Fortification №2

There are a lot of fortifications near the August Channel. Among them there are forts of Grodno fortress. The first projects of the fortifications appeared in 1807. However, more complete plan was proposed only in 1880.

The first forts of Grodno fortress were built in the late XIX century. According to some sources, the construction of field fortifications on the approaches to the forts had being carried out during the First World War - until the beginning of battles to protect Grodno in August 1915. Military and civil engineers were responsible for building process. As a result, 13 defensive fortifications appeared around Grodno.

Forts were erected on hills. A fortification was a complex military structure, constructed for long-term defense. Forts were almost unassailable from the front side. Their length was up to 150 m. They were encircled by concrete steps leading upward - to the main line of defense. Large earth walls enclosed with wire were located on the inner courtyards of the fortifications.

The most famous fortification is Fort №2. The defensive structure was located opposite the village Naumovichi, next to the road to Sopotskin, not far from the August Canal. The length of its main facade was about 150 m, thickness of walls - about 2 m. In 1939-1941 the fort was included into the system of Grodno fortifications. There were loopholes of 9th machine-gun artillery battalion in the building.

The Fort is known because it took part in two world wars. During the First World War it was a fortification. However it was blown up in the night from 19th to 20th August, 1915. Because it could not any longer to deter the enemy forces. The fortress ceased to exist, but during the First World War the German side had not achieved its goal - to defeat Russian forces and compel the Russian Empire to sign the Instrument of surrender.

In the 1941-1943 years German soldiers were shooting civilians in Grodno and surrounding villages near the ruins of the fort №2. After the war the memorial to the victims of fascism was erected on the place of mass murder: a grieving mother mourns her sons who died in both wars.

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