Schaaren (area)
The Schaaren area is located in the municipality of Schlatt in the Swiss canton of Thurgau . It is divided into the Schaarenwald and the Schaarenwiese . This is located directly on the southern bank of the High Rhine between Schaffhausen and Diessenhofen , opposite the German exclave Büsingen and borders the Paradies monastery . The Schaaren has a rich historical past. The area was temporarily inhabited as early as the Neolithic Age. Fortifications from Roman times, the time of Napoleon and the Second World War testify to the strategically good location on the knee of the Rhine. Today the Schaaren is partly under nature protection and is a popular local recreation area of Schaffhausen. The Rheinkastell Association has set itself the goal of preserving the military-historically significant facilities for posterity and making them accessible to a wider public.
landscape
The Schaaren area is a late to post-glacial floodplain landscape in a largely natural state with an original mixed oak forest. A flat moor of national importance, old river arms, alluvial forests and ponds offer ideal living conditions for numerous animals and plants. Old rivers are still clearly visible.
Prehistoric finds
During investigations in 1970–1972, archaeologists found flint stones from the Neolithic Age (approx. 5000–2000 BC) and Bronze Age ceramics (around 1000 BC ) on the Schaarenwiese . The finds suggest that the settlement was on a peninsula. The access to the east was protected by a wall.
Roman watchtower
In Roman times there was a watchtower on the Schaarenwiese directly on the Rhine. It belonged with eight other wards between Schaffhausen and Stein am Rhein to the Danube-Iller-Rhine Limes of the 4th century AD. The Limes, equipped with watchtowers and forts, served the Romans as a line of defense against the Alemannic incursions from the north. In 1914 the remains of the watchtower were explored. Only small remains of walls and ditches were found. Today nothing can be seen of the former Roman watchtower.
Second coalition war
On April 12, 1798, the Helvetic Republic was established as a daughter republic of France on the soil of the Old Confederation through French revolutionary exports . The 2nd coalition, under Austrian leadership, planned in the war year 1799 to expel the French army from what is now Switzerland with a pincer attack. To this end, Russian troops should advance over the Alpine passes from the south, and Austrian troops from Vorarlberg and southern Germany. On April 13, 1799, French troops, who fled from the approaching Austrian troops, burned down the beautiful wooden Grubenmann-Rheinbrücke near Schaffhausen. In order to be able to cross the Rhine, the Austrians had to build a makeshift bridge. Since the Rhine at Schaaren is wide and shallow, the Austrian Archduke Karl chose the site for the construction of two temporary bridges. On May 22nd and 23rd, 1799 approx. 25,000 men coming from southern Germany crossed the Rhine to the south.
Over 1,200 residents of the region were forced to secure the bridgehead with ramparts, ditches, and entrenchments. The Rheinkastell was built as a so-called crown factory and offered space for 16 cannons and 1,500 men. The structure was open to the river. The two fronts to the south and east were provided with projecting bastions . These could give each other fire protection. Further guns were positioned in Büsingen, which could make ideal use of the bend in the Rhine. Archduke Karl set up his headquarters in the nearby Paradies monastery . The coalition troops initially had success in the battle near Frauenfeld and the first battle near Zurich . Then the fortunes of war turned. At the end of September 1799, after losing the second battle near Zurich , the coalition troops withdrew across the bridges in the Schaaren. After their victory, the French had the defense system razed again by the same workers that they had to build. The large work assignments and the armies passing through led to hunger, hardship and misery among the population.
Second World War
In the period between 1938 and 1940, the Swiss Army built a dense chain of defenses and shelters along the Rhine . The structures of the Schaffhausen-Rhein blocking points (blocking point Schaarenwald No. 634) served as a defense against Nazi Germany during World War II . The bunkers, made of reinforced concrete and steel armor, could withstand artillery shells with a caliber of 30 cm. In order to be able to give each other fire protection, the defenses were created in pairs, as well as in groups. The bunkers were with machine guns and pivot or saddle gun carriages equipped. The crew in the mostly two-story structures was 13 men. The two bunkers Schaarenwiese A 5489 and Brückenkopf A 5490 belonged to Works Company 41 of Border Brigade 6 . At the end of 1994 the Wk Kp 41 was dissolved. Today the infantry bunkers in Schaarenwiese and Brückenkopf belong to the Rheinkastell association.
Threat from Schaaren Autobahn
In the early 1970s there were plans to run the future E41 motorway ( Dortmund - Altdorf ) near Büsingen over the Rhine and through the Schaarenwald. After tunneling under the Cholfirst , the road would have been linked at the planned Benken motorway junction with the Swiss national road A4 and the planned German federal motorway A98 (Hochrheinautobahn). Strong public protests in Switzerland against the destruction of the pristine Rhine landscape as well as a negative vote in the canton of Schaffhausen (September 5, 1982 with 58% no votes) prevented the construction. In place of the Schaarenautobahn the A4 Schaffhausen city bypass was opened in 1996 .
Rheinkastell Association
The Rheinkastell association, founded in 1994, has set itself the goal of preserving the military-historical important sites in the Schaaren for posterity and making them accessible to a wider public. Under his initiative, the former south bastion of the Rheinkastell was partially reconstructed, with the active support of Genius Department 46 of the Swiss Army.
Historical educational trail
In order to make the trenches and ramparts from 1799 accessible to a wider public, the association set up a 1200 m long educational trail with information boards through the Schaarenwald. Hiking path no. 60 ViaRhenana (Kreuzlingen-Basel) from Wanderland Schweiz and Seerücken-Route no. 82 (Schaffhausen-Arbon) from Veloland Schweiz lead through the Schaaren. The way to the nature trail is signposted.
