In the interregnum between the world wars European powers looked towards their ongoing security and among the many measures they designated multiple lines that they would defend if an enemy should choose to cross them. France had the Maginot line, Germans the Siegfried line. Many others had their own versions. For Soviet Russia it was the Stalin Line running 2000 km from the Baltic to the Black Sea with “pill box” bunkers every 500 metres manned all up with 12000 soldiers.
Interestingly the line ran well inside what became the Soviet borders. Cities such as Brest in Belarus and Lviv and even Kiev in Ukraine were on the wrong side of the line. The line ran just to the west of Minsk and the Belorussian’s have built a Stalin Line “theme park”. On site are actual bunkers with the original artillery present as well as anti aircraft guns and other defences. Of course there are rows of tanks, rocket launchers and aircraft. In the middle there is a range where for a fee you can fire off live rounds. Now I have shot pistols, navy machine guns, Kalashnikov at the Khyber Pass And rifles before but at $17 shooting off a massive mortar shell at a tank seemed too good to be true. In the end the massive queue and fatigue from “she who must be obeyed denied me of that opportunity. Nonetheless it was a fun outing, as she said to me “boys and their toys”!
