Czechoslovak fortification in the Bruntál region

When Czechoslovakia was building its fortifications in the 1930s, military strategists chose small fortresses called "řopíky" for the Bruntál foothills, which can still be seen in many places today. The fortifications were therefore stronger, because a greater onslaught was expected here, moreover in the difficult mountainous landscape.

The line was basically complete except for a small section between Bruntál and Opava. The military experts of the German army knew it, and they planned to parachute down and break through the line at this point. They called the action Operation Bruntál. In the end it did not have to happen, because after the Munich Agreement Czechoslovakia ceded the fortifications to Germany.

The Wehrmacht carried out the action at least as an exercise. It happened in the autumn of 1938, and the parachute jump and the subsequent practice occupation of the bunkers showed that in real combat the attacking troops would have failed completely. Adolf Hitler then visited the fortress near Nové Heřminovy, which is still there today and tourists learn about this visit from the information board of the local educational trail.