Two sections of the Pomeranian Wall lie in towns where the fortifications can be seen up close today. In Wałcz it is the Cegielnia Fortified Group between Lake Zamkowe and Lake Chmiel Duży, and in Szczecinek a belt of bunkers on the isthmus between Lake Trzesiecko and Lake Wielimie. Museums operate in both places, and visits are based on structures from the 1930s.
The Cegielnia Fortified Group in Wałcz
According to the description by the West Pomeranian Tourism Organisation, the Cegielnia Fortified Group lies between Lake Zamkowe and Lake Chmiel Duży and is a section of the Pomeranian Wall that closed the passage between the natural obstacles of the terrain of the Wałcz Lakeland. The relief of the land made it possible to hide observation and firing positions here. In 1932-1936 bunkers were built with armoured cupolas for machine guns, rooms for field anti-tank guns and observation positions. In 1944 the fortifications began to be extended with additional firing positions, anti-infantry and anti-tank obstacles and reinforced-concrete observation and combat posts.
The core of the complex consists of two type B bunkers, that is, B-Werks. The first has a six-aperture observation cupola and a flanking casemate; the second was a passive bunker, with weapons only in the flanking casemate. From both, corridors lead to two towers with a three-aperture cupola. Next to them stand two multi-sector B1 bunkers, in some places reinforced to B standard, without armoured cupolas, protected by armour plates. This description speaks of two lines of bunkers: the first with the main structures and two single-sector bunkers with anti-tank firing walls, the second with combat bunkers and a bunker for anti-tank guns and their crews, which the description calls a structure unique on the Pomeranian Wall.
According to the same description, the bunkers were blown up by Polish and Soviet sappers at the turn of January and February 1945. In the following years the barbed-wire entanglements were removed, the ditches were filled in, and the appearance of the area was changed by sand extraction and waste dumps. The remains of one of the bunkers collapsed in the 1980s as a result of undermining. The Wikipedia entry on Wałcz lists the bunkers near the brickworks among the remains of the Pomeranian Wall.
Today the site is a military museum, a branch of the Wałcz Land Museum. Besides the bunkers open to visitors, a permanent exhibition has been prepared in a pavilion, along with a display of military equipment, and during events an open-air cinema operates there. The museum also organises rallies along the fortifications of the Pomeranian Wall. In Wałcz itself the fortifications are also covered by the Pomeranian Wall Museum on the grounds of the former barracks, with an exhibition on the beginning of the construction of the Wall, on the Red Army in 1945, on the 1st Polish Army and on the prisoner-of-war camps in the Wałcz Land.
The bunkers in Szczecinek
According to Wikipedia, the bunkers of the Pomeranian Wall in Szczecinek were built in 1934-1935 west and north of the town. The reinforced-concrete structures, 25 in all, blocked the isthmus between Lake Trzesiecko and Lake Wielimie. Wikipedia writes that at the end of February 1945 they failed to halt the offensive of Soviet troops, who took the town and soon afterwards the abandoned line of fortifications.
By the road to Barwice stands a two-storey B-Werk, according to Wikipedia the best preserved of 11 structures of this type on the Pomeranian Wall. The Regional Museum in Szczecinek writes of 11 B-Werks built by the Germans, two of which are in Szczecinek, and calls the site a war open-air museum. The bunker was built as part of the Pomeranian Position, as the Germans called this belt of fortifications. It has 21 combat, auxiliary, social and technical rooms. According to the museum it took no part in the fighting in February 1945, and in March Soviet sappers blew off the main armour and damaged the upper storey, and the lower floor was filled with rubble. In the 1960s a gravel pit began operating on the site, which gradually uncovered the whole body of the structure.
Revitalisation took place in 2009-2012, and the Museum of the Pomeranian Wall and the Second World War was opened in July 2012. It is run by a tourist and history association, and on the website of the Regional Museum in Szczecinek the site appears as the Pomeranian Wall Museum. Inside are displayed weapons, items of uniform and equipment, vehicle parts and memorabilia of Polish Army units stationed in the town after the war. Next to it stands an open-air exhibition with a T-34-85 tank and two 85 mm anti-aircraft guns. The museum also opens the bunkers of the Góra Śmiadowska Fortified Group near the village of Śmiadowo.
Exhibitions of the town's collections, including the Garrison Room, are presented by the Regional Museum in Szczecinek. Visiting rules for the bunker are given by the museum.
Be the first! Add a comment.
You need to log in to add a comment.
Log in