Casemate 86

Few countries can match the complexity of Poland's history over the last seven hundred years. The shifting political, ethnic and cultural boundaries have formed a multi-layered heritage that spreads far beyond the geographical boundaries of today's Poland. This is reflected in the predominance of 'foreign', be this German, French or Russian, fortifications on Polish soil, which formed the core of this year's Tour, and the relative scarcity of works that could be labelled as unequivocally Polish. The Tour provided an overview of this interesting region and showed that even a limited investigation would be rewarded by a glimpse of the constant development of defence to match threats from every direction. Following his well-received 2007 tour, this year's organiser was Dr Hans-Rudolf Neumann assisted by his wife Valentina and a wide range of local guides and researchers. Given his recent co-ordinating role in the 'Baltic Fort Route' (www.balticfortroute.eu), an EU supported project to encourage scientific analysis and raise awareness to assist with adaptive re-use and tourist interest in the forts between the Elbe and Niemen rivers, it was particularly timely for the FSG to demonstrate an international interest in the area.. The Tour did not visit all the Route's sites but started in the Gdansk area before heading eastwards to Gizycko and then south to conclude in Warsaw.

Setting the Scene

By any criteria, the geographical boundaries of the Polish state have been remarkably elastic and its borders today most closely resemble its extent circa 1000, under the Piasts, its first identifiable ruling dynasty. Since then Poland has shrunk and expanded until it ultimately succumbed to partition and political dissolution, to be revived again after WWI. To assist in understanding significance of the sites visited during the Tour it is worth making a swift excursion through this story.

Northern Poland is divided by the Vistula River, a primary north-south artery critical to the country's international trade, with the port city of Gdansk (Danzig) at its mouth. To the west of the lower Vistula is Pomerania and to the east Prussia; the latter was never part of Piast (Christian) Poland and was occupied by pagan tribes. In 1227, Conrad I, duke of Masovia, east of the Vistula, settled the Teutonic Knights on his northern borders with the aim of subduing his Prussian neighbours. The fighting order swiftly made its base in the area and in 1309 moved its headquarters to Malbork (Marienburg). The Knights had subdued the Prussian tribes by the 1270s and proceeded to exceed their brief by taking an increasingly aggressive role in the dynastic politics of neighbouring Poland. Pomerania was under pressure from neighbouring Brandenburg and the Knights took the opportunity to annex the eastern half, with the cities of Gdansk and Tchew, in 1307, after briefly joining forces with the then king of Poland Lokietek. Given the Order's largely German membership this endowed the whole of the Baltic coastal region with a strongly German character that lasted until 1945. The Piasts were succeeded by the Jagiellons, who united the Kingdom of Poland with the Duchy of Lithuania to create the largest country in Europe at the time, stretching as far as the Black Sea. This extent was not reflected in its military strength and it lacked direct access to the Baltic. The great Polish victory over the Knights at Grunwald in 1410 failed to dislodge them from their capital at Malbork. Continued campaigning gradually ground down the Knights' powers of resistance with Gdansk revolting against them in 1454 and a final peace drawn up at Thorn in 1466, when Poland finally recovered East Pomerania and some areas east of the Vistula, to be known as Royal Prussia. The remaining lands of the Teutonic Knights were eventually granted to the last Grand Master, Albrecht of Hohenzollern-Ansbach as a fief of the Polish Crown. This area contained the Knight's great port city of Konigsberg and the area became known as Ducal Prussia. In 1618 the fief passed to the Brandenburg branch of the Hohenzollerns, a move which further strengthened the Germanic identity of the region.

For the next 300 years the Baltic coastal area of Poland remained a relatively stable area whilst the rest of the country expanded and contracted in concert with an endless set of dynastic struggles played out against a uniquely democratic constitution that introduced institutional weakness into the Crown of the Kingdom and the subsequent 'Commonwealth of Two Nations' (from 1572). As a separately identifiable region Royal Prussia, with its politically influential port city of Gdansk (Danzig at the time) became an economically important area, due principally to the majority of Poland-Lithuania's agricultural exports being shipped down the Vistula. This allowed Gdansk to invest in substantial new fortifications in the late 16th century and avoid the depredations of the Swedish invasions, 1655-60, known prosaically as the 'Deluge'. Royal Prussia remained clearly within the sights of increasingly ambitious Brandenburg, but it was Russia that was the first foreign power to take control of the City after a siege in 1734. Poland's political and military weakness was finally confirmed by a series of partitions. During the first, in 1772, Frederick the Great gained control of Royal Prussia, but not Gdansk, whilst Russia and Austria helped themselves to much of Lithuania, Ukraine and Galicia. The division of Poland was extended in 1793 and completed in 1795 leaving the whole of the north in the hands of what was now called Prussia, the southern half in Austrian control and the eastern provinces under Russia domination.

