 15) and department 24 (from 1978, fortress infantry company I / 24, fortress artillery company II / 24 and III / 24 and Fest D Kp IV / 24).

Museums in the operational area of ​​the Reduit Brigade 21 (Bernese Oberland)

literature

  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: The artillery factory Krattigen A1952 . Frutigen 2015.
  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: Command post Heinrich . Volume 1: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2011.
  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: Beatenbucht lock . Volume 2: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2011.
  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: Faulensee artillery plant. The artillery on the left bank of Lake Thun - in particular the Faulensee A1954 artillery plant . Volume 3: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2011.
  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: Heiligenschwendi blocking point . Volume 4: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2012.
  • Hans-Rudolf Schoch: The artillery plant forest fire, Legi and Schmockenfluh . Volume 5: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2014.
  • Hans Rudolf Schneider: 70 years of the Reduit Airfield St. Stephan . Frutigen 2013.

Web links

Commons : Reduitbrigade 21  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürg Keller: The 1st Army Corps in active service 1939-1945 . Annual journal of the Society for Military History Study Trips (GMS), 2010.
  2. ^ Hans-Rudolf Schoch: Command post Heinrich . Volume 1: The 3rd Division in the Reduit. Frutigen 2011
  3. ^ Fortress Oberland: Reduitbrigade 21 ( Memento from July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Fortress Oberland: Blocking point (artillery and observer plant) Bürglen BE
  5. ↑ Made by Tschanz, October 2019: The soft bunker, Bürglen BE (video)
  6. ↑ World of Teeone: Barrage du Pissot (Pays d'Enhaut)
  7. ^ Hondrich Fortress Association
  8. ↑ Faulensee Artillery Works
  9. ^ Artillery Fort Spiez Krattigen
  10. ↑ Forest Fire Fortress Museum
  11. ↑ Beatenbucht barrier, Fischbalmen bunker
  12. ^ Infantry fortress + Bernese Oberland
  13. ^ HS publications: publishing house for publications on Swiss fortifications, bunkers and fortresses, Frutigen