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Ljubljana lies on the route Vienna - Triest. For centuries Triest was the main imperial commercial port so for Austria this route was of a high strategic importance. On the northern approach to Ljubljana the road crosses the Sava river near the village of Crnuce. The place names (Tabor - the Camp, Straza - the Sentry) suggest even earlier military presence, but the oldest visible fortifications are French ramparts built between 1809 and 1813 on the hill above the bridge, forming the Crnuce Bridgehead. Fearing the German attack from the direction of Vienna Yugoslav army built two small MG bunkers (as a part of the Rupnik Line fortifications) defending the road bridge and the railway bridge. In 1941 Germany and Italy occupied the territory and the border between the two run just west of the two bridges. fearing partisan's sabotage Germans largely extended the Yugoslav bunker on the western shore and built a new, smaller one on the eastern shore. They are both still preserved. the last to take defensive positions around the two bridges were units of Slovenian Territorial Defence in 1991. The participants now meet by the campfire near the bridge every year to keep alive the memory of the "Ten Days War" for Slovenian independence.

Small prism-shaped Yugoslav bunker of 1939 was
greatly extended by Germans in 1942.

There were two Yugoslav MG bunkers, one defending
the road bridge and another one defending the railway bridge.
The second one was extended by Germans.

German plan of the similar Yugoslav 1939 bunker.

Areal sketch of Crnuce bridgehead with French ramparts
and two German 1942 bunkers by the bridge.

View towards east. French ramparts are on the hilltop to the left.

Sources: Denkschrift, Wermacht 1941, courtesy of J. Kaufmann copyright: Saso A. Jankovic, 2003

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