Warsaw became a frontier city with the east bank of the Vistula part of Austrian territory stretching north to the river Bug. With this, Poland disappeared from the map only to be partially revived as a result of Napoleon's defeat of Prussia in 1806 and Russia in 1807. Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and also made Gdansk a free city. The new status quo lasted only until 1815 when the triple powers, Prussia, Russia and Austria once more carved up Poland. As the principal victor in the struggle with France there was nothing to prevent Russia taking by far the greatest share and most of the Grand Duchy, which was renamed the 'Congress' Kingdom. Prussia retained the Baltic coast as far east as Memel, and Gdansk once more became a Prussian city.

WWI provided the opportunity that a century of nationalistic dreaming and plotting, as well as several uprisings against Russian rule, had sought - the re-creation of Poland. As part of the Versailles Treaty the country was recreated though its boundaries were only resolved following a mixture of uprisings, plebiscites and a war with the newly formed Soviet Union. In the north a complex arrangement was achieved, East Prussia (containing old Ducal and part of Royal Prussia) remained German, Gdansk once more became a free city, though with strong German leanings, and Poland was granted a narrow strip of land called the 'Polish Corridor' to link it to the Baltic. Without the facilities of Gdansk, it was forced to found a new port called Gdynia which rapidly became vital to the Polish economy, accounting for three-fifths, by value, of the nation's exports in the late 1930s. A new naval port was also planned for the extremity of the Hel Peninsula, which projects into the Baltic and covers the sea access to Gydnia.

In 1939 Poland quickly succumbed to the German invasion and as a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was once more partitioned, its eastern provinces being absorbed into the Soviet Union and a central rump given some degree of self government under German control. Poland as a geographical state was once more revived in 1945 and this time Germany was punished by losing Silesia and Pomerania to the re-created country whilst the Soviet Union declined to give up the east provinces and the north half of East Prussia, including Konigsberg, which was incorporated into Russia itself. As a result, Poland returned to an area resembling the Piast domains at the start of the millennium. Most of the Germanic residents of the other half of East Prussia as well as Pomerania and Silesia were now displaced westwards by Poles from the eastern provinces. With so much of the population moved to new areas, this has resulted in substantial changes, for instance East Prussia was largely Germanic and Protestant - it is now nearly wholly Polish and Catholic. It also has given rise to a wealth of military sites that were not created by the local inhabitants, resulting in a range of responses from neglect and ambivalence to romantic inspired reconstruction, notably in the case of Malbork.
During the Tour the group met with professionals and local enthusiasts who are now working on the full range of fortifications in northern Poland and the challenge of the legacy they provide. The notes below follow the chronology of the Tour.

Hel Peninsula and the Prussian Defences of Gdansk.

The limited access to the Baltic granted to Poland following the end of WWI helps to explain the significance given to the Hel Peninsula, a 33km long pit of sand projecting into the Baltic to the north of Gdansk and Gdynia. At its tip was the new Polish wartime naval base, linked to the railway network in the early 1920s. Defences were only commenced after construction of the port in 1933 and somewhat belatedly an advanced position of heavy bunkers was started in 1939 at Jastarnia. The cupolas were not emplaced before the German attack on 1 September 1939. The four bunkers are in a rough line across the peninsula and were clearly designed to have mutually supporting fields of fire to control the road and railway line.

A tour route has been laid out to show visitors the different layers of defence including an antitank ditch and obstacles, wire entanglements, the bunkers themselves and rear machine gun positions, only one of which was constructed. These were the only substantial 'Polish' fortifications visited during the course of the week's Tour. Much of the tip of the peninsula is still in military hands and not accessible. This is neatly contrasted by the excellent large scale plan available of all the pre- and post- WWII sites sold in the shop at Batterie Schleswig-Holstein. Following swiftly after their invasion the Germans made plans to site a major battery on the peninsula making use of 406mm guns from the cancelled battleship Schleswig-Holstein to guard the approaches to Gdansk. Three large barbette mountings were built for these and barely had the guns been emplaced when they were ordered to be moved to the Pas de Calais (Batterie Lindemann). The central gun position has been restored and opened as a museum with a substantial but eclectic mixture of displays about the battery and related military topics. As the location precluded excavation the gun pit and surrounding magazines form a vast monolithic block of concrete with what appears to be the arcade of a concrete nave to the south, lining the end of railway spur. The battery had two further ammunition stores (not visited) and a fire control tower to the rear (below). This is also open as a museum and provides views over the tree tops. The detailed map of sites on the peninsula suggests that most should be accessible. If this is the case then a visit to Hel should reward the curious with a detailed cross section of Polish emplacements and bunkers from the 1940s until the late 1970s.

Gdansk's independence and wealth were long reflected in substantial fortifications, initially for the city itself and later along the artery of the Vistula to its mouth several miles to the north. The main point of weakness lay to the west with a range of hills, notably the Hagelsberg and Bishopsberg, overlooking the city walls. Whilst plans were made for their fortification in the 17th century defensive lines the City's resources were considerably depleted and work was not begun until the 18th century. The defences of the Hagelsberg were the focus of attacks during the successful French siege in 1807 and they subsequently built a large brick redoubt (1811-12) behind the enceinte to reinforce the position. The Group's arrival was marked by the appearance of several staff from the site in Prussian uniforms, their director Jan Daniluk dressed as an officer. This was particularly appropriate as nearly all the existing defences of the Hagelsburg, now called Fort Grodzisko, are Prussian. The site has been partially restored, having attracted substantial EU funding and is an example of the implementation of mixed use development and conservation/restoration that been the core of the Baltic Fort Routes' recommendations. To assist with interpretation of the site, the Group was joined by Dr Grzegorz Bukal, who has undertaken detailed research of Gdansk's defences. A brief visit was made to the French redoubt, which curiously, is located well below the crest of the hill, an anomaly reinforced by the later Prussian rampart. The Redoubt's wide ditch and counterscarp gallery are intact but it has lost its external traverses between the embrasures.

The Prussian Fort (above) secures the crest of the hill, but with a gentle slope away from the City. Work started in 1867 and Dr Bukal showed how this was a classic piece of Prussian fortification of the period adapted to the profile of the terrain. The deep ditch is flanked by two-storey brick caponiers with counterscarp galleries and the plans show a substantial ravelin to the front. Part of the Carnot wall has been reconstructed and this would have masked the mortar battery next to the central caponier. The inner rampart has been largely cleared to give a clear view of the open artillery positions with the intermediate expense magazines used for thematic displays associated with the history of the Fortress. The process of finding appropriate users for part of the Fortress has been difficult but the south caponier is now being turned into a Science Centre. A detailed review of the history of Gdansk's defences by Dr Bukal concluded the day and supper was taken in one of the casemates.

Defences of Gdansk and the mouth of the Vistula.

The City of Gdansk lies in the delta of the Vistula, several miles south of its mouth. When taken by the Teutonic Knights it occupied several islands. From 1343, the Knights ringed four of these with walls and built a castle commanding the main channel. Most of the gates and towers survive around the Old Town including the substantial Torture House/Prison House complex, Upland Gate and Green Gates at either end of the Royal Way. Following the recapture of Gdansk by the Polish Crown the City became the capital of a semi-autonomous region (Royal Prussia) and took on responsibility for its own defence. By the early 16th century it was rich enough to hire Italian engineers to design modern bastion defences encircling the four islands and a new curtain was built on the vulnerable west side and completed in 1577.

From 1623-38 a curtain of Dutch-style bastions was thrown round the south and the bastions were augmented with substantial internal earthen bulwarks or redoubts. Completion of the defence of the Bishopsberg and Hagelsberg hills had to wait until the 18th century by which time the focus of threats, notably from the Swedes and later the Russians, switched attention to the mouth of the Vistula. The first substantial work here was Fort Vistulamouth, and this was followed by isolated redoubts and eventually lines on both sides of the river linking it back to the City in 1657-58. Whilst Royal Prussia was incorporated into Brandenburg, later Prussia, in the last partition of Poland in 1795, its next defences were built by the French after their successful siege in 1807.

Substantial upgrading by the Prussians started in1867 when Fort Grodzisko was built on the Hagelberg and substantial works built towards the mouth of the Vistula. The rapid expansion of the port facilities put increasing pressure on these defences and most of the works along the river were demolished within the next few decades. In the early 20th century it appears that only the coast received modern defences and the Westerplatte, the spit on the east side of the river mouth was the starting point for the day's tours, which proceeded largely in reverse chronological order.

The Westerplatte was a leisure area for the City until the end of WWI and the re-formation of Poland as a state. In the post-war negotiations it was granted as an enclave to Poland whilst Gdansk and the surrounding area became a 'free-state' with a largely German administration. Before the development of Gydnia, the Westerplatte was the only port facility Poland had on the Baltic and thus was vital in its industrial and military development. Under treaty it was not allowed to fortify the position and only as war became increasingly certain were covert defences created in the form of improvised blockhouses in the basements of buildings. The presence of these remained undetected by the Germans and permitted an energetic defence of the area by a small Polish force in September 1939 which lasted a week. After 1945 it was turned into a place of remembrance with a substantial mound topped with a monument to the defenders. At present, the site is extremely difficult to interpret (the Tour guidebook's many pages not entirely clarifying the location of the blockhouses) and it would appear that some elements have been moved. A single German coastal gun position is also visible and the attached signage suggests that its conservation and presentation is planned but has been delayed. More detailed investigation of the area would probably yield more works but most of those inland with the exception of Fort Vistulamouth have been destroyed. It is a short drive between to the latter and this afforded a brief glimpse of the remains of Seagull Fort, an 1870s Prussian work, of which only the gorge buildings survive.

