The Museum and Bouda Artillery Fort - Orlicke mountains, Czech Republic
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ToRo61
N 50° 04.161 E 016° 40.621
33U E 620011 N 5547688
The Museum of the Czechoslovak fortification and Bouda Artillery Fort.
Waymark Code: WMMX9H
Location: Pardubický kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 11/19/2014
Views: 23
The Czechoslovak government built a system of border fortifications, as well as some fortified defensive lines inland, from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany. The objective of the fortifications was to prevent the taking of key areas by an enemy (not only Germany but also Hungary) by means of a sudden attack before the mobilization of the Czechoslovak army could be completed, and to enable effective defense until allies (Britain and France and possibly the Soviet Union) could help.
The Czechoslovak border fortifications
The several of Museums of
Czechoslovakian fortifications exists and Bouda Artillery fort is one of them. The museums are usually in hands of enthusiasts who repair forts and they are also guides in those forts.
The Artillery fortification Bouda consists of five mighty bastions (three infantry blocks, one artillery block and the entrance block), which were built to the strongest level of construction. Deep inside the mountain, the blocks are connected by an extended systems of tunnels and caverns, which contained everything the garrison of 316 carefully selected and specially trained soldiers of the border guard needed to accomplish their combat task.
The plan of the Bouda Artillery Fort
The visitors entering this fortification museum can see long underground galleries, barracks, ammo dumps, narrow-gauge railway, power station, infantry blocks, emergency exits, shaft for the retractable gun turret etc.
The visit of the undeground takes about one hour. Temperature in the underground is about 10 C (50 F), so take some warm clothing.
During WW II the German army tested various weapon system, explosive charges and several elements of fortification engineering there. By the German occupation, structural changes after the war, and the dismantling activities of a scrap enterprise in the 50s, the fortification Bouda became strongly devastated. In spite of that, it represents one of the best of five structurally completed artillery fortifications on Czech territory, which has been renovated and made open for the public.
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