The fortress of Ulm (Bundesfestung Ulm) was one of five federal fortresses of the German Confederation around the cities of Ulm and Neu-Ulm. With its 9 km polygonal main circumvallation Ulm had the biggest fortress in Germany and Europe in the 19th century and it is still one of the biggest in Europe.[1][2]
After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the victorious powers agreed to defend the states from the inside. The fortresses were one of the few realised projects of the confederation. The fortress Ulm was planned by the Prussian construction manager Moritz Karl Ernst von Prittwitz und Gaffron and built under his supervision between 1842 and 1859.[3]
In peacetimes the fortress should hold 5,000 men of the federal army, in wartimes up to 20,000 soldiers. A plan to expand the fortress to hold 100,000 men was never realised. The building costs were valued at 16,5 mio. guilders.
The fortress is a closed, polygonal wall system around the cities of Ulm in the Kingdom of Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in the Kingdom of Bavaria. In some distance detached works were added. The at this time first stone bridge across the Danube laid between both cities inside of the fortress. The next stone bridge was in Regensburg.
For the first time the bastion system was given up and replaced by a polygonal system with detached works, which is called Neupreußische Manier (New Prussian Fortress System) or Neudeutsche Manier (New German Fortress System). The later constructed works at the upper Eselsberg were built as so-called "Biehler-Forts".
List of works
Ulm
City circumvallation
Work No.
Name
Built
Today's shape
I
Obere Donaubastion
1843–55
Reduit preserved, ramparts demolished in 1914
II
Curtain wall with Ehinger Tor
1843–55
Inner Gate Ehingen and parts of the middle gate preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1903–04
III
Ravelin before Ehinger Tor
1843–55
Completely levelled 1903–04
IV
Middle Bastion
1843–55
Reduit preserved, remainder demolished in 1903–04
V
Blau flèche
1843–55
Completely levelled 1903–04
VI
Curtain wall with Blaubeurer Tor
1843–55
Inner gate and 100 m of the curtain wall preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1903/04
VII
Ravelin before Blaubeurer Tor
1843–55
Completely levelled 1903–04
VIII
Curtain wall to the Kienlesberg
1843–55
Completely levelled 1903–04
IX
Counterguard Kienlesberg
1843–52
Part of the Gate Ruhetal preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1903–04
X
Kienlesbergbastion
1843–52
Nearly completely preserved
XI
West mountain front
1843–52
Nearly completely preserved
XII
Wilhelmsburg
1842–48
Completely preserved
XIII
Left feeder line
1852–57
Completely preserved
XIV
Left redoubt
1852–57
Completely preserved
XV
Curtain wall between the redoubts
1852–57
Completely preserved
XVI
Right redoubt
1852–57
Completely preserved
XVII
Right feeder line
1852–57
Completely preserved
XVIII
East mountain front
1843–58
Nearly completely preserved
XIX
Obere Gaisenbergbastion
1843–58
Nearly completely preserved, but right side was demolished in 1904
XX
Curtain wall
1843–58
Only the caponniere is preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1916
XXI
Untere Gaisenbergbastion
1843–58
Just the double caponniere and parts of the escarped are preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1962
XXII
Curtain Wall to the Untere Donaubastion with Stuttgarter Tor and Friedrichsautor
1845–55
Only the glacis is preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1903–04
XXIII
Counterguard Untere Donaubastion
1845–55
Completely levelled
XXIV
Untere Donaubastion
1845–55
Reduit preserved, all other parts were demolished
XXV
Oberer Donauturm
1845–55
Completely preserved
XXVI
Obere Stadtkehle with Ländetor
1845–55
Partially preserved
XXVII
Untere Stadtkehle
1843–55
Partially preserved
XXVIII
Unterer Donauturm
1843–55
Completely preserved
Forts
Work No.
Name
Built
Today's shape
XXIX
Unterer Kuhberg
1846–58
Nearly completely preserved, area built-up
XXX
Horn work
1846–58
Completely preserved
XXXI
Mittlerer Kuhberg
1855–57
Ruined in 1944 by an explosion caused by a supposed blind shell, ruins demolished in 1962.
2) That work no. was planned to be a turret in the Ruhe valley, which was not built for financial reasons.
3) The work no. was passed to Fort Oberer Eselsberg Hauptwerk in 1881.
Neu-Ulm
City circumvallation
Name
Built
Today's shape
Half bastion 1 with Augsburger Tor
1844–54
Train pillbox, parts of the glacis and one flank battery preserved, all other parts were demolished in 1958–60
Curtain wall with caponniere 2
1844–54
Gradually demolished between 1903 and 1958
Bastion 3
1844–54
Gradually demolished between 1903 and 1958
Curtain wall with caponniere 4
1844–54
Demolished before 1945, the caponniere was restored in 2006–08
Bastion 5 with war hospital
1844–54
Nearly completely preserved
Curtain wall with caponniere 6
1844–54
Completely preserved
Bastion 7 with powder magazine II
1844–54
Completely preserved
Curtain wall with caponniere 8
1844–54
Nearly completely preserved
Half bastion 9 with Memminger Tor
1844–54
Nearly completely preserved
Forts
Name
Built
Today's shape
12 Schwaighofen
1850–53
Nearly completely preserved, but deformed by additional buildings
13 Ludwigsvorfeste
1850–53
Completely preserved
14 Illerkanal
1850–53
Completely preserved
The fort 10 (near Offenhausen) and the gun turret 11 on the railroad Ulm – Munich were not built for cost reasons. The plans for work XLI Friedrichsau had to be changed for this. Work 14 was to be work 15, between 13 and 15 a small fort was planned and later also canceled. The fort Illerkanal was nameless until the completion of the Iller channel in 1906. An additional fort near Pfuhl was planned in the mid-1860s, but cancelled due to the dissolution of the German Confederation. Instead of the fort the infantry base Kapellenberg was built in the 1900s (see below).
