Fortress Hanicka
TOURIST TRAIL OF FORTIFICATIONS IN ROKYTNICE REGION
The tourist instructive trail of Czechoslovak fortifications, built in the region Orlické hory in the years 1936 – 1938, consists of fourteen information boards placed along the red tourist trap leading past Panské Pole, Anenský vrch and the fortress Hanička. The fortifications along mountain ridge belong among the best preserved military for built in the Czech Republic in the 20 century.
The instructive trail of the objects of permanent fortifications built along the ridge of the mountains Orlické hory between 1936 – 1938 will take you to the places where in 1938 hundreds of brave and decided men were getting ready to defend their home country, the Czechoslovak Republic. Fourteen boards placed along the red tourist trap leading past the Panské Pole, Anenský vrch, and the fortress Hanička will serve you to gain an overall picture of a well – thought out system of fortifications, their armaments and facilities, and also about the readiness and dedication of the defenders during the fateful days in autumn 1938. The Czechoslovak fortification system was considered one of the best ones in the world in those days. However, because of the press of time necessary to complete the realization of such an extensive plan, it was impossible to finish in the time. Although firms did not manage to fully complete all the construction and installation work, the level of training and moral values of the garrison, service members of the border troop 19 from Žamberk, were so high that they would have undoubtedly been able to fulfil their mission anyway. Unfortunately, it is the bitter irony of fate that these objects served mostly for the use of the Nazi Army in the end. Having been occupied without an action, the military objects served as testing polygons or as a welcome source of high-quality material for the military industry of the Third Reich. After the World War II, state enterprise Kovošrot continued in plundering of crucible steel parts. In spite of all the unfavourable facts, range of historically valuable and interesting examples of the forticiation engineering was preserved in the area of fortress Hanička. After a few promising years at the beginning of the 1970s, when the fortress Hanička, thanks to local enthusiasts, was made temporarily accessible to the public, the location was seized by Federal Ministry of Interior of CSSR. In 1980-1992 the fortress was under extensive reconstruction with the aim to build modern command headquarters for their leading representatives. Lonesome, noticeably devastated and overgrowing ferroconcrete blocks and light forts located in the beautiful nature of the region Orlické hory should remind further generations of immense devotion of our ancestors to defend our country.
For more information about the Hradec Kralove Region, from which this fortress comes, click here and here.
