The fortresses were meant to protect Czechoslovakia, today they are museums and warehouses

Prague - The fortifications that grew along the Czechoslovak-German border in the second half of the 1930s were meant to deter potential attackers and provide enough time for the arrival of allies. Out of the construction of more than 1200 heavy and 15,500 light bunkers planned by 1942, only 226 heavy and approximately two-thirds of the light structures were completed by 1938. After the Munich Agreement of 1938, most ended up in German hands without a fight. Additionally, some of the armaments were used by the Germans in building their own fortresses in Europe. After the war, the concrete structures fell into ruin, except for a few cases, and it was not until after 1989 that military history enthusiasts breathed new life into them.
    Today, there are over 7000 First Republic bunkers in the Czech Republic. Many of them now serve as museums, the newest of which will open to visitors after 70 years since completion: the artillery fortress Hůrka near Králíky in the Orlickoústecko region. Until this May, the Czech army used it only as an ammunition depot. Many other fortified structures also ended up being used as storage for various materials. Sometimes they were used by farmers, while in other cases, a structure originally intended for the defense of interwar Czechoslovakia found itself on private property where its owners used it for storing fruits and vegetables.
    For history lovers, especially those interested in military history, the most fascinating bunkers are those that still remind of the period and purpose of their creation. The first two museums of Czechoslovak fortifications were established in the late 1960s in Eastern Bohemia. In the Orlické mountains, interested visitors could view the Hanička fortress, while near Náchod, they could see part of the unfinished Dobrošov artillery fortress. However, the former was only accessible to the public for six years; in 1975, it was closed, and the Ministry of the Interior built an underground facility there in case of war. Hanička was reopened only after 20 years.
    Repairs and access to interwar bunkers are the focus of both official museums and volunteers. Thanks to various military history clubs, dozens of larger and smaller concrete structures were restored after November 1989. Some of them today, at least at first glance, are in better and more complete condition than at the end of the 1930s. Before a large part of the fortifications fell into German hands in the autumn of 1938, only a portion of the planned fortification system had been fully completed.
    Many of them were not fully equipped and armed; usually only the light structures (the so-called "řopíky") were fully ready for use. The situation was worse for the artillery fortresses, where the most vital parts of armament, such as armored bells or cannons, were often missing. Moreover, much of the heavy armament was still on the drawing boards. This, however, is not unusual; the first phase of building the border fortifications was supposed to end only around 1941-1942, with the completion of the entire system planned for the early 1950s.
    Much of what had already been embedded in the bunkers was used by the Germans during the war, who transported cannons and entire domes to the West, where they were employed in building fortifications in France or Norway. The German army destroyed part of the bunkers by flooding them with concrete, while on others, they tested the effectiveness of their weapons. However, most objects survived the war; a small portion was used by the Czechoslovak army, while others fell victim to the hunt for iron or building materials.
    For many years, the bunkers belonged to the Ministry of Defense. The situation began to change only in recent years, when the army started to transfer the fortifications to individual interested parties, mostly municipalities. However, the transfers were complicated and made more expensive by the fact that the bunkers, due to secrecy, were not listed in the land registry at the time of construction.