The first permanent work on the site of Fort Vistulamouth was the lighthouse, a tall drum tower built in 1482. It was surrounded in 1562 by a three storey circular stone curtain with gun chambers in the intestial area and then, starting in the 1580s, a four-bastioned carré with orillon flanks and beyond this a five-bastioned outwork in earth (1624-26) and further works into the 18th century. The site was heavily damaged in 1945 and been substantially restored. It is still under pressure from undermining and flooding by the river and parts need careful and swift attention. Entry to the fort is across a modern lifting bridge, a somewhat over-scaled reproduction in modern materials. The scarp of the outwork is overgrown and its terreplein occupied by boat yards and a police unit. Several 18th century barrack buildings survive and the later Prussian magazines are largely overgrown. Above the gate to the inner quadrilateral fort is the date 1602 and like the outwork it is surrounded by a wet ditch fed from the river. Entry through a sinuous tunnel provides the visitor with a surprising view.

The 16th century garrison houses surrounding the earlier three storey gun tower have been restored with picturesque results. Closer examination of this and other areas reveals less than sympathetic restoration often with poor workmanship that is somewhat deflating.

A tour of the fort was given by Zbigniew Balewski starting with the tower; this has magnificent views but has been largely reconstructed after 1945. The gun chambers of the inner circle are largely gone and only the openings survive, many of these masked by the barrack buildings around the perimeter.

A visit to the interior of the NW bastion revealed casemates in good condition, the last substantial works having been undertaken by the Prussians. The vault reveals that changes were made fairly frequently.

The Prussians also refurbished the gun positions in the orillons (top right, Stephen Cannon-Brookes) and cut new rifle loops in the walls linking the bastions, treating what had been originally a sort of fausse-braye (C17th) as a Carnot wall (below right, Stephen Cannon-Brookes).

The visit concluded with a walk around part of the ramparts, set into which is a large range of 16th century barracks, rather brutally capped in concrete and otherwise in a ruined state.

The rest of the day was spent in Gdansk starting with the early 17th century southern curtain. This enclosed a considerably larger area than the mediaeval walls of the Suburb, marked by the surviving White and Edge Towers. The finely proportioned Small Arsenal (1643-45) has been restored and is the earliest of the military-use buildings. Large barracks and magazines were built in the 19th century and nearly all that survives is from the Prussian period. These contrast with the Dutch-influenced trace with wide wet ditches.

The low profile of the enceinte is dominated by several high earthen redoubts affording commanding views over the adjacent marsh to the south. Between the St Gertrude and Auroch Bastions is the Lowland Gate (1626). With a strongly rusticated granite elevation and brick upper part and the original loop-holed doors it is in relatively good condition. Cutting across the Aurochs Bastion is the first railway line to Gdansk, built in 1852. There was time to look at how the lines were disrupted before visiting the next section of curtain in which there is a sluice gate (1619-24) and a well preserved set of dams with monks and outworks where the canalised Motlawa River cuts across the town ditch (below, DB).

Plans to visit the Old Town were arrested by heavy traffic but there was time to see all the towers and gates. Of these the most impressive are the grouping of the mediaeval Prison Tower/Gate, the Golden Gate and the Upland Gate. The latter is one of the few surviving parts of the Italianate western curtain built in 1580s and stands apart from the earlier brick buildings with its bold rusticated stone finish. To the casual observer, Gdansk is an attractive assembly of late mediaeval and 16th to 18th century buildings. This is beguiling since the fabric of the City was nearly wholly destroyed in 1945 and almost everything is a reconstruction. It is certainly worth a detour.

East to Gizycko and Ducal Prussia.

The third day of the Tour provided an opportunity to learn more of the strategic importance of Poland's Baltic littoral. As a relatively weak state, Poland has always been under pressure from neighbouring powers, and in the case of the Swedes and French a route for their armies, and latterly the period when all of this area was under German control. This was brought into focus during the morning visit to Tchew. The town is on the west bank of the Vistula and was selected in the 1840s as the crossing point for the strategically important Royal Prussian Eastern Railway line, linking Berlin with Konigsberg. This axis was reinforced by the construction of the major road eastwards in the 1930s by the Nazi government. Once again the width of the Vistula was a major challenge and whilst the presence of a pro-Nazi administration of Danzig (Gdansk) allowed some preparation it was only after the invasion that construction of the Vistula Bridge could commence - though much of it had already been prefabricated. Despite demolition by the retreating Germans in 1945 nearly all components were salvaged and reused. On the east side of the river the abutments of the bridge have a number of chambers with armoured shields and fixings for light machine guns. Questions were asked of the local guides about other defences, as none had been spotted, but they were unaware of any in the vicinity, leaving open the question as why these emplacements had been built with their expensive shields but no direct view of the roadway.

The railway bridges were treated in elaborate detail in our Tour Guide despite being devoid of defensive features but they kept some enthusiasts happy and entertained.

It was a short drive to Malbork (Marienburg), capital of the Teutonic Knights. At the height of their power the Knights' territory stretched from Pomerania to Lithuania and in the latter part of the 13th century they chose a bluff on the Nogat River to create a capital. In an extended series of building campaigns they created one of the largest fortifications in Europe, a mixture of palace and fortress with concentric walls and courts, built of brick with tile roofs. The castle fell to the Polish kings when mercenary knights sold the place to the King of Poland and the Order was finally expelled in 1457. Malbork (below) became a royal residence and major arsenal for the Polish Crown until it was taken by the Prussians and converted into magazines.

