Virtual Walking Tour of the most beautiful place in Eastern Europe – the Fortress of the early 19th century, located in the city of Bobruisk in Belarus. It’s a historical landmark. Construction began in 1810, the fortress played a significant role in the Patriotic War of 1812 .
I have a village near Bobruisk, a few kilometers from here. It’s located next to the Berezina river. The city is located on the other side of the river. My grandfather participated in the partisan movement in these forests during the Second World War, my grandmother also helped as much as she could. Not once, for all my childhood, and then, for all my life, I didn’t hear a word, either from them, or from someone I knew about this Fortress, until one of my friends introduced me to it recently. I was impressed. In terms of the territory it occupies, it is larger than the legendary Brest Fortress, and was designed by the same architect. Bobruisk Fortress played a huge role in the war of 1812. Built of brick, some of the solutions and masonry geometry are simply amazing. The monumentality of the building is unavoidably impressive.
Today, the fortress is left to itself, its forts are just in the form of ruins, some of them are closed, some, as in this video, are completely abandoned and you can walk on them. In one of the working buildings – a workshop, in the other – a quest game, like Fort Bayard. In general, this expanse is for lovers of ruins and catacombs, which has a huge tourist or art potential, with an investment, of course, no less than a lot of money … which, of course, is never there …
On the eve of a possible war with Napoleon , in March 1810, Minister of War Barclay de Tolly submitted to Emperor Alexander I a memorandum “On the protection of the western borders of Russia.” It outlined a plan for preparing the western regions of the Russian Empire for war, and it was proposed to build new defensive fortifications as bridgeheads.
The construction of new fortresses was supposed to close a gap 1200 miles wide between the existing fortresses of Riga and Kiev .
The creation of a fortress in Bobruisk began on June 4, 1810. It was erected by thousands of soldiers and serfs of the Mogilev , Minsk , Chernigov provinces . Materials were delivered from Ukraine, Karelia, the Caucasus, the Urals. The builder of the fortress was appointed Major General E.P. Felkerzam , the troops on the construction were commanded by Major General Ignatiev . According to Opperman’s project, the fortress was planned on the right bank of the Berezina River, at the mouth of the Bobruika River. On the other side of the river, it was planned to build an advanced fortification, and on the left bank it was supposed to accommodate a tete-de-pont. For residents, free land was allocated around the fortress, where outposts were designed. The work was carried out intensively, and by the end of 1811 the forts , directed to the north, west and south, already had an impressive defensive strength. The main defensive line of the fortress consisted of 8 bastions . In July 1811, the Bobruisk fortress was ranked among the first class of defensive structures of the Russian Empire.
By the beginning of the war, 344 guns were put into service with the fortress, its garrison numbered about 4 thousand people. It was considered an important stronghold of the Russian army on the path of the southern strategic flank of the Napoleonic troops.
Patriotic War of 1812
At the beginning of hostilities, the fortress played a significant role in ensuring the movement of Bagration ‘s 2nd Western Army . During the stay in Bobruisk on July 6-8, 1812, the 2nd Army replenished food supplies here, received reinforcements (about 1.5 thousand people) and left the sick and wounded in the fortress, which allowed it to safely connect with the 1st Western Army under the command of Barclay de Tolly in Smolensk . Over the next four months (July-November), the Bobruisk fortress was blocked by the Polish corps of General Dombrovsky(about 12 thousand people). Active combat operations around the city, with the exception of skirmishes of small sidings on distant approaches to the citadel, were not conducted. Nevertheless, military historians note the important role of the Bobruisk fortress in the war of 1812. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky wrote: “The successful choice of the place where Bobruisk was built rendered a great, invaluable service during the Patriotic War. No fortress in Russia has ever been as useful as Bobruisk in 1812. If there had not been a fortress there, it would have been impossible for Prince Bagration to unite with the first army before the end of August, and then it would already be in the vicinity of Moscow
I like to travel, explore the world. Look behind the scenes of cities and face the wind and freedom in the wild. I love what I see and feel when I’m on the road. And I would like to share this with those who are also close to the voice of the road and an active lifestyle.