(WWI ROUTE APP)

WWI FORTIFICATION BUILDING: GUNPOWDER AND AMMUNITION STORAGE

Two huge hill-like structures stood on the outskirts of Turmantas town, on the way to Tilžės village. One of them has survived to this day, although it is partially filled with land. It is a World War I gunpowder and ammunition depot. Storage facilities of different shapes but similar purposes are found along the railway line. Ammunition and other supplies needed for military purposes were transported to the warehouses by train, stored and distributed to military units from here.

Storage built from concrete . Its construction years was used up minimal fittings quantity . After finishing object construction , storage was covered soil layer .In the construction years from internal storage sides possibly where used corrugated tin , however her presence footprints of the building inside side was not to identify

Nearby, on the other side of the street, there are the remains of a support point, which was installed in the old Polish cemetery of Turmantas on the hill. At the beginning of the First World War, the Russian and German armies used identical schemes for the fortification of the area. In the main defense line, individual trenches for one company were laid out in a diagonal line, taking into account the terrain of the area. Curtains were built in the trenches against enemy shrapnel fire, and short trenches were built towards the rear. Strongholds were built in line with trenches at tactically important locations (near roads, high ground, and elsewhere). The distance between adjacent support points was about 1 km, the armament of the support point was reinforced with machine guns, less often - cannons.

The material used in the stand

Valdas Rakutis , Titas Tamkvaitis "First World War Research Study";

Vladimir Orlov "Fortification of the 20th century in Lithuania".

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