One of the true gems of the Mediterranean world is the little town of Kotor lying at the head of a ten-mile-long fjord system flanked by huge peaks rising over 4,000 feet above the waters.  Lying deep in its mountain fastness, Kotor positively exudes magic, even in the wake of ever-increasing numbers of tourists and development threatening to divest the enchantment.  Hidden amongst the cliffs and peaks the bays and fjords lie 83 forts around Cattaro erected during the 19^th century by the military of the Austrian empire.  Their role, to both defend the Bocce di Cattaro – Bay of Kotor – from sea and land attack.

BOCCHE DI CATTARO

Scattered about on tactical heights, the forts represented a significant bite out of the Austrian defense budget which always seemed miniscule for a want to be Great Power.  In the years following the Austrian defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and the 1867 Ausgleich, the compromise between the Austrian and Hungarian halves of the empire-kingdom, military budgets became even more difficult to promote between the käiserliche and königichle.

UNESCO recognizes the uniqueness of Kotor, somewhat uniquely, in two fields.  First, the inner south-eastern portion of the Boka Kotorska – Kotor Bay – encompasses the Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor.  Second, the old city of Kotor with its city walls and forts extending high above include Kotor in the Venetian Works of Defence between 16^th and 17^th centuries:  Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar. 

The second UNESCO list includes six different fort regions built by the Republic of Venice to defend both its land and sea domains.  The bastion fort designs including polygonal-shaped fortresses with bastions – also known as bulwarks – sticking out from the fort corners to allow more cannons to bear against potential attackers.  The shift in fortification design came about in response to firearm warfare increase during the Renaissance.  From Venice, the changes in fort design spread throughout Europe, a standard existing well into the 19^th century.

THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE OF THE HAPSBURGS ARRIVES

Kotor – Cattaro as known in the Empire – passed to the Hapsburgs in 1797 when they divided up the lands of the former Republic of Venice between themselves and the French.  Less than a decade later, the French took all with Kotor becoming first part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and then annexed into the Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire.  With the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna restored Kotor, along with the rest of Dalmatia to the Austrian Empire.

The Venetian forts served their purpose against 16^th century Ottoman sieges – the Ottomans occupied the Bocce coastline from Risan to Herceg Novi from 1483 until the end of the 17^th century when Venice annexed the entire Bocce.  Meanwhile, from the 16^th century artillery progressed in the following 200-300 years.  Austrian soldiers continued to man the Venetian forts up until the empire collapsed at the end of 1918.  But with Kotor literally at the tip end of Dalmatia surrounded first by Ottoman hordes and later by the Slavic kingdom of Montenegro, newer forts and more of them were needed.

DEFENDING THE NEW PEARL

The need for more and better forts increased as Austria-Hungary built up their navy.  Like the main Austrian naval base at Pula on the Istrian Peninsula to the north, Bocce di Cattaro served as a magnificent base for operations in southern Dalmatia.  From here, ships could range out especially against the upstart Italian navy making the whole Adriatic a potential battleground.

Being at the tip of Austria-Hungary, Kotor served as a forward base for the navy.  Pula, with its equally magnificent and defendable harbor, remained the main naval port and shipbuilding center.  Rijeka later augmented the Pula base due to the politics of compromise between the two halves of Austria-Hungary.

The question was how to defend their Dalmatian pearl.  The earliest non-Venetian forts went up at the entrance to the Bocce.  Three forts covered the mouth of the bay, two on peninsulas on either side – Prelavka on the north and Minište to the southeast with another fort – Mamula – set on an island in between.

DEFENDING THE MOUTH

Prelavka saw earlier fortifcations built dating back to 1441.  The Republic of Ragusa – Dubrovnik – purchased from the Bosnian kingdom in the early 1400’s to protect their eastern border – the opposite side being under Ottoman control since 1669.  When Austria regained Dalmatia after the Congress of Vienna, the Republic of Ragusa was included extending further down the coast to Sutomore past the bay another twenty miles south of Budva almost to Bar.  The fortifications at the mouth of the Bocce for Austria date to the era of Baron Lazar Mamula.  He served as a general and governor of Dalmatia from 1859 until 1865.

Similar to the general who led Austro-Hungarian forces on the Isonzo front during World War I, Svetozar Boroević von Bojna, Mamula came from a Serb family living in Croatia.  Graduating from the Military Engineering Academy in Vienna, he worked on various engineering projects along the frontiers of the empire.  For service during the 1848-1849 Hungarian Revolution, Mamula gained the Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.  Elevated to the nobility with the title of baron – Freiherr – Mamula also gained rank eventually retiring as a Feldzeugmeister, general of artillery.

THE FORTS

Mamula directed the three new forts to defend Kotor forts – Prevlaka/Punta d’Ostro on Cape Oštro, Arza on Cape Arza and the island of Lastavica (which became Mamula) – built to protect the entry into Kotor Bay in 1853.  The fort on Lastavica – uninhabited at the time – takes up most of the island.  A circular fort with canons bristling.  Prevlaka today represents the furthest point of southern Croatia while the other two sites, both in Montenegro under privately ownership. 

