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FORTRESS STUDY GROUP
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Casemate 76 |
In the eighteenth century Austria was already a significant European power. In the feudal context the fact that Austria's imperial dynasty ruled over many different nationalities hardly seemed to matter, but the Reformation (even if suppressed by force in Habsburg's hereditary lands) and the development of the first industries, accompanied by the rise of a middle class, introduced nationalities as a significant political factor that was to play a decisive role in future development, becoming especially evident during and after the Napoleonic wars.
While the Austrian land army was strong, the empire had no navy to speak of, except for the fleet on the River Danube for fighting off Ottoman advances. The situation changed after Napoleon's defeat; as one of the main winning parties Austria inherited all French vessels situated in the Adriatic Sea at the time, as well as the Venetian shipyards, the home of the once mighty Venetian fleet. Venice was made the main imperial war port, and since most of naval officers and sailors were either Croatians from Dalmatia or ex-Italian navy, the official language of command remained Italian.
In 1848, the year of national revolutions, this almost proved fatal for the young Austrian navy; 113 out of 162 vessels switched sides and joined the Italian revolutionaries. Venice port was taken and its commander, a Croatian, murdered. The remaining loyal ships managed to block the port until the revolution was quenched by the land army. As a result of this crisis German was immediately introduced as the navy's official language of command, and Danish vice admiral Hans Birch Dahlerup was invited to chair the commission looking for another, safer port. In 1850 Dahlerup chose Pula (also known as Pola or Pulj).
The location of Pula in the Northern Adriatic, showing current borders. (AJP 2005) |
Located at the tip of the Istrian peninsula, Pula has an important strategic position, but malaria-infested marshes on the mainland and the nearby Brioni islands prohibited any permanent human settlement until the Romans solved the problem by constructing an extensive drainage system. As a result an important regional centre developed on the small rise at the bottom of Pula bay. Just north of the old city, visitors can still admire the well preserved Roman coliseum, a massive reminder of the Roman era.
During the middle ages the drainage system fell into disrepair, leading to the re-appearance of swamps and malaria, and prompting the Venetians, who ruled the area until 1798, to move their local administrative centre to the nearby Vodnjan (Digniano). Their only contribution to the development of Pula was a little fort built in 1633 atop the rise on which the city was built, using the old Roman theatre as a quarry and destroying it completely in the process. But Dahlerup's decision gave Pula a new lease of life; the bay was big enough to house the entire Austrian fleet and is well protected by nearby promontories and the chain of the Brioni islands. It was also closer to Vienna and, equally importantly, the mix of Croatian, Slovenian and Italian population in the hinterland was considered much more loyal than the Italians in and around Venice. This indeed proved to be the case well into 1918.
Map of the Pula area, with positions of fortifications. The third defence line near Vodnjan and the Barbariga fortifications group guarding the entrance to the Fažana strait are not within the boundaries of the diagram. (AJP) |
The construction work reached its peak in 1854 when Emperor Franz Joseph appointed his brother Ferdinand Maximilian as the commander of the port. This was the initial period of fortifying the area; the arsenal and shipyard were built, as well as many military barracks and housing for officers and their families, but the port's heyday came in the 1860s under the command of commodore and later admiral Wilhelm Tegetthoff, the winner of the 1866 battle of Vis (Lissa). The port has since seen all the contemporary technical developments, including the first ironclad frigates Don Juan, Kaiser Max and Prinz Eugen, built in 1862 - only three years after the French Gloire, and in 1912 the world's first triple gun turret 'Dreadnought' class battleships Viribus Unitis, Tegetthoff and Prinz Eugen. In the 1880s the second ring of fortifications, fashioned after Brialmont's designs and armed with batteries in barbettes, was added to the original inner circle of the 1850s. The last important Austro-Hungarian forts were constructed in the period between 1900 and 1914.