It is notable for the unusually long time for which it has been regarded as a cultural icon, with the first phase of romantic reconstruction occurring in the early 19th century and this continued with an increasingly scientific and German perspective until 1918 when a similar but Polish-inspired programme was adopted. Much of this work was destroyed in 1945 when the eastern facing parts of the castle were severely damaged during the Soviet attack and major restoration since then has largely restored the appearance of the place to the current historicist perspective. The variety of bricks and pointing in the walls is evidence of multiple campaigns of restoration, much of which was speculative. As a whole, the place is worthy material for a study of ethic and practice in site conservation and restoration and the Group was most fortunate in having as its guide Dr Marek Stokowski the Curator of Education who led a spirited tour through the principal interior and candidly admitted many of the multiple anomalies that the site presents.

The tour focused on the refectory and Grand Master's lodgings, with its decidedly curious gothic detailing, quite unlike any local practices, and the Upper Castle - which was effectively a fortified monastery. From this springs a feature of major Teutonic castles - a detached tower acting both as a place of last resort and a 'house of easement', being built over the main drainage channel through the castle precincts. The tour was necessarily curtailed by a long afternoon drive, broken by a lunch stop. It took the rest of the afternoon to reach the region of the Masurian Lakes and Gizycko in what used to be East Prussia.

Masuria and the Wolf's Lair.

When Poland was re-formed after 1945 it received roughly half of East Prussia, an area that had never previously been within the Polish lands. This gives rise to some interesting overlaps between ethnicity and architecture and also serves to explain the selection of this area as the wartime base for the German high command as their focus of attention shifted eastwards. With the last partition of Poland in 1795, Prussia earned a border with Russia. Plans for new defensive works were made in the 1820s but not implemented until the 1840s when a chain of fortified positions was started protecting the route east to Konigsberg and linked together by the Royal Prussian Eastern Railway, which had to be built at State expense. In 1842 the go-ahead was received to build a new fortress at Gizycko (then Lötzen) to be named after Hermann von Boyen, the Prussian war minister who was instrumental in the design of the work. At the time, the town of Lötzen controlled one of the main east-west routes where it passes through the Masurian lakes, and ringed by lakes the site of the Fort is naturally strong. Construction started in 1844 and was completed in 1855. Never substantially upgraded, Fort Boyen today is an excellent example of Prussian design from the 1840s and an important survival when little of this period is left in Germany itself.

The plan (above) betrays a design in a transitional period with three full bastions with casemated flanks and a tenaille trace to the north with caponiers at the re-entrant angles. An internal earth rampart forms a 'donjon', which also commands both main gates. The tour started at the main Gizycko gate, which is defended by a single-storey brick caponier (below), and then followed the southern curtain.

This provided opportunities to see the casemates within the ramparts and a later, concrete observation post added in 1897 which is capped with a cupola with three slits. From the ramparts there was a good view of the next section of curtain, which is protected by a ravelin, whose gorge now houses an outside theatre. The flanking casemates and Carnot wall are in good condition, due to the presence of an active group in the town who have worked hard to maintain and provide access, particularly following the removal of several agricultural businesses in 1995 that had taken over the site following the withdrawal of the Polish military in 1957. In the Law bastion there is a curious curved opening in the interior and this proved to be an underground Laboratory (1868). Apparently, the initial design included a water gate connected to the Lakes to facilitate re-supply, but during construction this was switched to railway access as it was discovered that it made the fort's interior vulnerable to flooding. The tunnel through the rampart has a number of interesting features and much of the original mechanism of the collapsing bridge appears to be in place.

A brief visit was made to the bakery (above) and magazines (1890s) as well as later buildings in the parade ground.
It was unfortunate that time was not available to do full justice to the site, so we were denied a visit to the donjon.

Our run of unbroken fine weather came to an end whilst driving northwards towards the German headquarters of the early 1940s around Ketrzyn (Rastenberg). Strangely we bypassed one of the few surviving bunkers of the period at Martiany and, given the number of works referred to in local guides from both the 19th and 20th centuries, the programme focused only on the principal sites in use from 1940 until 1945. It is not entirely clear why this area was selected but its lack of strategic rationale may have helped to mask its presence from Allied attention - it was never bombed and the Soviet army was unaware of it until the sites were overrun in 1945. Perhaps the proximity to various leaders' country houses tipped the choice but Hitler is recorded as querying why such a damp mosquito-ridden spot had been selected. As skies greyed and rain threatened it was easy to sympathise with these thoughts. The Wolf's Lair (Wolfschanze) occupies part of an unremarkable forest bisected by a now disused single track railway line. No plans survive of the complete design and the site with its neighbours is in need of comprehensive research to dispel many of the myths and suppositions that have accumulated in the intervening time. It would appear that nearly all the construction records were destroyed and this makes the sites hard to interpret. The current, somewhat homespun, interpretive material unequivocally identifies the occupants of the empty building shells and theatrically heaped piles of concrete, ensuring that a walk through the forest today gives rise to a wealth of different emotions.