The island served as a concentration camp for Mussolini from the end of May 1942 with many prisoners coming from the nearby mainland during the savage days of World War II.  Mamula has been transformed into a luxury beach resort complete with helipad and swank bedrooms in the old cannon galleries and concentration cells.  The prices are astronomically limiting, but you can also tour the island from a bay cruise to see the fort transformed.

These forts were just a beginning for Kotor, however.  According to Radojica Pavicevic, author of Werk – Austro-Hungarian Forts in Montenegro, there are 83 fortifications making up the former Sea Fortress Boka.  Not all are easily accessible without high clearance vehicles, a boat – there is another island fort beside Mamula, or a strong pair of legs.

KOSMAČ

Kosmač sits 800 meters above the coastal resort of Budva.  The fort, erected in 1850, stands as the southernmost Austrian fort.  Montenegro gained its independence in 1841.  Kosmač served to secure the new border – in the 19^th century, Budva and the coastal strip to Sutomore were part of Austrian Dalmatia while Montenegro included only the port city of Bar. 

The fort served until the beginning of World War I when the Austrians withdrew to more defensible settings around the Bocce di Cattaro.  The fort was detonated as they left leaving the fort today in a precarious state seen in most of the other former Austrian forts.  Unlike some of those other forts, Kosmač easily reached lying just off the main road – M23 – from Podgorica to Budva.  The final steps are up the old serpentines leading to the fort.  The setting with the Montenegrin coastline is amazing from up here with Budva far below.

The fort boasted three stories though the top story has collapsed along with interior walls, staircases and floors.  Locals have taken away some of the masonry used in the outer walls of the fort.  Owned by the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Montenegro, different proposals are on the table to preserve the fort in some way or another, but all share a high price tag.

Kosmač IN ACTION

Armed with 240 mm cannons, the fort garrison comprised of 6 officers and 248 soldiers.  In 1869, universal conscription extended to include the southern Dalmatian region not covered previously.  Locals reacted with the Krivošije Rebellion in which the fort suffered attack.  The commander, Friedrich Merz, died when shot walking outside the fort while it was under siege. 

While besieged, the fort did not fall.  The rebellion eventually ended on 11 January 1870 with the rebels keeping their weapons, conscription abandoned, and a pardon given.  Franz Josef even visited the fort in 1875.

Conscription was re-introduced in 1881 after Bosnia and Herzegovina were occupied by Austria-Hungary.  Another rebellion which spread to the new territories, as well, but this time, the Austrians were more successful at putting down the rebellion.  The fort became modernized by the Austrians in 1909 with 8 mm machine guns, 90 mm KM-04 artillery pieces and 150 mm cannons.

TRAŠTE

Fort Trašte, erected between 1907 and 1909 overlooks the Bay of Trašte to the west and the Tivatsko polje plain to the east.  This was the southernmost of the Kotor forts. Built to secure the bay from landing threats, the fort sits on a hill 248 meters high.  Trašte served as one of the early 20^th century Austrian answers to the Montenegrin acquisition of long-range artillery guns in 1905 making existing fortifications obsolete.  Built along with Vrmac, Gorazda and Škaljari, Trašte helped serve as a part of a new system of forts to defend the Bocce and Kotor against Montenergrin guns atop Mount Lovćen.

Two structures made up this fort, the fort, and an infantry rally point, Stützpunkt Grabovac, both linked by a postern tunnel.  Consisting of two storeys, the fort cut into the rock featured a caponier protecting the front entrance.  Interior walls still stand, and a stone staircase still gives access to what is left of the upper floor.  Shaped in an L shape, barracks were on the east-west wing with guns on the north-south.  Four Škoda rotating steel turrets are still in place with a single observation turret with cupola located on the south end of the gun wing.  Five officers and 143 soldiers made up the fort’s complement.  Main guns in the Škoda turrets were 100 mm PH M06 howitzers.  Two 8 mm M4 machine guns and three field guns on carriages provided close support for the fort, if needed.

WAR INTERVENES

Authorities realized the fort already became outdated only a couple years after completion.  A stronger fort was called for further north on the Lustiča peninsula, but the Balkan Wars intervened in 1912 with the World War shortly after.  Montenegrin guns atop Mount Lovćen reached out to the fort witt little damage done.  The fort became abandoned after the war and remains somewhat hidden from sight in heavy vegetation with a rough gravel unmarked road going a little over 0.5 km off a paved road to Bigova.

ŠKALJARI AND KAVAČ

Škaljari Batterie featured as another part of the newer defense system of forts installed around Kotor in the early 1900’s.  There is a little unmarked side road going off the second hairpin turn on the narrow road up to Fort Vrmac from Trojica Pass.  The area is little more than a dump today.  Together with Vrmac, the battery helped to defend the road over Trojica which led to the southernmost regions of Austrian Dalmatia from Kotor.

