"Totleben" (fort): history, photo, location

In memory of a talented military engineer whose ideas opened a new era in fortification, Count Eduard Ivanovich Totlebene (1818-1884) named two forts. The concepts he expressed were contrary to the generally accepted direction in this field of military art, and the experience gained in the Crimean and Eastern campaigns allowed to build defenses the best at that time for fortification.

Full carte blanche

The first fortification, named "Totleben", is a fort in the Kerch fortress. Eduard Ivanovich, who in 1859 occupied the post of director of the engineering department of the military department, enjoyed the full trust and support of Alexander II in the construction of the Kerch fortress. In 1872, the work on finishing the structure was completed and fully satisfied the king, who drove there with the inspection. And so the main strengthening of the fortress was received by the order of Alexander II the name "Totleben". The fort is located in the narrowest part of the Kerch Strait, on the cape AK-Burun.

Miracle of military engineering

The fortress itself was built around the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 , which forbids Russia to have a military fleet and coastal fortifications. A kind of dungeon, or fortress in the fortress, was called "Totleben". The fort joins the structure itself with the longest 600 meter tunnel. This stronghold was built for 20 years and was one of the two most grandiose and most important seaside citadels erected in the XIX century - Kerch and Kronstadt. The Black Sea fort was an ideal and perfect fortification - everything was planned to the last detail, down to the pigeon post station. Barracks for soldiers, sidewalks, water reservoirs, underground galleries and mine courses - everything was built taking into account the experience accumulated during the defense of Sevastopol and with concern for the defenders of the fortress, which the builders made as invisible as possible, covering all the stone structures with earth.

How to get there

In this place is the highest point of Crimea - 110 meters, on which there is a monument to the genius of military engineering, named in his honor "Totleben". Fort protected coastal batteries from the mainland. The fortress "Kerch" is now not in the best condition - it is abandoned. But on the territory of the object group tours are held regularly. Now it is not easy to reach it by public transport - by bus number 6, departing from the central bus station, you need to get to the stop "Woodworking branch". Further - only on foot. There are no detailed indexes - navigating by navigator or by interviewing local residents. Own transport to go to the end of Taman Street, passing to the collective farm, the last point of which is the fortress.

One of the forts of Kronstadt

One of the objects of the defensive system of Kronstadt also bears the name of E. I. Totleben. The erection of this fortress began after the construction of the citadel on the Black Sea (in 1872). In 1879, the project began, based on two bulk islands - the basis for two forts, taken for the coastline. Conditionally they were designated Fort "A" and Fort "B". The first was to settle on the shallows 10 km from the island of Kotlin and 4 km from Sestroretsk, the second - 7 km south-west of the fort "A" and 4 km from Kotlin. Fort "A" cost the treasury of 6.5 million rubles. Gold, fort "B" - in 7 million rubles. Work on the construction of defensive structures was to be completed by 1903, but by this time only poured and fortified the islands. Only in 1913 the fortifications were put into operation. After the completion of the works, Fort A began to be called Totleben, in honor of the great military engineer who took an active part in its construction, the second object was named Obruchev.

All inclusive

Fort Totleben (photo attached) had the shape of the letter "C". The front part was deployed to the west - the eternal enemy of Russia. The front part, consisting of three sectors, and two rounded flanks together reached a length of 700 meters, the width of the structure was 50 meters.

When it was erected, the sad experience of the Russo-Japanese War and serious changes in artillery was taken into account. "Totleben" was a military town, provided with everything necessary in view of the conduct of modern war. An interesting fact is how the tsarist government took care of its soldiers. On the territory of the fort there was a system for water desalination and purification, 6 diesel generators, sewage and water supply, well-equipped barracks for 800 people and an officer corps, a hospital and a pharmacy, a bakery and a church, a cinema and a library, baths, warehouses and a glacier, a telegraph and a telephone station . On the rear side there was a harbor for the approach of ships along which the street passed.

Ruthless Time

A miracle of engineering thought was the fort "Totleben". The history of the continued existence of this costly and interesting object is bleak. After the revolution, he was given the new name "Pervomaisky". In fairness, it should be noted that in 1923, 10-inch guns were replaced with those removed from the cruiser Rurik, their range increased from the former 18 to 20 km. Systematically carried out repairs.

Active participation in the fort took in the Soviet-Finnish war. The last modernization was carried out in 1950-1954. Then everything went downhill - in 1955 the garrison was disbanded and artillery was removed, in 1957 the fort was removed from all types of records, and since 1958 the once powerful fortification is empty and abandoned.

Unpunished vandalism

Nothing changed when Totleben was taken on the balance of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council and in 1990 it was included in the UNESCO list. Good days came back when, from the 1990s, the restorer and the artist from St. Petersburg, Vladimir Tkachenko, began to look after the object , which became a volunteer commandant. He did not clean up, repair, and equip the Fort Totleben in words, not in words. How to get here? This issue did not face the barbarians who came on the ice in the winter of 2008. All the works of V. Tkachenko were destroyed, everything was wrecked, burnt and plundered. And where did the staff of the strong point of the Ministry for Emergency Situations, located here in 1999, look?

Summer excursions around the Gulf of Finland

Now the unit is being watched by volunteers and search and rescue units "Bereg". Visit the fort without special permission and documents can not, but as part of the tour can be. What kind of organized visits? They are carried out only in the summer, the order can be made by phone, available in the manuals.

The organizers are given the opportunity to inspect several similar objects of the Gulf of Finland, and not just Fort Totleben. The tour includes visits to the following points - "First Southern", forts "Alexander I", "Milutin", "Obruchev" and "Totleben".

In winter everything is simpler. As noted above, you can get on the ice of the Gulf of Finland, there would be permission to visit the fort "Totleben". How to get there in the summer? Only as part of the excursion. Independent arrival on boats and boats is strictly prohibited, because the risk to life is too great. Of course, there are many hunters independently to visit the fort, and there are also owners of boats ready to violate the regulations for the corresponding bribes.