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Feste Istein
Istein is a small town at the south-west corner of Germany bordering France and Switzerland. The hill above the town was fortitified before both World Wars. Built between 1902-1907, Feste Istein included three armored turret batteries for 100mm cannon, an infantry caserne, and a protective ditch guarded by 50mm and 75mm gun emplacements. After the Great War the Allies completely destroyed the Feste. In 1936 plans were made to turn Istein into Germany's "Gibraltar of the West". Dazzled by the massive fortifications of the Maginot Line, Germany planned to create their own ouvrage as the linchpin of the West Wall. It was to be armed with 88mm, 170mm, 75mm cannon; mortars and mine-throwers; and a garrison of 2,600 men. In reality, little work was done at Istein before the war began, except for the construction of 2km of tunnels and several gun positions. The gun positions were destroyed, yet again, by the Allies after the war but rumours hold that the tunnels still exist. [source: Kaufmann and Kaufmann, "Fortress Third Reich":Da Capo Press, 2003.] links: A java 3-D map fly-through of the Istein tunnel complex. |
