Northern and Southern Balaklava Forts: at places of military operations

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In Balaklava on the Black Sea one needs to go to see a unique bay and visit the Northern and Southern forts. These forts (or casemates) were equipped by the servicemen in the mountains. They surround the magnificent beauty of the bay - the only one in the whole Mediterranean! The bay in the shape of the Latin letter S is not visible from the sea side at any angle! There are no "... waves high or small ...", in full accordance with its description in Homer's "Odyssey."

Surrounded by mountains, at all times the bay attracted conquerors and robbers: from the ancient Listrigones of Homer to the English, who stood here as a whole fleet during the Crimean War. Today one can still see on the embankment the stolen trunks of English cannons playing the role of berthing cabinets for ships. The modern Balaklava is a district of Sevastopol to the center of which is only fifteen kilometers from Balaklava. Till 1957 it had a status of a city. As for the name - Balaklava - it is associated with the Turkic Balyk-Yuva (Fish's Nest). And the amazing coastal slopes of the Balaklava Bay were the first used for forts by the British during the Crimean War (1853-1855). They created earthy fortifications from the Mount Spilia to Streletskaya Bay. And in 1911 the construction of the northern and southern forts of Balaklava began.

The northern fort is a circular system of ditches repeating the mountain relief, up to three meters deep at an altitude of 212 meters. They were cut down right in the rock formations of the Mount Spilia. A 124-meter-long tunnel was also dug and reinforced with concrete, where casemates for soldiers and a weapons warehouse were located. During the Second World War German troops used it as a hospital.

The southern fort occupies the summit of Mount Asketi. Here ditches were dug too, and casemates and guns were built. The post of observer, by mistake known as the "barrel of death" (supposedly the Germans were dropping prisoners from here), is also of a great interest. In fact this structure of sheet armor with a diameter of almost two meters "hung" over the abyss to observe the enemy.

They did not have time to fully complete the construction of the forts, when they were recognized as obsolete for the tools of the First World War. Nevertheless, during the Second World War the valley between the forts was the scene of fierce battles. It is still called the "Valley of Death". After the war forts were used as testing grounds for weapons and for an ammunition depot. Now they are abandoned.

Northern and Southern Balaklava Forts: at places of military operations

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