Blocking point Wollishofen-Sihltal

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Entlisberg bunker Sihlbogen A 4808

The Wollishofen-Sihltal barrier was a barrier built by the Swiss Army between 1939 and 1940 in the Second World War to prevent enemy advances through the Sihltal towards central Switzerland . The facilities were declassified in 1986 and 1994 , have largely been preserved and are historically worthy of protection.

history

Wehrmacht 1940: city plans for Switzerland

The general mobilization for war on September 2, 1939 could take place quickly and smoothly due to the pre-organized detailed plans. The army deployment took place in a standby position and from there into the Limmat position . With the “Operation Order No. 2” on October 4, 1939 , General Guisan determined the connection Sargans - Walensee - Lake Zurich - Limmat - Bözberg - Hauenstein to be the most important line of defense of the Swiss Army in an attack from the north. This was attached from September 27, 1939 including the city of Zurich.

For General Guisan, Zurich, with its strategically important Limmat bridges, was an important bulwark ("Obstacle absolu") that had to be held. To implement this plan, the Zurich City Command was created as a separate army unit under the direction of Colonel Hans von Schulthess (1885–1951). The Zurich Squad Command had to hold the left bank of the Limmat and develop corresponding positions with the help of several territorial battalions. By the end of June 1940, 95 fighting stalls and numerous wire obstacles had been set up and over 3,000 Spanish riders were placed in depots. Explosive charges and barriers were installed at the bridgeheads on the left bank.

Any evacuation of 170,000 civilians in the city of Zurich was prepared in detail by Territorial Command 6, including the prevention of looting of the abandoned city, and the population was continuously informed about the status of the evacuation preparations. For reasons of neutrality policy, an evacuation could only have been triggered after an attack on Switzerland. On Lake Zurich, the population on the right bank would have been evacuated via Meilen (ferries and ships) to Horgen and those on the left bank would have been evacuated to Horgen with vehicles on planned routes into central Switzerland.

After the fall of France at the end of June 1940, the army command ordered that the fortification work be suspended, as the Limmat position had lost its importance and the general had decided to withdraw the bulk of the army to the Reduit . The fortified Limmat position with its 360,000-strong combat troops may have played a role in the decision of the German Wehrmacht to attack France via Belgium and Holland with their weak armies and without defensive positions.

During the Cold War , the locking point was part of the operational area of Field Division 5 .

Terrain tank obstacle Leimbach-Wollishofen

The Wollishofen - Sihltal blocking point was the first fortification object started by the Zurich city command as part of the Limmat position. With it, the important connection axis between the city of Zurich (Brunau area) in the direction of Leimbach and on to Zug and Lucerne could be blocked.

The approximately two-kilometer long anti- tank obstacle (GPH T 2505) extended from the foot of the Albis chain near Manegg (armored barricade magazine, Frymannstrasse 110, Zurich-Leimbach) ⊙ to Lake Zurich (Seestrasse 497, Zurich-Wollishofen) ⊙ . In addition to plug-in rails , concrete bumps and concrete piles, rope barriers, tank walls and tank ditches were built. There were the five tank barricades Frymannstrasse Nord (T 2505.01) and Süd (T 2505.02) as well as Zwirner- (T 2505.03), Leimbach- (T 2505.04) and Bruchstrasse (T 2505.5) ⊙ as well as the rope barrier through the Sihl (Z 136). The tank ditch from Frymannstrasse 110 to Zwirnerstrasse 300 was up to 3.5 meters deep and had concrete walls 1.2 meters thick on both sides. The road bridge over the Sihl in Leimbach (M 2292) and the railway bridge over the Sihl near Leimbach (M 2293) were explosive objects.

The obstacle was created in 1939 and 1940 by Motor Sappers Company III / 24, Fusilier Battalions 62, 63, 68, 71, Territorial Battalions 156 and 157 of Territorial Regiment 83, auxiliary building detachments 19, 20, 305, 306 and with the addition of private construction companies such as Walo Bertschinger and JJ Weilenmann created.

  • Armored barricade magazine Frymannstrasse

  • Tank wall Kilchbergstrasse

  • Tank wall on Seestrasse

  • Tank wall Lake Zurich

Permanent weapon positions Entlisberg and Manegg

In order to keep infantry attacks and advancing demolition squads off, the terrain armor obstacles were flanked by bunkers and additionally surrounded with wire entanglements. At the same time, the obstacles made tank attacks on the bunker positions more difficult. The bunkers were built on both sides of the entrance to the Sihltal on the Entlisberg (Wollishofen) and on the Albishang (Manegg, Leimbach) in order to be able to give each other fire protection.

At Manegg there are two permanent weapon positions (A 4805 ⊙ and A 4806 with semi-detachment shelter ⊙ ) and on the Entlisberg there are six permanent weapon positions (A 4807 ⊙ , A 4808 ⊙ , A 4809 ⊙ , A 4810 ⊙ , A 4811 ⊙ , A 4812 ⊙ ) and the command post (A 4813) Entlisbergwald-Lochen ⊙ . Three more bunkers were distributed along the tank wall in the direction of the lake on Rolliweg (A 4814) ⊙ , Auf der Egg (A 4815) and on Seeblickstrasse (A 4816).

The armament of the bunkers originally consisted of a light machine gun or a machine gun. In 1943 cooling devices were installed in order to be able to replace the light machine gun with a machine gun. The two-story infantry bunker A 4806 (Frymannstrasse, edge of the forest), built according to the standards of the Swiss Federal Office for Fortifications (BBB), had a tank rifle stand next to the machine gun .

  • Bunker Manegg Süd A 4806

  • Entlisberg North A 4807

  • Entlisberg Paradis A 4809

  • Entlisberg Gstalder A 4812

Permanent weapon positions in Adliswil and Kilchberg

  • Bunker for 8.4 cm cannon Löchli A 4800 Adliswil ⊙
  • Bunker for 8.4 cm cannon Löchli A 4801 Adliswil ⊙
  • Shelter 3 A 4802 Adliswil ⊙
  • Bunker for 4.7 cm infantry cannon A 4803 Adliswil ⊙
  • Shelter 2 Chopfholz A 4804 Adliswil ⊙
  • Mg bunker A 4823 Morfanlage, Kilchberg ⊙
  • Mg bunker A 4825 Schilfmatt, Kilchberg ⊙
  • Mg bunker A 4826 Widmer-Land, Kilchberg ⊙

literature

Web links

Commons : Sperrstelle Wollishofen-Sihltal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Plug-in rails are pieces of railroad tracks that have been inserted into prepared, concreted ground holes on a section of road in order to be able to quickly block the passage. When not in use, the square bottom holes are covered with cast iron lids

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Assessment by the cantonal monument preservation, In: Matthias Dürst, Felix Köfer: The defense works of the city of Zurich. The Zurich bunker guide .
  2. ↑ Military monuments in the canton of Zurich, inventory of combat and command structures, Bern 2004 (PDF; 2.9 MB)
  3. ^ Limmatstellung: The defense works of the city of Zurich
  4. ^ Limmat position: Leimbach-Wollishofen

Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '13.7 "  N , 8 ° 30' 45.2"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred eighty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four  /  243476