Tarakaniv Fort (), also known as Dubno fort () is a 19th-century

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

located next to Tarakaniv village in the

Dubno Raion Dubno Raion () is a raion (district) in Rivne Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is located in Dubno. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Rivne Oblast was reduce ...

Rivne Oblast Rivne Oblast (), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is . Its population is: Before its annexation by the ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was commissioned and built by Alexander II of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and can be found next to

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Highway M06 on the right bank of the Ikva river. The fortress could accommodate up to 800 people.

History

Building

After the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

in the end of the 18th century (1795),

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Austrian empires started to share a common border. In order to secure the western frontiers of the newly annexed lands, the government under the rule of Alexander II decided to build a fortress next to a railroad going from

, not far from the town of

Dubno Dubno (, ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (oblast, province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the capital city, administrative center of Dubno Raion ...

. The construction, however, was postponed for about 50 years due to the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

and

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. The building of

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

s and provisional earthworks of the fortress commenced in the 1860s under supervision of

(1853) veteran Eduard Totleben. In 1873, about 66 million

ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

s were levied by the government for the project. In the 1870s through 1880s, the fortress was actively built. Besides stone works and bricks used for primary material of the building,

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

, previously unknown in the Russian Empire as building material, was also used. Materials were delivered by railroad, and almost all works were done by subcontractors. By the 1890s, the fortress was finished and Emperor Alexander II with family have visited it to make a final assessment. On February 2, 1905, troops that were stationed in the fortress rebelled due to officers abusing soldiers and poor food supply conditions. The rebellion was suppressed, the units dissolved, and the troops were sentenced to

hard labor ''Hard Labor'' is the eleventh album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released in 1974. For this album, the band replaced long-time producer Richard Podolor with Jimmy Ienner, who was known for his production work with the Raspberries ...

. The fortress was turned into a military prison, with disciplinary battalion of deployed there instead.

World War I

In 1912, Dmitry Karbyshev, a military engineer, visited the fortress as part of an official commission to inspect it. In the beginning of 1915, during the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the fortress was used by the Southwestern Front troops of the

as a defensive fortification until

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

in 1915. It was won back shortly after the Brusilov offensive in the summer of 1916, when the 4th Austria-Hungary army was pushed out of the fortress. Allegedly, 200 soldiers of the Austrian army are buried in the vicinity of the fortress as a result of the battle.

Interwar period

In 1920, the fortress was occupied by Poles and the Red Army's

1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__ The 1st Cavalry Army (), or ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horsearmy"), was a prominent Red Army military formation that served in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, Polish-Soviet War. History Formation On 17 Novem ...

led by

Semyon Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny ( rus, Семён Миха́йлович Будённый, Semyon Mikháylovich Budyonnyy, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bʊˈdʲɵnːɨj, a=ru-Simeon Budyonniy.ogg; – 26 October 1973) was a Russian and ...

attempted an attack on it, but ultimately failed. The Poles managed to flee to the local Gorbachin island as the Russians advanced and left it behind. Over 1000 Bolsheviks fell dead allegedly and some Poles were captured.

World War II

No battle for the fortress took place during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However, it was refurbished in 1933-1935 by Poles who had deployed a garrison there, but in June 1939, they lost it to advancing German troops.

Postwar

In 1965, Ministry of trade of

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

made several attempts to convert the fortress into a canned food warehouse but failed due to very high humidity and evaporation levels.

Carpathian Military District The Red Banner Carpathian Military District (, ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period. It was established on 3 May 1946 on the ...

also made a few futile attempts to utilize the space, but also failed.

Status

As of the beginning of the 21st century, the fortress remains in a dire state, mostly due to neglect and highly wet environment of the surrounding areas. In 2017, it was reported to be closed to public visits because of poor condition, but the ban is not enforced.

Characteristics

It resembles a rhombus, with each side long and up to . It has seven underground levels with a series of tunnels, kitchen accommodation, laundry, church, morgue, phone lines, 3 water wells, and

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

. It also had small warehouses for gunpowder and medical rooms. There are also a range of military accommodations and fortifications, both for troops and

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

. The rear side has a deep

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...

, which could have been crossed by a retracting bridge built in 1893 in an emergency event. The fortress could accommodate up to 800 people. The entrance was located on the east and south sides. The walls of the fortress bear many century old hand-made inscriptions.

Gallery

File:Дубенський_форт_011.jpg File:Дубенський форт 020.jpg File:Дубенський форт с.Тараканів 05.jpg File:Дубенський_форт_029.jpg File:Тараканів-форт (Дубенський форт) 06.JPG File:56-216-0041 Tarakaniv Fort RB.jpg File:56-216-0041. Дубенський форт (мур.)-1.jpg File:Fort w Tarakanowie DSC 0357.jpg File:Tarakaniv - Fort central building.JPG

Notes

References

External links

Fortress Plans on Ukrainian forum
August 19, 2007 (Ukrainian, Russian)

, (Photos of 1916) {{Castles in Ukraine Forts in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Rivne Oblast