World War I Artillery Fortification System
In the spring of 1914, Austria-Hungary was facing military defeat for the first time during the war as Russian troops advanced towards the Carpathian mountains. The situation caused deep concern within the Austro-Hungarian military as the failure to defend the Carpathians would allow the enemy to access central Hungary, including Budapest. One of the measures taken to prevent this was the decision to fortify the city of Poszony (today Bratislava).
Goal of the fortification system was to prevent the Russians from crossing the Danube river and thus prevent the encirclement of Vienna (something the Prussians attempted in 1866 in the Battle of Lamacs during the Austro-Prussian War) and denying access south towards the Hungarian mainland. The fortification complex consists of individual artillery posts grouped together into strategic points. The artillery posts consisted of artillery caverns (Slovak: kaverny) used to shelter soldiers and ammunition from enemy counter-fire and close to them were the actual artillery batteries. The goal of this artillery was long-distance circular artillery defense of the city. They were located on hills with good outlooks below, today corresponding to the areas of Dúbravská Hlavica, Dlhé Diely, Sitina, Lamač, Klepáč, Americké námestie, Kamzík and Rösslerov lom. All of them are located within the Devín Carpathians mountains and the Bratislava Forest Park.
Fighting in the Carpathians ended in May 1915 due to a German break at Gorlica. Russian troops were pushed back and they did not return again during this conflict. Due to this development, the fortification system was unused in combat and left partially unfinished.
Read more about this topic: Bratislava Fortifications
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