Fort Beniaminów is a military installation in Beniaminów, some east of Warsaw. Designed by a Polish-born Russian General
Konstanty Wieliczko, the fort was constructed in 1904 as part of the outer ring of defences of the
Warsaw Fortress. Conveniently located near the southern bank of
Bugonarew, it was to shield the then-Russian city of Warsaw from an enemy force trying to attack it from the East: possibly a German Army trying to outflank the Russian army from
East Prussia. It was to cooperate with two earlier forts in
Wawer
Wawer is one of the districts of Warsaw, located in the south-eastern part of the city. The Vistula river runs along its western border. Wawer became a district of Warsaw on 27 October 2002 (previously it was a part of Praga Południe district, a ...
and
Kawęczyn (built between 1892 and 1893) and two more modern forts in
Pustelniki and
Maciołki (their construction never started).
The fort was almost finished in 1909, when - in the effect of the lost
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
a set of military reforms was passed by the Russian government. As a consequence the Warsaw Fortress was disbanded and the Russian Army started dismantling all the forts in the vicinity of Warsaw. Fort Beniaminów was not demolished, but all armaments and supplies were removed and the construction abandoned in 1913.
Consequently the fort did not play any part in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and in 1915 was captured by the Imperial German Army without a fight. The Germans re-militarised the construction and used its
barracks as a military prison housing, among others, the soldiers of the
Polish Legions following the
Oath Crisis
The Oath crisis ( pl, Kryzys przysięgowy) was a World War I political conflict between the Imperial German Army command and the Józef Piłsudski-led Polish Legions.
Initially supporting the Central Powers against Imperial Russia, Piłsudski ...
. During the
Polish-Bolshevist War of 1920 the Polish Army used the fort in the
Battle of Radzymin (part of the
Battle of Warsaw), but the construction was not involved in direct combat as the Russian forces never reached it.
Between the World Wars the barracks of the fort, located some away in Białobrzegi, were used by the 2nd Radio-telegraphic Battalion. Following the German and Soviet
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in 1939 the fort was taken over by the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
and slightly modernised. The barracks again served as a prison, this time in the form of
Stalag 368 for
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
prisoners of war. In 1944 the fort was captured by Soviet forces and partially blown up (all gun
casemates for flanking fire and the
caponier
A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...
s).
Currently the fort is in private hands. Parts of the military infrastructure of the barracks houses the 9th Command Regiment, while the rest were transformed into apartment houses.
References
*
Forty.waw.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Beniaminow
Beniaminow