Blocking point Etzel
Map with all coordinates: 
The Etzel locking point (Army designation no. 2405) was a border fortification of the Swiss Army . It is located at the Reduite entrance in the Etzel area in the canton of Schwyz . The Reduit Line was built from 1941, belonged to the operations area of the 7th Division and from 1947 to the Reduit Brigade 24 .
As one of the main bases of the northern border of the Redoubt, the lock is a military-historical monument of national importance.
history
The 600 or so combat structures that were built in the canton of Schwyz from 1939 to 1945 were integrated into barriers and bases and equipped with different types of weapons depending on the order. The 6th and 7th divisions planned different types of bunkers with the same function, which were mostly built by master builders from the area.
As part of the Réduit national, these systems were intended to prevent a thrust through the pre-Alpine part of the canton of Schwyz into the Schwyz basin and from there on towards the Gotthard .
In January 1941 the 7th Division of the 4th Army Corps received the following order: Block the access to the Wäggithal and cover the upper Sihl valley and the Einsiedeln area with a heavyweight at the Etzel base. Lock line on the Linth Canal and security on the upper Lake Zurich. The existing bases are to be used. Further bases are to be set up as support for the mobile defense at the heights between the upper Lake Zurich and the upper Sihl valley.
The "Kampfgruppe Etzel" (33rd Infantry Regiment) received the following order from division commander Hans Frick : Deny the enemy access to the Sihlsee area in the Etzel-Bühl section; holds for this purpose the line north fall of the Etzelüberganges and the Hohen Etzel-Bacheinschnitt von Bühl by a closed and deeply structured defensive front. The Etzel crossing itself and the summit of the Hohe Etzel are to be kept as closed bases through reserves. The Feuerschwand and Raten barriers formed the section of the reduit border between the Unterägeri barrier and the Schindellegi barrier. The Etzel blocking point formed the section of the reduit border between the Schindellegi blocking point and the “Kampfgruppe Oberegg” as well as the Wägital blocking point (“Kampfgruppe Pfiffegg”).
The fortifications consist of street barricades , terrain armor obstacles in the form of tank ditches and tank walls, anti-tank bunkers, machine gun bunkers, shelters, artillery command post caverns, artillery bunkers and permanent artillery beds for the accommodation of field guns of 7.5 cm and 15 cm caliber. They continued to operate in the post-war years and were equipped with newer types of weapons.
Blocking point Etzel
With the operation order No. 12 of July 17, 1940, the army command withdrew a large part of the troops from the area in front of the area and deployed them in the difficult-to-access Alpine region (Reduit), where the German air and tank units could hardly have shown their superiority. The northern border of the Reduit stretched along the border of the canton of Schwyz, formed part of the northern front of this central position and covered one of the possible axes of attack ( Sihl - Schwyz - Gotthard ).
Since the German plans of attack provided for the rapid occupation of the Reduite entrances by airborne troops, the general had these permanently secured by strong units, which were called up by means of "silent" mobilization with the aid of marching order cards. A multi-part observation system was built into the summit of the Etzel ( 1096 m above sea level ) with which the artillery fire could be directed in the Lin plain. In addition, the flooding of the Linth plain was prepared.
- Etzel-Ost 1 A 7100 shelter: 16 men ⊙
- Etzel-Ost 2 A 7101 shelter: 16 men ⊙
- Etzel-Ost 3 A 7102 shelter: 16 men ⊙
- Etzel-Ost 4 A 7103 shelter: 16 men ⊙
- Infantry bunker Etzelpass Ost A 7104 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Etzelpass West A 7105 ⊙
- Infantry plant / regimental command post KP Etzel-Ost A 7106: 4 Mg casemates ⊙
- Artillery observation station Etzel Kulm A 7107: bunker, 2 caverns ⊙ ⊙
Infantry bunker Etzelpass West A 7105
Infantry bunker Etzelpass Ost A 7104 and GPH 3605
Artillery observation station and fire control station Etzel Kulm A 7107: 3 observers
Etzel Kulm cavern A 7107
- Shelter / switchboard Etzel-Rindermatten A 7108 ⊙
- Shelter Vobag 22 Tüfelsbrugg-Etzel F 14200
- Shelter Vobag 22 Tüfelsbrugg F 14201
- Shelter Vobag 22 Sihlern F 14202
- Shelter Vobag 22 Sihlern F 14203
- U4 spherical bunker Tüfelsbrugg F 14204
- ASU 6S Etzelpass West (company KP) F 14210
- ASU 6S Etzelpass Ost F 14211 ⊙
- ASU 6S Tüfelsbrugg F 14212
- U4 spherical bunker Tüfelsbrugg F 14213
- Explosive object Sihlbrücke Tüfelsbrugg M 2875
- GPH Etzelpass above T 3605 ⊙
- Barricade Waldweg-West T 3605.01
- Barricade Etzelpass T 3605.02
- GPH Etzelpass below T 3607 ⊙
- Barricade Waldweg-West T 3607.01
- Barricade Etzelstrasse below T 3607.02
- Barricade Feldweg-Ost T 3607.03
- GPH Meinradsbrunnen T 3607 ⊙
- Barricade Meinradsbrunnen Strasse T 3607
- Barricade Etzelstrasse Meinradsbrunnen T 3608
- Barricade at Strickliwald Strasse T 3609
- Barricade Schneckenburg T 3710
- Barricade Schönboden-Klos Strasse T 3711
Partial closure of Bühl-Etzel West
The Bühl-Etzel West partial barrier (Army designation no. 2404) had to prevent an enemy advance from the Lake Zurich area via the Etzel into the Sihlsee area and central Switzerland. It was built in 1942.
- Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7109 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7110 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Enzenau A 7111 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Bühl A 7112 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Enzenau A 7113 ⊙
- Observer stand Bühl A 7114 ⊙
- Büel I infantry bunker (dismantled) A 7115 ⊙
- Büel II infantry bunker (dismantled) A 7116 ⊙
- Büel III infantry bunker (dismantled) A 7117 ⊙
- Büel IV infantry bunker (dismantled) A 7118 ⊙
Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7109
Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7110
Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7113
Infantry bunker Ragenau A 7114
- Terrain tank obstacle GPH Etzel West-Bühl-Ragenau T 3615: cusp line and tank ditch Enzenau ⊙
- Barricade Bühl Bridge T 3515.01
- Barricade Bühl-Strasse T 3515.02
- Barricade Bühl-Strasse T 3515.03
- Barricade Büel-Nord T 3515.04
- Barricade Enzenau in the forest T 3515.05
- Barricade Enzenau-Waldrand T 3515.06
- Barricade Ragenau T 3515.07
- Barricade North T 3515.08
- Barricade south T 3515.09
Tank trench Enzenau T 3615
Cusp line T 3615
Cusp line T 3615
Tank lock in the forest
Partial closure Schlagberg (Schlapprig)
The Schlagberg barrier had the task of preventing an advance towards Sihlsee-Ibergeregg and Rothenthurm after the Etzel barrier had breached. The two bunkers built in 1941 were originally equipped with a 24 mm anti-tank attachment cannon (later Mg) and an ob / lmg each. They were two-story, with the fighting room at the top and the accommodation below. The Schlagberg barrier included two infantry bunkers and three shelters:
- Infantry bunker Schlagberg West A 7080 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Schlagberg Ost A 7081 ⊙
- Shelter (switchboard Kniewegbach) A 7082
- Shelter (telephone switchboard Brandegg) A 7083
- Shelter (Halti switchboard) A 7084
- Two-row tank barrier GPH Schlagberg T 3616 (dismantled)
- Barricade Schlagberg T 3616.01
- Schlagberg-Langrüti 1 A 7076 shelter
- Schlagberg-Langrüti 2 A 7077 shelter
Partial closure of the dam and Sulzthal
- Infantry bunker Dam keeper's house A 7078 ⊙
- Infantry bunker at Dam Lake A 7079 ⊙
- GPH Dam-Sihlsee T 3617
- Barricade dam T 3617.01
- Shelter Sulzthal-Süd A 7064 ⊙
- Shelter Sulzthal-Süd A 7065 ⊙
- Shelter Sulzthal-Nord A 7070 ⊙
- Shelter Sulzthal-Nord A 7071 ⊙
Infantry bunker Dam keeper's house A 7078
Infantry bunker Dam-See A 7079
Fortress artillery saddle
The battle of the infantry was supported with the fire of the artillery from the area Sihlsee (7th division) and the area Rothenthurm - Sattel - Arth (6th division) like the fortress artillery Sattel . The field artillery department 19 had its position room in Sulzthal, the field artillery department 21 in Willerzell-Rickenthal and the heavy motor cannon department 7 in Gross-Obergross, from where they could work in the Oberegg-Bühl area.
Schwyz Fortress Foundation and bunker educational trail
The Schwyzer Festungswerke Foundation is a foundation with the purpose of safeguarding and maintaining the military-historical legacy of the Swiss Confederation in the Canton of Schwyz .
The Etzel Bunker History Trail starts at the Büel restaurant above Schindellegi and, marked as a hiking trail, leads over two kilometers past six posts over the Etzel Kulm to the Etzel Pass .
literature
- Valentin Kessler: The fortifications in the canton of Schwyz . Reprint from the communications of the Historical Association of the Canton of Schwyz, Issue 95, 2003.
Web links
- Official website of the Schwyzer Festungswerke Foundation
- Little porcupine: locks in the Schindellegi, Biberbrugg, Etzel and Einsiedeln SZ area
Individual evidence
- ^ Etzel blocking point . In: Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (ed.): Military monuments in the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Zug. Inventory of the combat and command structures. Pp. 20-21
- ^ Gotthard Frick: Hitler's War and the Self-Assertion of Switzerland 1933–1945. Self-published, Bottmingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-033-02948-4 .
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Lock point St. Meinrad-Etzel ( Memento from March 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Locking point Bühl-Etzel West ( Memento from August 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 47 ° 10 '26.9 " N , 8 ° 46' 44.8" E ; CH1903: 701,616 / 225665