Lock point Sufers
Map with all coordinates: 
The Sufers / Crestawald blocking point (Army designation No. 1211/1201) was a defensive position for the Swiss Army . It is located north and east of Sufers on the road from Thusis over the Splügen Pass to Italy and the San Bernardino Pass into Ticino .
The lock was built by civil companies from 1936 to 1941 and is considered a military historical monument of national importance. She belonged to the mountain division 12 (Geb Div 12).
Lock point Sufers
During the First World War , bases were built on the Geissücken near Sufers. From 1936/37 tank barricades and infantry bunkers and in July 1939 the Crestawald artillery plant were built. The blocking point was outside the Réduit .
The Sufers blocking point consisted of the advanced blocking line at Sufers and the main barrier in the Crestawald basin with an infantry bunker on the Geissücken and around the Schwarzwaldkopf east of the Sufnersee dam built in 1962 . The latter served the close defense of the Crestawald artillery plant, while the entire barrier had to prevent or delay an attack from the south over the Splügen Pass.
Disguised as stable barns, there is an infantry bunker (A 7838) with a separate observation bunker above the village of Sufers. The direction of fire was directed against the counterwork Geissücken West (A 7836).
The machine gun (Mg) integrated in the artillery plant was effective against the Geissücken Ost plant (A 7835). The three MG in the Black Forest cavern (A 7834) were able to set fire to the entire basin, after the end of the war it was countered by a second MG in the artillery plant.
The seven Mg together with extensive barbed wire obstacles and an anti-tank barrier formed a concentrated infantry defense force in the Crestawald basin (700 m diameter).
- Artillery Works Crestawald A 7833 ⊙
- Rock Schwarzwald A 7834: built in 1940, 3 mg 51 , 15 men ⊙
- Rock factory Geiss back-Ost A 7835: built in 1940, 2 mg 51, 12 men ⊙
- Rock factory Geiss back West A 7836: Year in 1938, 9-cm-Pak , 2 mg 51, 15 men ⊙
- Shed Geissücken Ost A 7837: built in 1940 ⊙
- Infantry bunker Sufers A 7838: built in 1940, 9-cm-Pak, 2 mg 51, 2 Lmg, 16 man ⊙
- Observation station Sufers A 7838: Lmg ⊙
- GPH Crestawald-Römerstrasse ⊙
Via Mala blocking point
The blocking point Via Mala / Reischen (Army designation no. 1209, Geb Div 12) in the Viamala Gorge was an extremely narrow passage during the Second World War ("passage obligé"), which larger units could not circumvent. The detonation of the explosive objects would have made the gorge impassable for vehicles for several months.
The Zillis-Reischen facilities had the task of blocking access to the Viamala gorge. The barrier was weakly armed with two Mgs and one Lmg.
- Infantry factory Viamala right A 7810: Lmg ⊙
- Infantry plant Viamala left A 7811: Mg ⊙
- Infantry plant Viamala top left A 7812: Panzer bunker cannon (Pz BK), Lmg ⊙
- Reischen infantry plant left A 7813: Mg ⊙
- Reischen infantry plant on the right A 7814: 2 Mg ⊙
- Magazine stud ⊙
Lock point Rofla
The Splügen / San Bernardino axis ( Rheinwald ) and the side valley of the Avers meet in front of the Rofla barrier (also Roffla, army designation No. 1210, Grenzbrigade 12 Gz Br 12) in the Rofflaschlucht gorge . An attacker who had breached the Maloja / Julier or Septimer barriers could possibly have avoided the difficult-to-break barrier in the narrow area of Mulegns / Mühlen near Bivio ( Julierpassstrasse ) via the Stallerberg into Averstal. The Roffla barrier had to be able to block the main axis from the Rheinwald and the side axis from the Avers.
From the main Rofla plant on the right (A 7824), one Mg worked towards the Splügen axis and towards Ferreratal / Avers. One of the machine guns could have been replaced at short notice by a tank rifle (tank bunker cannon, 2.4 cm caliber). The counterwork was Rofla left (A 7823).
Partial lock Cresta
The Cresta partial barrier in the narrow area north of Aussferrera had the task of delaying an advance towards the main barrier in the Roffla. From the First World War there are trenches in the area of Cresta, a concrete position and building floor plans of wooden shelters as well as a position on the left side of the valley above the Bärenburg reservoir.