The flattened remains of the conference room where von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler are treated as a shrine and taking the marked route through the trees leading from one dull monolith to another evokes a sense of the almost sacred with a hint of the paranoia that must have infested this place at its peak when each section was partitioned off by wire and camouflaged. The only evidence of any defences is flak positions cast into concrete sections, now distributed at different angles after the demolition of the bunkers. The most highly defended were built with a double skin, about 8m thick, so their size is impressive, as is the variety of shapes that were caused by the demolition charges. For those who were less than enamoured by this dreary pilgrimage there was a large restaurant to escape the rain and local flying fauna.

Driving back to Gizycko a brief diversion was made to the airfield that served the Wolf's Lair. The hangar and control buildings from the 1940s survive and the visit afforded a view of an Antonov biplane - only those willing to brave the rain disembarked from the coach.

The day was concluded back at Fort Boyen with a reception given by the town of Gizycko. A buffet in the former hospital building was followed by a welcome from the mayor and an introduction to the work of the FSG given by David Bassett on behalf of the Chairman. Dr Neumann followed this with an in-depth report on the Baltic Fort Route Project, of which Boyen is a member and the event concluded with a brief reply by the head of the group of enthusiasts looking after the Fort.

The second day spent in the Masurian Lakes was wholly devoted to the 1940s and the route northwards took the Group close to the Russian border. Himmler's bunker (Hochwald) outside the village of Pozezdrze was the first stop. Set in sloping forest the site is better drained than the Wolf's Lair but the remains are similar - in this case a single heavily armoured bunker, blown up but largely intact, and the remains of less robust bunkers in the woods around. The site was surrounded by fences and a minefield, though there is little indication of where these were and the available interpretive material is sketchy given the importance of the site. Other than for its notorious occupant, a visit adds little to that seen at the Wolfschanze.

Beyond Wegorzewo, the remains of two unfinished locks on the Masurian Canal provided more visual interest. The Canal, planned in 1862-64 to allow both communication with the north and help drain the area for agriculture, was finally started in 1911. Progress was arrested by the First World Was and resumed in 1934 to be finally stopped in 1940, when the considerable construction resources were required elsewhere. In their unfinished state it is possible to admire the scale of the locks and the intaglio shape of the Nazi eagle is clearly visible in the more complete of the two (above).

The final visit of the day was to 'Anna', the site of the German Land Forces High Command (OKH) at Mamerki. On the northwest edge of Lake Mamry it is the most substantial of the 'Rastenberg' positions. It comprises three Zones connected by roads through the forest. Our local bus for the day deposited the party at the car park and three hours were allowed for the visit. As with the other sites the guidebooks are limited and other than the concrete buildings much of the rest of the visit is given over to speculation and the sight of endless hut bases, some of which have been revealed where the forest has been cleared. Unlike at the Wolf's Lair, no demolition was carried out at Mamerki and it was a good opportunity to look at the more heavily defended bunkers.

It didn't take long to detect the repetitive nature of their design as with the defensive bunkers around the site. These only have loopholes covering the entrances and there seemed to be no sign of any more substantial defences such as machine gun positions or anti-aircraft batteries. Dr Neumann took a party around the three zones and admitted his own frustration with the lack of properly researched material. With mosquitoes ready to pounce and the prospect of rain adding to the gloom, it was a long three hours before a boat on the lake was due to take the Group back to Gizycko. By then (4pm) the lack of lunch was beginning to weigh on most minds and if the rather splendid spread and drinks had not been present the rumblings of mutiny would surely have grown. In the event, the gentle progress through the lakes was well timed since the heavens opened soon after departure from Mamerki and a lunch of several courses was consumed with a background of sleeting rain until arrival at Gizycko, at about six and the close of the day's programme.

South to Warsaw via Nowy Dwór (Modlin)

With few motorways, though many are under construction, travelling longer distances in Poland can take a while and it took more than just the morning to reach Modlin, north of Warsaw. In doing so the Tour passed from the Prussian sector of partitioned Poland to the Russian. As with Prussia, Russia sought to secure the lands it had gained between 1772 and 1795, though there was little activity until after the French had been expelled in 1813. Modlin, with Warsaw and Deblin, was designated a front line fortress, with a second line comprising Grodno, Brest and Wolyn.

Given the importance of rivers it is no surprise that the confluence of the Vistula and Narew rivers attracted military attention and the first to throw up fortifications were the Swedes in 1655-60. Their example was followed by the French who started a major new fortress in 1806 on the north bank, defensible by 1809, comprising a flattened polygon of three full and two half bastions, further defended by ravelins and supplemented by two bridgeheads to the south and three crownworks to the north. It would appear that nearly all the works were of earth with just the main gate, powder magazines and a redoubt being of brick construction.

