Lock point Gänsbrunnen
Map with all coordinates: 
The Gänsbrunnen blocking point (army designation “Gänsbrunnnen Bahnhof” No. 326) was a defensive position for the Swiss Army . It is located in the municipality of Gänsbrunnen in the Solothurn Jura at around 730 m . It was built during World War II and released from army secrecy in 1995. The lock point is considered a military monument of national importance.
history
During the Solothurn occupation of the border from 1789–1798 there was an occupation on the Tscharandiberg (Binzberg), which was on the border with the Principality of Basel and from 1797 on the border with France . On February 28, 1798, French troops advanced from Court through the Chaluet valley to the Tscharandiberg and captured the Solothurn post. The next day the general French attack on the Solothurn and Bern positions took place from this point of departure .
The blocking point is in the Gänsbrunnen gorge , the shortest connection from the Swiss plateau ( Solothurn ) to the Delsberg basin near the border . The Jura range is determined by the at Gänsbrunnen Weissenstein tunnel of railway Solothurn-Moutier crosses under. The blocking point had to secure and block the road and the railway tunnel with several infantry bunkers and a bypass towards Binzberg (transition to Court). The road and rail barricade (T 0877) in the narrow area of the Klus was built in 1937 on the Solothurn-Bern canton border next to the Weissenstein railway tunnel entrance. The associated bunkers were built in 1941/42 by a civil construction company.
The blocking points Gänsbrunnen and Binzberg belonged to the area of operation of the Border Brigade 3 (Brigade frontière 3) of the 1st Army Corps (1st Corps d'armée). Border Brigade 3 received the Hölstein Territorial Regiment (Ter Bat 168, 172) for the rear zone from August 1940 , which had previously closed the gorges of Court and Moutier . The Ter Regiment Hölstein occupied as of April 1941, the southern canyon inputs and the lock of Gänsbrunnen with the front border Malsenberg- Graitery - Moron and the heights of Weissenstein - Montoz and lock the gateways to the Central Plateau. In May 1941 it was renamed the Territorial Regiment Jura (Ter Rgt Jura) (Ter Bat 168, 178) and reinforced in 1942 by the HD Bewachungskompanie 4 (BE) and HD Bewachungskompanie 3 (SO) and the local local guard.
From 1945 to 1995, Regiment 90 (Bat 168 BE and Bat 178 SO, from 1962 Bat 168 and 169 BE) was responsible for the area. During Army 61 numerous nuclear-safe shelters ( ASU , KP and spherical bunkers) were built and the barriers and connections renewed. Border Brigade 3 received a network of 12 cm twin fortress mine launchers. The border brigades were disbanded with Army 95 .
Lock point Gänsbrunnen
The blocking point consists of three infantry bunkers (two were originally armed with 8.4 cm cannons), two rock caverns as shelters, a street barricade and seven modern shelters. The infantry work on the eastern flank (A 1485) had to protect the western infrastructure and was only accessible via a ladder. The anti-tank plant A 1487 acted on the street and frontally on the barricades. The infantry work A 1486 flanked the road and rail line as well as the counter-work A 1485.
The bunkered 8.4 cm field guns (A 1488) were used as ammunition per tube 300 shrapnel - grenades and 50 grapeshot allocated. For the short shooting distances in the narrow gorges, 24 mm tank rifles (A 1486, 1487) were initially used, as the Swiss Army only had a few 4.7 cm infantry cannons at that time.
- Road and rail obstacles (fuel barricade) T 0877 (canton border BE-SO, dismantled) ⊙
- Infantry bunker Bahnhof Ost A 1485: 1 machine gun (Mg), 1 light machine gun (Lmg) ⊙
- Infantry bunker Bahnhof West A 1486: first armament 24 mm tank bunker cannon (Pz Bk Kan) 38, Mg 11 and Lmg, converted to two Mg 51 ⊙ in the mid-1960s
- Infantry bunker Gänsbrunnen Tunnel A 1487: 8.4 cm field cannon, converted to a 9 cm anti-tank cannon Pak 50/57 with stand / pivot mount ⊙ in the mid-1960s
- Artillery bunker A 1488: an 8.4 cm field cannon ⊙
- Shelter cavern A 1489, built by internees in 1944 ⊙
- Shelter cavern A 1490, built by internees in 1944 ⊙
Infantry bunker Bahnhof Ost A 1485
Infantry bunker Bahnhof West A 1486
Infantry bunker Gänsbrunnen Tunnel A 1487
Artillery bunker A 1488
Shelter cavern A 1490
Lock point Binzberg
In order to prevent the Gänsbrunnen barrier from being circumvented from the rear, the connection between Court- Binzberg -änsbrunnen had to be defended. The road running in the valley floor was not continuous and only one road led over the Binzberg. The guns covering the Chaluet Court area were ready to fire in 1943:
- Artillery bunker Binzberg Süd A 1491: an 8.4 cm field cannon ⊙
- Artillery bunker Binzberg Nord A 1492: an 8.4 cm field cannon ⊙
Solothurn Jura Fortifications Association
In 2004, the canton of Solothurn was able to buy almost all objects in canton territory from the Swiss Army, which have been looked after by the Solothurn Jura Fortress Association (VFSJ) since then . In Gänsbrunnen these are plants A 1486 and A 1487. The VFSJ maintains fortifications from the First and Second World Wars and organizes the visiting days “open bunker doors”. He is committed to maintaining the Weissenstein tunnel, which was covered by several bunkers in the Gänsbrunnen area.
literature
- Paul Borrer: General Altermatt and the Solothurn occupation of the border from 1789-1798. Separate print St-Ursen-Glocken, Solothurn 1937
- Louis Burgener: Le service actif de la br fr 3 1939-45. Active service of the Gz Br 3. Démocrate, Delémont 1964
- Urban Fink, Fritz Wermelinger et al .: Solothurn Artillery. Habegger-Verlag, Derendingen 1997
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the cantons of SO, BS, BL . VBS General Staff, Bern, 2001
Web links
- Official homepage of the Solothurn Jura Fortifications Association
- Bunker friends: Gänsbrunnen and Binzberg barriers
- Swiss fortresses: Gänsbrunnen
- Weissenstein Tunnel Committee received
Individual evidence
- ^ Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the cantons SO, BS, BL . VBS General Staff, Bern, 2001
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Gänsbrunnen barrier
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Gaining interest in Hauenstein and Weissenstein ( Memento from July 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Solothurnerzeitung from September 5, 2016: Peaceful manifestation with anti-tank cannon - two firecrackers for maintaining the tunnel
Coordinates: 47 ° 15 '52.4 " N , 7 ° 27' 56.6" E ; CH1903: 602051 / 234850