The main work Cresta right (A 7829) was armed with an Mg, the counterwork Cresta left (A 7828) with an Lmg. The Cresta position on the left was built in the 19th century into an old tunnel system from mining activities (extraction of aggregates for the nearby smelting plant) in the Middle Ages. From a high altitude shelter in the Cresta area, mobile infantry (mobile mine throwers) had to prevent bypassing over the eastern flank of the valley. The Cresta barrier could be bypassed on the right side of the valley via Ferrera-Cresta.
Partial closure Albin
The Abin partial barrier in the Alp Albin area had to block the bypassing of the Cresta and Rofla barriers and had to prevent attackers from settling on the ridge from Salegn via Andeer and from there using medium-weight weapons to work into Schams and the Roflaschlucht gorge.
The barrier consisted of three rock caverns: the main works Bagnusch (A 7820) and the counterworks Alp Albin-Stafel (A7821) and Albin above (A 7822). The bypassing of the main works was prevented by mobile infantry (high altitude accommodation near Tarvantastg).
Extensive trench systems and cannon positions from the First World War have been preserved on the ridge of Salegn.
- Infantry plant Bagnusch A 7820: Mg ⊙
- Infantry plant Albin-Stafel A 7821: Mg ⊙
- Albin infantry plant above A 7822: Mg ⊙
Lock point Splügen
The Splügen Dorf blocking point (Army designation No. 1212, Gz Br 12) was the foremost solid line of defense against an advance across the Splügen Pass. They had to delay the advance towards Sufers / Crestawald and prevent the opponent from evading towards Safierberg.
The main plant (A 7848) is located in the rock head under Splügen Castle . The counter-work was an Lmg position (A 7853) in the basement of an existing economy building on the eastern edge of the village of Splügen. A Mg position (A 7849) was in the Pratigiana stable on the other side of the street. It worked against the Rhine bridge on the Splügenpass road.
Lmg positions that had already been liquidated were located in the upper part of the village in the area of the Stutzbach and blocked access to the Safierberg.
- Felsenwerk Burg A 7848: 2 mg, 8 men ⊙
- Lmg stand Pratigianastall Ost A 7849: Lmg, integrated in the house ⊙
- Lmg stand Bodenhausstall West A 7850: Lmg, integrated in the house ⊙
- Lmg stand house speaker east A 7853: Lmg, integrated in house ⊙
Lock point Safierberg
The Safierberg barrier (Army designation no. 1282) had to prevent an advance towards Safiental by an enemy who had broken through at the Splügen barrier .
- Felswerk Safierberg A 7855: Lmg ⊙
- Infantry bunker Safierberg West A 7856: Mg ⊙
- The 1.4 kilometer long MSB103 military cable car was built to transport material from the valley floor to Safierberg .
Crestawald Fortress Museum
The artillery fortress Crestawald near Sufers is now a military history museum . The original bunkers and artillery pieces from the time of the Second World War as well as special exhibitions on military-historical topics are shown.
literature
- Peter Baumgartner , Hans Stäbler: Fortified Graubünden. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Military History Foundation Graubünden, Chur 2006. New edition Verlag Desertina, Chur 2016, ISBN 978-3-85637-485-3 .
- Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the canton of Graubünden. Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (Ed.), Bern 2003.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa, Thomas Bitterli: Military monuments in the canton of Graubünden. Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (Ed.), Bern 2003
- ↑ Crestawald Fortress Museum: Crestawald / Sufers barrier 1201/1211
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Lock point 1211 Sufers GR
- ↑ bunker friends: Equipment Sufers
- ↑ Fortress Museum Lock Trin: Lock Viamala
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Sperrstelle 1209 Via Mala GR
- ↑ Fortress Museum Lock Trin: Lock Rofla
- ↑ Crestawald Fortress Museum: Rofla barrier
- ↑ Cresta Forest Fortress Museum: Partial barrier Cresta 1210
- ↑ Crestawald Fortress Museum: Partial barrier Albin 1210
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: Sperrstelle 1210 Rofla GR
- ↑ Oberland Fortress: Sperrstelle 1212 Splügen GR
- ↑ Crestawald Fortress Museum: Safierberg lock-off point
- ↑ Official website of the Crestawald Fortress Museum
- ↑ Fortified Graubünden 1941
Coordinates: 46 ° 34 '10.2 " N , 9 ° 23' 20.5" E ; CH1903: seven hundred forty-nine thousand five hundred and sixteen / 159438