Liberation80: Czechoslovakia Built Bunkers After Hitler's Rise to Power

Bratislava, April 19 (TASR) - Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the Czechoslovak Republic decided to build a system of border fortifications, as Hitler's foreign policy openly called for a revision of the Versailles peace system, TASR was told by Peter Sumichrast, director of the Department of Military-Historical Research and deputy director of the Military History Institute (VHU). The fortifications were supposed to be constructed over a period of several years, but after the signing of the Munich Agreement in early October 1938, the work was stopped. "The plan, which was to be carried out by 1951, included fortifying the borders with Germany, Austria, Hungary, and even Poland. Only a portion of this was actually implemented on selected sections with Germany, Austria, and Hungary," explained Sumichrast, adding that many fortification programs were not completed in full. The line of bunkers and small forts stretched from the Ostrava area, across the north of Moravia, then northern, western, and southern Bohemia, continued through southern Moravia, crossed into Slovakia, and extended as far as Subcarpathian Ruthenia, which at that time was part of Czechoslovakia. Some defense lines in Bohemia and Moravia were originally planned to be doubled. After the signing of the so-called Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938, all the fortifications of this defense system became the spoils of the German army. In Slovakia, between 1936 and 1938, according to available information, several hundred structures were built. A few dozen have been preserved in the Morava River valley, in Bratislava, and in Komarno, and sporadically along the southern border with Hungary. The only preserved, complete defensive section is in Bratislava, in the area of Petrzalka, where the bunkers followed the then state border. "In the area on the right bank of the Danube, in the so-called Bratislava defensive bridgehead, the fortifications were built in a semicircle," noted Sumichrast, adding that other fortifications were constructed from Devinska Nova Ves to Moravsky Svaty Jan. The civic association 'Let's Save Petrzalka's Bunkers', which maintains the best-known of them, the bunker B-S 8 "Hrbitov", lists individual bunkers, including their locations, on its website. Their names were usually a combination of letters, numbers, and a code name. According to VHU, the letter "B" stands for Bratislava and the letter "S" for "srub" (meaning blockhouse). This is followed by a number, which does not indicate the order of construction. "It is a number assigned during unified numbering after all fortifications in the so-called Bratislava bridgehead were completed. It is an Arabic numeral, as heavy fortifications in this area were also marked with Roman numerals," explained Sumichrast. This is followed by a code name; for example, "Hrbitov" (Cemetery) was derived from a World War I cemetery located behind the structure. In the so-called Bratislava bridgehead, most of the structures are still preserved today. The exceptions are those destroyed during the construction of Petrzalka, highway overpasses, and the Lanfranconi Bridge. According to VHU, several civic associations in Petrzalka take care of fortification objects from this period. Two infantry blockhouses, B-S 8 "Hrbitov" and B-S 4 "Lany", are under the administration of VHU. The first one is leased by the civic association Let's Save Petrzalka Bunkers, which restored the site in the past. mf