Expansion of fortification between 1881 and 1914
As the weapons were improved, the fortress had to be improved too. On Fort Oberer Kuhberg, the front wall and side towers were reduced in height, and around many forts, infantry fences were installed. Two new forts were built on the Eselsberg (see #Forts).
1901–1910
Between 1901 and 1910 several new buildings were constructed to support the fortress. These buildings were (beginning with Böfingen and moving counterclockwise around Ulm):
Name
Built
Location
Today's shape
Infantry base Böfingen
1903–04
Alfred-Delp-Weg, Böfingen
Completely demolished
Infantry base Haslach
1901–02
Heidenheimer Straße, east of Örlingen
Completely demolished
Infantry base Jungingen east
1901–02
east of Albstraße, Jungingen
Overbuilt
Infantry base Jungingen center
1901–02
Albstraße / Franzenhauser Weg, Jungingen
Completely demolished
Infantry base Jungingen west
1901–02
Stuttgarter Straße, Jungingen
Completely demolished
Infantry base Spitzäcker
1908–10
Lerchenfeldstraße, north of Lehr
Completely demolished
Infantry base Lehr
1905–07
Tobelstraße, west of Lehr
Completely demolished
Infantry base Weinberge
1901–02
east of Heilmeyersteige, Eselsberg
Completely demolished
Infantry base Gleißelstetten
1901–02
Hasensteige, Söflingen
Completely demolished
Infantry base Kapellenberg
1907–09
Narzissenweg, Pfuhl
Overbuilt
1914–1916
The last major expansion of the front line took place in the first years of World War I. 93 works were to be built or improved, the majority of them were never actually constructed or completed. The numbering began with the trench 1 between Obertalfingen and Böfingen, went counterclockwise around Ulm and Neu-Ulm and ended with trench 78 on the other side of the Danube. Between the bases 21 and 22 was the trench 21a. In the south an own front line was to be installed, consisting of the bases 3c near Ludwigsfeld and 2b south of Wiblingen, and the trenches 2a, 3a, 3a II, 4a, 4a II, 1b, 1b II, 3b, 4b, 1c and 2c.
74 of these works were to be trenches. The works 3, 8, 14, 18, 21, 37, 45, 54, 58, 63, 76, 2b and 3c were to be infantry bases. Only the bases 45 in the Maienwäldle and 58 south of Neu-Ulm are completely preserved. The bases Spitzäcker, Lehr, Weinberge and Kapellenberg and the forts Oberer Eselsberg Hauptwerk and Oberer Eselsberg Nebenwerk were improved and integrated in the numbering system as works 22, 26, 32, 70, 29 and 30 respectively.
Furthermore 20 artillery rooms, 10 munition rooms, 4 pump stations and 9 so-called "Zwischenraumstreichen", which could cover long gaps between some works, were built behind the front lines. Of them only the pump station Buchbrunnen and the Zwischenraumstreiche 6 exist still today.
Infrastructure buildings
In Ulm and Neu-Ulm were several buildings bought or built for the garrisons.
Name or function
Built
Location
Fortress construction administration
Bought in 1842
Building Reichenauer Hof, Donaustraße, Ulm
Fortress construction yard
1845–48
Silcherstraße, Neu-Ulm
Commissariat Ulm
1860–62
Frauenstraße / Karlstraße, Ulm
Commissariat Neu-Ulm
1849–64
Silcherstraße / Krankenhausstraße, Neu-Ulm
Chevauxlegers barracks
1865–67
Flößerweg / Silcherstraße, Neu-Ulm
Karl barracks
1860–63
Between Karlstraße, Zeitblomstraße, Syrlinstraße and Keplerstraße, Ulm
Kienlesberg barracks
1865–68
Kienlesbergstraße, Ulm
Maximilian barracks
1860–67
Between Maximilianstraße, Kasernstraße, Bahnhofstraße and Ludwigstraße, Neu-Ulm
Schiller barracks
1882–91
Between Böblinger Straße and Söflinger Straße, Ulm
Sedan barracks
1909–16
Between Sedanstraße and Wörthstraße, Ulm
Hospital Gaisenberg
1862–66
Eythstraße / Prittwitzstraße, Ulm
Hospital Neu-Ulm
1862–66
Krankenhausstraße, Neu-Ulm
Imperial fortification
1876–79
Between Zeitblomstraße and Schaffnerstraße, Ulm
Military prison
1889
Frauenstraße / Holzstraße, Ulm
Civilist prison
Around 1890
Talfinger Straße / Wielandstraße, Ulm
Protestant garrison church
1908–10
Frauenstraße, Ulm
Catholic garrison church
1902–04
Frauenstraße / Olgastraße, Ulm
Furthermore several officer's messes, powder magazines, artillery depots and the like were erected. Some of the buildings still stand today, but are used differently with exceptions: The civilian prison is still in use today as a place of detention and the churches were opened for the citizens as Pauluskirche (Protestant) and St. Georg (catholic).