Following the 1830 uprising, Fortress Modlin underwent substantial revision. The outline of the French enceinte was retained but substantially augmented with curved artillery gun towers spaced around the inner enceinte. Beyond this the crownworks were linked together to form a much larger enclosure and both ramparts were given Carnot walls. Within the inner parade ground a vast barracks was built in the form of a polygon 2.2km in circumference. Whilst the Fortress became the main supply base for the Russian army in Poland it did not receive substantial attention until the 1870s, with the exception of a huge granary built in 1844 on the opposite bank - today a ruin. Planned in 1873/4, Modlin was remodelled in 1883-1888 with a new ring of eight brick and earth forts built around the Fortress, swiftly followed by modernisation in 1894-1907 to provide additional protection. As a result of the Japanese-Russian War and changes in preparation plans, the front-line fortresses were abandoned with the exception of Modlin which received a new ring of forts at an 8-10km radius. Construction started in 1912 and was still underway when the Germans attacked in August 1915. They continued work on some of the forts, as did the Poles who built a further six concrete forts after 1918, which assisted in the nearly month-long defence against the Germans in 1939.

The Group was to sample only a small proportion of these enticements, namely the inner 1830/40s enceinte and one of the outer ring of forts. A useful perspective on the history of the Fortress was provided by Dr Marcin Górski, who gave an introductory talk in the Ostrolecka Gate (1836), which has been converted into a restaurant. Its appearance has been somewhat marred by the insertion of another passage for traffic. His talk included a number of computer generated images of the Fortress showing the appearance at different times and the areas now lost. At its largest extent it enclosed nearly 200km2 and this size was reflected in the need for a bus between nearly all the subsequent visits within the lines of the citadel.
A diversion to the early 20th century officers' casino raised concerns that not enough of the defences would be included in the programme and our hosts were clearly not used to the parties with such independently minded participants.
There followed a drive to the western extreme of the Citadel's outer line and the rather battered remains of the Napoleon Redoubt (1806-1812). The Redoubt is a two-storey brick tower on the lines of a large tour modèle and was clearly intended to strengthen the earthen crownwork behind which it is sited. It is one of the few French-built masonry works surviving in the Fortress.
The route back to the inner enceinte took in views of barrack buildings from a variety of periods, including post-1945, as well as large magazines from around 1900.

Vigorous expressions of enthusiasm to our hosts were finally rewarded with access to the General Dehn artillery tower. This has been partially restored and opened as a museum. It is a substantial horseshoe shaped multi-storey gun tower with an open gorge, a design used in proliferation and at different scales, around the Fortress. It is not clear why so many of them were subsequently demolished, with the possible exception of the reuse of the brick of which they are composed.
The museum was not open and the Group was allowed to visit the counterscarp gallery and exited via a tunnel under the covered way to the adjacent ditch of the inner enceinte, into which a largely unplanned detour was made. This revealed another similar artillery tower, overlooking the river, late 19th century buildings in the ditch and the main curtain in a variety of states including a section partially demolished to reveal the chambers of the scarp gallery.
A more substantial detour was then made westwards and also in time to Fort X, one of the outer ring of forts built between 1912 and 1915. The site is now privately owned and is used for stabling. It was quickly apparent that the work had not been completed and it seems to have been planned as a flattened pentagram or similar, with a long curved concrete firing step forming the main defensive line (below, H-R N), supported by shelters, connected together by a communicating tunnel beneath, which it also provides access to magazines and the flanking batteries.

Only one of the latter (to the south) is nearly complete and a walk through the ditch yielded the puzzling sight of a step-fronted counterscarp artillery position, in concrete, with a passing resemblance of the ouvrages of the Maginot Line. This would have been connected by tunnel to the inside of the Fort. The second of the two counterscarp casemates was clearly not started and in its place is a rather crude blockhouse. Likewise there is no sign of the north flanking casemates, though the internal shelters for this end of the Fort are largely complete. The site deserved more detailed attention and there was barely time to view a metal observation cupola in the centre of the fire position before departure.
A return was made to the inner enceinte of the Citadel and on this occasion the Group entered the inner area through the later cut in the heavily overgrown earth rampart. Entry was rewarded with a sight of the 2.2km long barracks and various works set into the rear of the rampart including a power magazine and the Josef Poniatowski Gate (previously the Mikhailovsky Gate) with attractive guard houses behind porticos in antis.

The tour of Modlin was concluded with the view from the Red Tower atop the western end of the enormous barracks block. This revealed the confluence of the two rivers with the 1844 Granary on the opposite side of the Narew and glimpses of the fort/bridgehead on the west side of the Vistula. The size of the barrack building is difficult to comprehend though it has parallels in other Russian forts and of course the workshops/storehouses of Kronstadt. It was also a reminder of the difficulties being experienced by the government agencies currently trying to sell most of its building stock in the fortress. Whilst hard work, the site is rewarding and an afternoon's tour really did not do it justice. The day concluded with the short drive to Warsaw.

