The secret of the Bobruisk fortress

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

During the construction of the Bobruisk-Arena ice palace, the builders encountered something that historians and archaeologists could not explain.

When the workers began to remove a layer of earth near the 3rd landfill, adjacent to Karbyshev Street, at a depth of 5 meters, the excavator unexpectedly rested its bucket on the brickwork. According to the rules, any work on a historical site must be carried out in the presence of historians.

Mikhail Bondarenko, Chairman of the Bobruisk City Council of People's Deputies, arrived at the "scene".

“It’s possible that this is a shooting gallery, going in-oh-oh-n from that fortification,” he suggested, nodding at a nearby gorz reduite. - Or maybe an artillery shaft. Science will, of course, give you a more accurate answer.

Science arrived ten minutes later. In the person of Nadezhda Mironova, the chief specialist of the Institute of Urban Planning for the regeneration of historical centers of cities, and Alla Ilyutik, a researcher at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The women took some diagrams out of their bags and began to navigate the terrain.

“No, this is not a shooting gallery,” Nadezhda Alexandrovna pronounced a verdict soon. “She can't be here. And there can be no artillery barrage. Here, take a look at the diagram, we are standing here …

Indeed, according to the scheme, the trench was dug behind the ditch, and the gallery should generally be on the other side. What then did the bucket of the machine rest against?

In search of an answer to this question, the guests of the capital went downstairs. After the workers removed some more soil with shovels, the mysteries did not diminish, but arrived: a large - one and a half meters long - beam, worked out of fine limestone, appeared to the eyes of scientists.

- Now it is even difficult to imagine what it is, - Alla Vladimirovna shrugged her shoulders. - Maybe when the fortification was blown up, some fragments got here? It will be possible to say something concrete only if the workers completely open this site.

When asked why the third polygon was chosen as the primary object of restoration, Nadezhda Alexandrovna explained:

- Of course, if taken separately, some of the fortifications look no worse, or even better. But the 3rd test site is the only complex of fortifications that has survived in full. After all, what we see now is only the upper part of it. The lower floors are buried in the ground. As well as the reduction of the outgoing bridgehead, located on the side of the Minsk suburb, we, by the way, have not yet been able to find it - today this territory is occupied by the military.

The Minsk gates were not found either, although, according to the military, they should also be preserved, since in the seventies they were littered with lignin."

“Lignin (from Lat. Lignum - wood, wood) is a substance that characterizes the stiffened walls of plant cells. A complex polymeric compound found in the cells of vascular plants and some algae. The stiffened cell walls have an ultrastructure that can be compared with the structure of reinforced concrete: cellulose microfibrils correspond in their properties to reinforcement, and lignin, which has a high compressive strength, corresponds to concrete."

Bobruisk is a city of regional subordination in Belarus, the administrative center of the Bobruisk district of the Mogilev region.

After the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the territory of the Russian Empire expanded, and its borders moved to the west, finding themselves inside the old line of defense. Catherine II, having conceived to strengthen the borders with new fortresses, drew attention to the favorable location of Bobruisk. By decree of the Empress, the city received the status of a county, as well as its own coat of arms depicting a ship's mast and two crossed trees. The heraldic symbol denoted the main business of the Bobruisk people - the rafting of mast timber for the construction of the fleet in the Black and Baltic Seas. In the last years of the reign of Catherine II, barracks, a hospital and a military warehouse were built in Bobruisk.

The construction of the Bobruisk fortress as such began only in 1810 under Alexander I. New citadels - Bobruisk and Dinaburg - were called upon to close a gap 1200 miles wide between the fortifications of Riga and Kiev. As an alternative to Bobruisk, it was supposed to build a fortress in Rogachev, but Lieutenant Theodor Narbut, having explored the area, drew attention to the high bank of the Berezina, where the Bobruisk castle once stood. The idea of Narbut, picked up by the engineer-general Karl Opperman, was highly approved by Alexander I. The project managers pinned their hopes on the fact that the enemy would hardly dare to take the fortress by storm from the river and with the elevated relief.

The fate of Bobruisk was decided: the 400-year-old city was wiped off the face of the earth, destroying residential houses and religious buildings, trade shops, a mill, a hotel and other structures. They left only the foundation of the old Jesuit church, turning it into an ammunition storage. The peasants were offered free land around the fortress and free forest for the construction of new houses. In a short time, by 1812, a powerful system of forts, interconnected by earth fortifications, had grown over the steep bank of the Berezina.

According to the testimony of old residents, egg yolks and river shells were added to the fortress brick for strength. Opperman reinforced the already impregnable stronghold with deep, disguised pits ("wolf's mouths") and underground passages, allowing raids behind enemy lines.

The fortress in Bobruisk was equipped with the latest European fortification, which allowed its garrison to withstand the 4-month siege of Napoleon. For three days (6 - 8 July) the citadel gave refuge to the commander Bagration, providing his army with new fighters (about 1, 5 thousand people) and provisions. Thanks to the three-day rest, Bagration managed to unite in time with the 1st Russian army of Barclay de Tolly near Smolensk, and this played an important role in the defeat of Napoleon.

Contrary to Bonaparte's expectations, in Bobruisk, he was not awaited by a medieval town, but a powerful fortress, ready to meet the enemy fully armed. Jan Dombrowski, a divisional general of the Napoleonic army, did not dare to storm and was content with the blockade of the Bobruisk fortress. Dombrowski could only put up 20 cannons against 300 fortress guns. In November, the Russian army under the command of Tormasov liberated Bobruisk, but the citadel fulfilled its mission, holding back the onslaught of the French troops.

The merciless time destroyed the Bobruisk fortress - today about 50 objects have survived: several forts, redoubt bastions, barracks, fragments of ramparts and the building of a former Jesuit church.