The choice of Pula as the main navy port proved correct during both war with Italy in 1866 and in WWI. In November 1918, in a unique gesture of chivalry, the fledging empire handed over its fleet and her port to the newly established People's Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (also known as the 'Yugoslav Council') in Zagreb. Even though an armistice was already signed, two Italian divers entered Pula riding on a human torpedo and sunk the commanding ship Viribus Unitis, together with newly appointed chief of the 'Yugoslav' navy, Janko Vukovic and 350 celebrating sailors. This sabotage effectively decapitated the newly established Yugoslav (1) navy. Left without leadership and not recognised by the Allies, the local Croatian government could do little to prevent the Italians from entering the bay and taking over the port.
For the Italians Pula port was of little strategic value; they built a large seaplane base but all the other military installations were abandoned. With the exception of two outer coastal batteries, all the forts were disarmed and the guns sent to the smelters. For the port and the city this was a time of decline; subsequently, German occupation lasted from 1943 until 1945, when the Yugoslav army entered Pula. With Italy now again seen as the main potential enemy, the port regained its former strategic value, and was made the main training centre for navy recruits. Even though outdated in a military sense, its many fortifications were re-used as magazines and barracks, while at the same time some new coastal batteries were built; the old Austrian submarine base was also brought back into use. In the 60s the city became a strange mix of military base and tourist destination, where holiday resorts were separated by well guarded and closed-off areas - the legacy of the cold war.
This changed yet again after the 1991-1992 Croatian war of independence. The Croatian army took over all the military installations, but with the end of the cold war they became redundant, so the army has been gradually handing them over to civilian authorities. All the installations, but especially the grand Austro-Hungarian forts, undoubtedly represent a unique and mighty historical heritage, but observing their present state one sadly concludes that with few exceptions, the local population has yet to learn how to appreciate that heritage.
Fort Bourguignon.
To be used as a rubbish tip or a quarry, or in the best case to be overgrown by pines and fig trees, whose fruit may indeed be sweet but whose roots are slowly dislodging the stonemasonry, seems to be the fate of virtually all the forts in and around Pula. One of the few that has, at least for the time being avoided that fate is Fort Bourguignon. Cleared and brought back to life by a mix of youth groups in the late 80s and early 90s, it is now a youth culture centre, run as a private initiative by a great fortification enthusiast and a member of NUF (Croatian National Alliance for Fortifications) Zlatko Devedžic. He calls his enterprise 'Supercraft Fort Bourguignon'. "At first my group was just one of many working in the fort and helping to clean it. In those days we had one single casemate on our disposal and our goal was to build a hovercraft. We didn't make it, but instead the fort itself has become our craft, hence 'supercraft'", explains Zlatko. Besides Alvaro Manzin, he and his wife Nina and are the only remaining members of the original group. They are making their living and covering the fort's maintenance costs by organising sightseeing tours of Pula's fortifications and other former military installations, and by using Fort Bourguignon as a party venue.
Party time at the fort. (Z D) |
Fort Bourguignon was one of the last to be built as a part of the inner circle, whose forts form an arc with a 2.5km radius around the port. They followed the design developed in the 1820s by Archduke Maximilian Josef to protect the city of Linz, his design being in turn inspired by the famous Mortella tower. But unlike in Linz, the circular forts of Pula do not follow an identical pattern; the early ones built mostly between 1851 and 1855 are notably smaller and weaker than those completed a decade later, such as Fort Bourguignon. Originally named Fort Monsival, it was constructed between 1861-66 as a circular two-storey building with a small round courtyard in the centre.
A contemporary plan of Fort Bourguignon. (Z D) |
Facing the courtyard a vaulted corridor runs around the building in each storey, while 20 casemates line the outer circumference. They have three rifle embrasures on the lower and a single cannon embrasure on the upper floor. A ceiling made of massive oak beams once separated the two stories of the casemates but now only a few token beams are preserved. No doubt the roof originally also served as a platform for artillery pieces that could be moved around, providing 360° cover. All that now remains is a steel Skoda observation cupola manufactured and installed at the turn of the century.