Warsaw

Until the 19th century Warsaw was effectively an open city, perhaps a reflection of its isolation from Poland's borders and the politic weakness of the institution of the crown. By the late 18th century, it appears that the only significant military presence was a substantial arsenal largely composed of 8 blocks arranged in parallel on a bluff above the Vistula River. From 1795, the river formed the boundary between Prussian and Russian territory and Warsaw briefly became the capital of the eponymous Grand Duchy of Warsaw until 1815 when it became the capital of the 'Congress Kingdom of Poland' and came firmly within Russia's sphere of influence.
The 1830 (November) Uprising provided the spur to build defences and the Arsenal formed the focus of a new massive citadel (1832-34) designed by General Dehn. Contemporaneous with Modlin but earlier than Boyen, the citadel, built of brick, shows many of the signs of a transitional stage in fortress design. The land front has three simple bastions whilst the ends are further protected by multi-storeyed caponiers projecting from the curtain and similar flanking batteries.
This enceinte was augmented by a ring of six forts in 1847-65, placed around citadel - it did not take long for these to become obsolete. A further ring of forts was laid out encompassing the city and started in 1883, to be followed shortly by work on an inner ring in 1886. Between 1889 and 1892 intermediate works were built and modernisation started in 1892 until 1901, when many of the forts were reinforced with concrete. Almost immediately afterwards, as a result in a change of military doctrine, the Russians decided to dismantle the Fortress and a campaign of demolition continued until 1913.

Fort Legionów was the first site visited. Similar to the Dehn tower at Modlin, it is brick built and circular in plan with a single storey of casemates (some sources suggest it had an upper storey). The state of the unrepaired brickwork indicates how poor a condition it was in, at least externally, before being taken over by a restaurant chain that devoted considerable resources to reconstruction (below). Built in 1852-54, and modernised in 1866-74, it commanded the route from the City to the Citadel and its batteries overlooked the Vistula. The chronology is not clear but soon after the 1860 uprising it lost its military function and became the Russian and later Polish military archive. This accounts for the windows in the counterscarp gallery, an area now occupied by an enthusiastic group led by Zbigniew Rekuc, which has created a museum and worked hard to clear lower galleries and batteries overlooking the river but now below ground.

From here the Group walked along the river front of the Alexander Citadel (1832-34. Marcin Gorski) past a substantial two storey caponier projecting into the main ditch from the enceinte and also overlooking the river.

The central gate with paired graded ramparts leading to the group of stores houses has been re-modelled as a war memorial. The rationale for the adjacent lower gate is not immediately clear but it is good condition and has an Egyptian style inner elevation, evidence of the close contact between Russian and German military engineers at the time. One of the barracks at the north end is a museum commemorating the so called '10th pavilion' which was used as a prison for political prisoners during the period of Russian occupation.
Dr Górski gave a detailed presentation of the history of the Warsaw defences with details of a number of the outer forts, which are in a variety of states following the early 20th century demolitions. Drawing upon his specialist interests he went on to discuss the 'Polish' approach to adaptive reuse. As most sites have been sold to private investors with strict planning consents it often involves a degree of creative reconstruction to recover the shape and form of defence works whilst allowing a substantial building to be constructed, to ensure that such projects are economically attractive. It is an area that FSG seem reluctant to engage with and his work deserves a wider airing and debate.
It was quite a walk back to the coach and the opportunity to take lunch in the Old Town was lost when the itinerary was rearranged. Our able guide for the day Monika Chojnacka directed the coach through a torrential downpour whilst she described the most notable of Warsaw's uprisings against the German occupation that started on the 1 August 1944. Denied Soviet assistance, it was eventually crushed with massive damage inflicted on the City. This is vividly chronicled in the new Uprising Museum with interactive displays that require several hours of attention.
The day concluded with a walk through the Old Town, once a suitable coach had been found. The mediaeval wall has been revealed and partially rebuilt in a somewhat unsympathetic modern brick whilst the elaborate barbican is 'complete'. Like Gdansk, the Old Town was nearly completely destroyed and has been re-built in this case using the detailed views of Canaletto's nephew Bellotto, and so successfully that it is hard to contemplate how much was lost. Monika's tour encompassed more than just fortifications and formed a well-rounded end to our Tour.

Once again Dr Neumann has introduced members of the FSG to some less frequented fortress delights and he received the warm thanks of the Tour Group. This report does not contain all the names of the guides and hosts for the visits and our thanks and best wishes go to all those who put in so much work to the Tour and to Ken Tough for his support.
In the spirit of improvement, there are several items worth bearing in mind for future tours:

• the first being the value of an established break in the middle of the day, the 'half-board' model tried out this year was not a success.

• Secondly, tour information is best kept concise and where possible a plan of the site should be included. As the quantity of information on the Net grows the use of 'self-posted' data is increasingly enticing but the quality of this is highly variable and we need to be careful when drawing upon it to provide data on sites, that may be referenced in the future.

• Thirdly, more time is needed for visiting major sites in depth - half a day for a ring fortress is never going to provide enough opportunity to see a representative sample of the site's constituent parts.