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Everything you might want to know about Keszyca Lesna in Poland |
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Nazi Ostwall FortificationsAround the town of Miedzyrzecz (formerly known as Meseritz) in Lubuskie are the remains of an extensive system of bunkers, tunnels and fortifications comparable to the better known Maginot Line. These fortifications were built on Adolf Hitler's orders between 1933 and 1938 and extended and improved in 1944 as an eastern wall protecting Germany from invasion. Hitler himself visited the fortifications in 1935. The Ostwall fortifications consist of a triple line of fortiications and about 100 fortification units connected by underground tunnels 15 to 40 m deep. These tunnels are so big that double track railway system was able to operate underground. The defences themselves consisted of reinforced concrete bunkers (panzerwerks), several floors high, topped by armoured domes equiped with cannons and machine guns. The whole system was serviced by electricity, water, sewage system, and ventilation. Headquarters were established in a newly created settlement at Keszyca Lesna. The defences although built at great cost to an impressive standard proved of little use in 1945 as the Russian advance was at such a pace that the Germans were unable to fully man the bunkers in time and were quickly overun by the Red Army. After the war part of the fortification system was blown up by the Russian army who took over the old German army headquarters and barracks in Keszyna Lesna. Visitors can now see some of the underground system for themselves by taking a guided tour from the Kalawa visitor centre or by following the plentiful above ground remains. More than 30,000 bats of twelve different species now make their home in the tunnels, and part of the underground system has been designated as the Nietoperek nature reserve. Miedzyrzecz MRU |
Photographs and Information about local Villages and Towns Bledzew |
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