See also
- Die Festung , novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Look up festung in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Festung is a generic German word for a fortress. Although it is not in common usage in English, it is used in a number of historical contexts involving German speakers:
A national redoubt or national fortress is an area to which the (remnant) military forces of a nation can be withdrawn if the main battle has been lost or even earlier if defeat is considered inevitable. Typically, a region is chosen with a geography favouring defence, such as a mountainous area or a peninsula, to function as a final holdout to preserve national independence and host an effective resistance movement for the duration of the conflict.
Königstein Fortress, the "Saxon Bastille", is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, Germany, above the town of Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the table hill of the same name.
In the German language, Festung Warschau is the term used to refer to a fortified and well-defended Warsaw. In the 20th century, the term was in use on three occasions during World War I and World War II. It was used when the Germans threw back the Russian advance in 1914, where Warsaw came within distance of the fighting in October. The term resurfaced during the September 1939 German invasion of Poland. Later in the second war, the term resurfaced between September 1944 and January 1945, when the retreating Germans tried to establish a defense in the city against the advancing Soviet Union.
German fortressesduring World War II were bridgeheads, cities, islands and towns designated by Adolf Hitler as areas that were to be fortified and stocked with food and ammunition in order to hold out against Allied offensives.
Modlin Fortress is one of the largest 19th-century fortresses in Poland. It is located in the town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki in district Modlin on the Narew river, approximately 50 kilometers north of Warsaw. It was originally constructed by the French from 1806 to 1812.
Fortress Warsaw may refer to:
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is a fortress in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the east bank of the Rhine where it is joined by the Moselle, overlooking the town of Koblenz.
Fortress Europe was a military propaganda term used by both sides of the Second World War which referred to the areas of Continental Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, as opposed to the United Kingdom across the Channel.
Festung Norwegen was the German term for the heavy defence and fortification system of Norway during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany in World War II. Some, including Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, thought that these fortifications would serve effectively as a last perimeter of defense for the Third Reich in the event of Allied victory on the continent. This led to German troops being kept away from mainland Europe, which resulted in a quicker end to the war.
The Stalingrad Madonna is an image of the Virgin Mary drawn by a German soldier, Kurt Reuber, in 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad. The original is displayed in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin, while copies now hang in the cathedrals of Berlin, Coventry, and Kazan Cathedral, Volgograd, as a sign of the reconciliation between Germany and its enemies the United Kingdom and Russia during the Second World War.
The Battle of Kolberg or Battle of Kołobrzeg was the taking of the city of Kolberg, now the city of Kołobrzeg, in Pomerania by the Soviet Army and its Polish allies from Nazi German forces during the World War II East Pomeranian Offensive. Between 4 and 18 March 1945 there was major urban fighting of the Soviet and Polish forces against the German army for the control over the city. The Germans succeeded in evacuating much of their military personnel and refugees from the city via sea before it was taken by the Poles on 18 March.
The Battle of Poznań during World War II in 1945 was an assault by the Soviet Union's Red Army that had as its objective the elimination of the Nazi German garrison in the stronghold city of Poznań (Posen) in occupied Poland. The defeat of the German garrison required a month-long reduction of fortified positions, urban combat, and a final assault on the city's citadel by the Red Army, complete with medieval touches.
The defense of Brest Fortress was the first battle of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union launched on 22 June 1941. The German Army attacked without warning, expecting to take Brest on the first day, using only infantry and artillery, but it took them a week, and only after two bombardments by the Luftwaffe. Many defenders were killed or captured.
The Border Line defenses of Switzerland were constructed in the late 1930s in response to increasing tensions between Switzerland and its neighbours, chiefly the Axis powers of Germany and Italy. The Border Line was planned to slow or hold an invading force at the border. It consisted of a series of bunkers spaced at short intervals along the French, German and Austrian borders. The bunkers were reinforced by larger multi-blockhouse forts at key points. Most of the positions were within two or three kilometers of the frontier.
The Swiss National Redoubt is a defensive plan developed by the Swiss government beginning in the 1880s to respond to foreign invasion. In the opening years of the Second World War the plan was expanded and refined to deal with a potential German invasion. The term "National Redoubt" primarily refers to the fortifications begun in the 1880s that secured the mountainous central part of Switzerland, providing a defended refuge for a retreating Swiss Army.
The Alpine Fortress or Alpine Redoubt was the World War II German national redoubt planned by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in November and December 1943. Plans envisaged Germany's government and armed forces retreating to an area from "southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy". The scheme was never fully endorsed by Hitler, and no serious attempt was made to put it into operation, although the concept served as an effective tool of propaganda and military deception carried out by the Germans in the final stages of the war. After surrendering to the Americans, the Wehrmacht General Kurt Dittmar told them that the redoubt never existed.
The 297th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, formed twice. Its first formation was formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed during Case Blue, the German summer offensive towards Stalingrad, in 1942. Reformed in the summer of 1943, the division's second formation fought in combat for the rest of the war before being disbanded postwar.
The ruins of the Gestelnburg castle are situated above the village of Niedergesteln in Valais, Switzerland, on a rocky ridge called Feschti. The castle was probably built during the 12th century by the powerful Barons de la Tour, which are also called in German Herrn vom Turn. The rule of this family ended during the wars against the bishop of Sion in the second half of the 14th century, and the castle was finally destroyed by the Upper Valaisans in 1384. Exactly 600 years later, a project was started to restore the ruins and make them more easily accessible. Behind the castle there is a cave called Feschtiloch, which originates from the last ice age. The Gestelnburg is a Swiss cultural property of national importance.