Fort Bourguignon; entrance. (Z D) |
The entrance into the fort was protected by a drawbridge and two flanking caponiers, and the rest of the fort with a moat and counterscarp with gallery and rifle embrasures.
Plan of Fort Bourguignon, 1903. (Z D) |
No certain date is known for when the fort was decommissioned; while it was certainly in service during the Austro-Hungarian - Italian war of 1866, it is also clear that it became obsolete soon afterwards. But the Skoda observation cupola on the top platform confirms that during WWI it was still served as a military post. In the 1970s it was used as a boiler house for the nearby tourist resort of Zlatne stijene (Golden Cliffs), while its moat was already half filled with rubbish. A decade later it was taken over by the previously mentioned youth groups. Under Zlatko Devedžic's management it became one of the two best known venues for rave parties on the eastern Adriatic coast. Many opposed such a development, especially those who had different visions. Architect Branko Bratkovic, for example, has made a proposal to transform the entire inner ring of forts into a series of cultural venues, but post-war Croatia and its struggling economy have thus far showed little interest in such noble schemes. Some claim that Zlatko's group has forced everybody else out of the fort; Majo Sinožic, a painter and a head of the 'City Workshop' painting school, who perceived the fort as an artists' workshop, may well share that view but he also admits: "We others got tired of such an enthusiastic lifestyle, of working and sleeping in the fort day after day. We got married and turned our attention to our own homes while Zlatko and Nina persisted."
On the other hand Zlatko's efforts were recognised during the Experts Conference held in Pula on 16, 17 September 2004. Participants from Croatia, Montenegro, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovenia, some of them heads of their national heritage protection institutions, visited Fort Bourguignon and agreed that Zlatko has managed to keep the building alive by introducing new functions, without jeopardising in any way the basic structure, and therefore also the heritage value of the fort.
Zlatko is a special person; true, he isn't always an easy person to talk to. Sometimes he appears to be locked in the world of his own thoughts, quite oblivious to anyone else's point of view, but for a fortification enthusiast any trip with Zlatko as a guide is a feast, for one gets to see things that one would have never otherwise seen. The same goes for Fort Bourguignon and some other former military posts under his care; his ways of managing them may indeed appear somewhat unconventional, but in Pula there are many great revitalisation projects that have never got past the drawing-board. There are also some youth groups attempting to revitalise some of the other forts of the inner ring, but the sad state of most of them indicates that, with the sole exception of Pula's Aquarium which has adopted Fort Verudela as its new home, no-one has come even close to what Zlatko Devedžic has accomplished at Fort Bourguignon.
Zlatko Devedžic, the man who runs Fort Bourguignon, atop Skoda steel observation cupola on the top platform of 'his' fort. (AJP) |
One of Pula's last acquisitions before WWI were these 420 mm howitzers of the Gomila battery. (Z D) |
Standard armament of many of Pula's coastal batteries, merzer 305 was the most famous Austrian siege gun of WWI. (Z D) |
Main source: Fort Bourguignon Archive, courtesy of Zlatko Devedžic.
(1) When it comes to the word 'Yugoslav', caution is necessary. It was first used by the 'Yugoslav Club' formed on 29 May 1917 in Vienna by Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian members of the Austro-Hungarian Parliament. The club championed the establishment of the third, South-Slav federal entity as part of the Empire. Emperor Karl accepted the scheme in October 1918, much too late to prevent the radicalisation of demands and the establishment of the State of Slovenians, Croats and Serbs. Unrecognised by the allies this state soon joined the kingdom of Serbia thus forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians. After his coup in 1929 king Aleksandar used the name Yugoslavia as a cover for his centralistic policies. Latterly the navy referred to is also called the Croatian one; since it was responsible to the National Council in Zagreb and manned mostly by Croatians, this is understandable.
Illustrations: ZD; courtesy of Zlatko Devedžic
