Modlin 2009-08-17
Modlin Airport.
Geographic coordinates: 52.451N 20.651E.
Modlin airport.
The airport is located in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, 40 km north-west of Warsaw, next to the international route E 77. The airport is one of the elements of a military complex of military facilities under the name Modlin Twierdza. For over 60 years, the airport was used as a military base of great importance for the defense of Poland. It is equipped with one runway (RWY), with dimensions of 2,500 m x 80 m. In 2000, a decision was made that the Ministry of National Defense resigns from this airport. Currently (2009) the airport has a career perspective as a civil airport supporting the Okęcie airport.
History of the Modlin Fortress.
The Modlin Fortress is located about 40 km north-west of Warsaw in the Warsaw Valley, in the area of the confluence of the rivers: Bug, Narew and Wisła. The fortress is often identified with the Citadel itself, which is a mistake, because it is only its inner ring and is a unique, historic barracks building. The Modlin Fortress consists of a citadel and fortified outskirts: Kazuń and Nowy Dwór, as well as two rings of forts. To this must be added the airport. The fortress is a complex of fortifications that has been extended many times and contains elements of French, Moscow and Polish fortifications. The fortress covers an area of 55 hectares. The facility is unique on a global scale as a complex of military facilities. In addition to its monumental size, it is interesting that its construction and expansion was carried out by several countries.
In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte, striving to strengthen his influence in Central and Eastern Europe, created the Duchy of Warsaw. The French army began building a number of fortresses in occupied Poland. The decision to build the Modlin Fortress is made in December 1806. In 1809, today’s inner ring of the citadel was ready. On December 1, 1813, the fortress was besieged by Muscovites (Moscow troops) and surrendered.
A thorough reconstruction of the fortress and its expansion took place during the occupation of the Moscow state. On December 4, 1830, the fortress became the main seat of Polish soldiers during the November Uprising. However, on October 9, 1831, the Polish garrison capitulated. The Muscovites began to expand the fortress. The construction of the barracks complex, 2,250 m long, began in 1832 and was completed in 1864. The citadel and the outer perimeter were surrounded by a wall, called Carnota. In 1873, the tsarist government decided to surround the fortress with a chain of forts, and their construction began 10 years later. In 1877, the Muscovites brought a railway line to Modlin, which connected the Modlin Fortress with the Dęblin Fortress. Another modernization of the fortress was carried out in the period 1912-1914. In the great world war, after 10 days of fighting the Germans, the fortress capitulated on August 20, 1915. Until November 1918, the fortress was manned by a German garrison. In December 1918, the power in the fortress, after 87 years, was taken over by the Polish Army.
After Poland regained independence, the fortress came under the management of the Ministry of Military Affairs, which placed several newly formed Polish military units here. The building served mainly barracks and warehouse functions. In addition, over a dozen experimental facilities were erected at that time, among which the shelter built in 1929 stood out. Soldiers of engineering specialties, artillerymen, sappers and miners practiced in the fortress. The Cadet Corps was stationed in Modlin. There was also the Armored Weapons Training Centre, with the Cadet School, later the Officers’ and Non-commissioned Officers’ Schools, and the Sapper Training Centre. The headquarters of the 8th Infantry Division and its 32nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Regiment had their headquarters here. 8th Sapper Battalion.
From June 1939, preparations were made for a possible defense against the Germanic army. On the outskirts of Fort IV, the electro-technical battalion installed experimental high-voltage obstacles. In one of the powder magazines, in the citadel, a command post was prepared for the commander of the Modlin Army, Brig. Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski. Two additional bridges were also built over the Vistula and the Narew. On the other hand, the north-western section of the outer fortification circuit (1912-1915), modernized in the 1930s, remained vacant due to the lack of forces. Fortification works were completed on August 29, 1939, with the departure of the 8th Infantry Division to the front.
In September 1939, after the attack of the German army, from September 11, 1939 to September 29, 1939, Polish soldiers fought alone, without the promised support of Western countries, thus setting an example of great bravery. Capitulations of individual sections of the front were mainly due to the exhaustion of ammunition, medicines and food. Over 2,000 Polish soldiers lost their lives in the defense of Modlin.
After the Germanic occupation, the Soviet army entered Modlin on January 18, 1945. Soon, the Polish military authorities took over the fortress. The Polish Military Units that entered the fortress occupied only undamaged undamaged objects. In April 1945, the Officers’ School of Armored Weapons was moved from Chełmno to Modlin, which functioned here until June 1947. After the war, Modlin also hosted the NCO School of Sappers, the Communications Regiment, and the Radio Engineering Battalion. The archives of the Ministry of National Defense and the Air Force were located here. In addition to the stationing land forces, the post-war history of Modlin was associated with aviation. Already in 1945, a Polish unit of attack aircraft arrived in Modlin.
Since 1999, Modlin no longer has strategic military functions. Times have changed, the military has changed. The fortress is no longer used by the army, but it remains a very important place in the history of Poland. It is a tourist attraction, and numerous objects preserved in good condition attract more and more tourists.
Around 2000, the Ministry of National Defense decided to sell the fortress through the AMW (Military Property Agency). Since June 2001, the Military Property Agency has been gradually taking over the facilities in Modlin that are useless to the army. The Citadel itself was handed over to the AMW on December 31, 2003, but the entry in the land and mortgage register regarding the ownership of AMW as the representative of the State Treasury took place in April 2006. The first sales attempts failed. One of the potential buyers at the time was musician Michael Jackson.
In February 2009, AMW announced a second tender for the sale of the Citadel. Within its area, there is the oldest part of the Fortress with the gate and the preserved course of the Napoleonic ramparts, the building of defensive barracks with a length of 2,250 m, with an irregular hexagon outline, and other fortification and auxiliary buildings.
The starting price for the historic Citadel, together with the 55 ha plot, was PLN 160 million. The potential buyer of the property was to be entitled to a 50% discount on the auctioned amount, because the property is entered in the register of monuments. The money from the sale of post-military real estate will traditionally be donated by the AMW to the Polish Armed Forces Modernization Fund. The Modlin Fortress fortification complex is entered in the register of monuments under number 1062/69 by decision of April 19, 1957, which imposes obligations on the property owner under the provisions of the Act of July 23, 2003 on the protection and care of monuments. The properties are located in the area covered by the local spatial development plan of the City of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki (Resolution of the City Council in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki No. XIV/154/03 of December 29, 2003).
Currently, in the Modlin Fortress, which is a district of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, the Agency has plots with a total area of 96 ha. So far, AMW has sold 26 properties in the Modlin Fortress, obtaining almost 4 million 200 thousand for the Modernization Fund of the Polish Armed Forces. zlotys. One of the last properties sold was the building of an old garrison laundry from 1900, which in August 2008 reached the price of PLN 3 million 150 thousand (the starting price was PLN 500 thousand). After the sale of the Citadel, there were still 24 plots of land with a total area of 41 ha in the Agency’s resources.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman