Secret bunkers and bomb shelters in Switzerland

During World War II, Switzerland had an extensive network of secret bomb shelters and military bunkers, with a total of approximately 8,000. Then came the period of the Cold War, during which Switzerland not only continued to invest, but also increased the total investment in the maintenance of current bomb shelters and the construction of new ones. The government's plans included providing a huge number of residential buildings with antinuclear bunkers in case of a catastrophe.

Currently, due to the reduction in the level of the threat of nuclear conflict and the very expensive content, the number of bunkers has begun to decline. Some of them were sold, some were closed, while others were converted into hotels, museums, cheese dairies and even mushroom farms.

The dimensions of a typical Swiss bomb shelter are 2.5 by 3.5 meters. Often such a bunker was located in the basement of a residential building. It was made of materials traditional for such an object - reinforced concrete.

Pictured is the city of Faulensee, where in the foreground you can see perfectly camouflaged former artillery fortresses of the Swiss army

On the right is the former machine-gun bunker (Realp village, Switzerland)

Entrance to one of the secret bomb shelters on the most significant mountain pass of Switzerland, St. Gotthard

A narrow tunnel where two adults can barely disperse (artillery fort in Faulensee)

The room in the same fort in Faulensee, where the gun is installed

If you look into the barrel of the gun, you can find that it is rifled, thereby achieving high range and accuracy

On top of the trunk is an emblem in the form of a shield on which the flag of Switzerland is located

Another secret bunker where the command post was located (Attinghausen commune in the canton of Uri)

Sasso da Pigna Fortress (Saint-Gotthard Pass): the inscription on the poster indicates that it is a military facility where you can’t enter and where, of course, it is forbidden to photograph or video

So in one of the artillery fortresses in Switzerland looks like an operating room

The artillery bunker perfectly disguised in the rock, if you look closely, you can see the barrel of a hidden gun (Saint-Gotthard pass)

And here is a closer shot

Inside view

Not so far from this object there is another, also no less skillfully camouflaged

An artillery fort near Faulensee - this is his command post

There is also a former artillery fort in Faulensee itself, and although now it is only a museum, it was actively used for military purposes from 1943 to 1993

This military facility is located in the Swiss commun Duggingen and looks like an ordinary medieval house, but this is only a cover

Another bunker is located near Erstfeld, but at the moment its territory has been adapted for growing mushrooms.

The bunker of the city of Giswil also changed its military mission, now there is a cheese factory

And this army bunker did become a great hotel (at the Saint-Gotthard pass)

Watch the video: Switzerland - Bunkers for Civil Protection (May 2024).