Fort Istimpei () is a fortress on Mount Beles,

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( ; , ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting the central part of the Geographic regions of Greece, geographical and historical region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. With a ...

, on

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

's northern border with Bulgaria, that was built to help defend Greece during World War II. It became part of the fortifications of the Metaxas Line, a chain of fortifications along the Greek-Bulgarian border that was built in the 1930s and named after

Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; 12 April 187129 January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who was dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as th ...

, then Prime Minister of Greece. It is situated 16 km north of the village of Neo Petritsi at an altitude of 1,339 meters. The main mission of the fort was to prevent entrance to the country from Bulgaria. It housed 13 officers and 350 soldiers. Its commander in chief was Ksanthos Pikoulakis. The fort was active until April 1941, when it was forced to surrender to German troops. In 1991 the Panhellenic Association of Combatants and Friends of the Forts of Macedonia and Thrace funded the construction of a small museum on this site in commemoration of its role in the Battle of the Forts in April 1941 against invading

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

forces. Access to the museum is restricted: permission must be obtained from the military unit stationed at

Petrich Petrich ( ) is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Sandanski–Petrich Valley at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. According to the 2021 census, the town has 26,778 inhabitants. ...

, which is four kilometres off the

Serres Serres ( ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northern Greece. The c ...

- Promachonas National road (

Kilkis Kilkis () is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2021 there were 24,130 people living in the city proper, 27,493 people living in the municipal unit, and 45,308 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional un ...

junction). Foreign nationals must obtain a special permit from the Hellenic Army General Staff. The museum contains firearms (rifles, revolvers, pistols and machine-guns) belonging to the Greek and German armies, army uniforms of the time, various personal belongings of the defenders, as well as a map detailing the Battle of the Forts. During visits a film is also shown that tells the story of the battle at Fort Istimpei.

Sources

* ''The original version of this article was taken from th
corresponding article
at th
''Museums of Macedonia''
website, commissioned by the Macedonian Heritage foundation, written by Vlasis Vlasidis, an

under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 license.'' {{Greece during World War II World War II museums in Greece Istibey Kilkis (regional unit) Museums in Central Macedonia