The Czechoslovak border fortifications were built in the period 1946-1964 along the south and south-western frontier, on the common border with the capitalist countries of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Unlike the Czechoslovakian section of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its ...

, whose main function was to prevent citizens of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

escaping to the West, the purpose of these border fortifications was defence against possible German revanchist aggression and later also against possible attack by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

forces. At the outset, the defence system was based on the installations of the pre-war permanent fortifications, repaired and re-equipped in the years 1946–1954. After 1950, due to the increased tension between the Eastern and Western Blocs, a more sophisticated system of pillboxes and shelters was built. While the pre-war

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s and pillboxes were designed as monoliths of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

, the new cold-war

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s followed the Soviet paradigm and were more like reinforced field fortifications, built from stone and

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term ...

concrete elements. Many of the installations from the period 1953–1964, especially those built at the time of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a pers ...

crises, were designed for conditions of nuclear war, and many older installations were given enhanced protection against

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

. Unlike the Iron Curtain installations, most of the installations were unmanned and unarmed and were to be manned only in the case of war, by the

regular army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

, although some of the light pillboxes could be used also by

Border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In d ...

. Only the large fortresses were permanently crewed, by a specially trained heavy fortification company. The special fortification unit of the

Czech Army The Army of the Czech Republic ( cs, Armáda České republiky, AČR), also known as the Czech Army, is the military service responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic in compliance with international obligations and treaties on collecti ...

was disbanded in 1999. Since then, the bunkers were sealed and abandoned. In recent years some of the bunkers were purchased or leased by reenactment groups or private persons, reconstructed and opened as the museums of Czechoslovak military.

References

Bibliography

* DUBÁNEK, Martin; LAKOSIL, Jan; MINAŘÍK, Pavel. ''Utajená obrana železné opony: Československé opevnění 1945–1964''. Praha : Mladá fronta, 2008. 216 s. . * LAKOSIL, Jan. ''Utajená obrana Šumavy: Lehké opevnění jihozápadních hranic Československa od Mnichova po současnost''. Praha : Mladá fronta, 2012. 328 s. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Czechoslovak Border Fortifications Borders of Czechoslovakia Military of Czechoslovakia Cold War fortifications