Nearby is another small fort, Kavač, dating back to the late 19^th century.  The fort, erected between 1878 and 1886, featured four 90 mm M04/KK M04 guns with machine guns installed for close support.  There is a great view of the Tivat coast from up here, but this fort is like Škaljari in that little remains.   Škaljari and Kavač have darker connotations in recent years.  Gangs with common ancestry use the names – the names come from two nearby villages – for their gangs which range over Europe with links to South America.  They were very active creating havoc both in Montenegro and Serbia but outside the countries, too. 

TROJICA AND THE NEW GONDOLA

 At the little pass at Trojica – the main road from Kotor and Budva runs beneath the pass in a tunnel – is a small fort that basically served as a roadblock fort.  Close to the former main road, the little fort looks like it has undergone some restoration in recent years.  On the south side of the roadblock fort, a road takes off to the right of the main road – signposted for Goražda.   Goražda and Vrmac, while abandoned, are still in reasonably good shape. 

In the case of Goražda, that relates to the fact Yugoslav military forces used the fort until the 1980’s.  This fort utilized natural stone but added steel girders and ceilings and floors of tamped concrete.  Being close to Kotor – only 10 km away – restoration of the fort seems natural, especially with the near completion of the Lovćen cable car going right next to the former fort. 

The Lovćen cable car opening in July 2023 is projecting some 400,000 visitors per year.  I suspect many will be off cruise ships pulling into Kotor.  The bottom station is to be off the old main Budva-Kotor Road with the top station on the ridgeline high above – not quite the summit of Mount Lovćen.

GORAŽDA

Goražda first became sited for a fort in 1869.  That structure saw replacement between 1884 and 1886, following the 1881 Bosnian uprising as one of the first forts around Kotor to undergo modernization.  Further re-development was planned in 1910, but international events intervened – Balkan Wars and World War I – so only two observation posts saw installation 1906 to 1907.  The fort had 8 officers and 195 men serving with six 120 mm M80 mortars and two 100 mm M4 casement guns to go with five machine guns and 25 gun carriages.

The fort was a main target for the Montenegrin artillery on Mount Lovćen.  In response, the Austrians added two concrete infantry positions on the roof in 1915 to give more close-range defense.  The fort sits at 452 meters overlooking the Austrian-built road linking Kotor to the then Montenegrin capital at Cetinje.  Two wings join a circular structure reached through a ditch guarded by caponiers at the corners.  The fort was sited to defend Kotor and to defend the south side of the Trojica pass.  The central-located German-built 100 ton Gruson rotating turret sits above the central part of the fort.  The turret manually powered by a two-man crank.

Guns up to 240 mm in caliber fired against the fort, but little damage was done.  After the 1916 Austrian offensive which knocked Montenegro out of the war, the fort became repaired while the guns used elsewhere.  The Yugoslav army continued to use the fort into the early 1990’s as a depot. Many of the interior fittings of the fort have disappeared with the accessibility of the fort to locals.

VRMAC

Fort Vrmac was the third pin defending the Trojica Pass and the Kotor-Cetinje Road.  It is easy to reach on a small narrow-paved military road coming up from Trojica – signed for “Vrmac”.  Located strategically where it could support the other forts in the vicinity of Kotor, it also was visible to the Montenegrin-French batteries high on Mount Lovćen above.  This fort received heavy damage until the Austrian offensive of 1916.  The damage was then repaired, and the guns removed to be used elsewhere.

Originally, there was a fort here as early as 1860, but that became replaced with this fort built between 1894 and 1897.  Armament consisted of eight 120 mm M80/85 mortars along with four 100 mm PH M05 guns and 12 gun carriages.  Initially, four field guns on the roof were placed for close defense, but these were removed following a 1906-1907 further strengthening of the fort when a 1.5-meter slab of concrete was added to the roof in consideration of upgraded Montenegrin gun capabilities.  The fort is surrounded by a ditch with three caponiers.

The fort was used by the Yugoslav army for awhile after the war during which period one of the casements was painted with icons.  Like Goražda, Vrmac remains fairly well preserved.  While the fort can easily be visited, care should be taken as well as some form of flashlight.  A Swedish firm bought the old fort site in 2006 hoping to build a resort only to go bankrupt in 2011.  The site is presently owned by the town of Kotor.

ON THE RIDGES ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE BOCCE

As one can see from the map showing all Austro-Hungarian forts in the Kotor area, many other forts exist, as well.  Most of the other forts are in ruined states, some overgrown while others little more than lumps of rock.  Some of that is due to locations atop the ridges surrounding the fjords and bays.  Earthquakes, lightning strikes, and people looking for building material have all taken their toll on structures.  On the mountains above the stretch between Perast and Orahovac three former forts can be seen.  Fort Sveti Andrija sits at the end of a military road best done with high clearance or simply walking – 3-4 hours up.  The foundation of the fort is in place and the view is simply spectacular.  Fort Šanjik is even higher up.

further north

Further north, on roads leading up into the mountains above Risan, you can find more forts.  Montenegro used to bulge above the north side of the Dalmatian area north of the Bocce into Herzegovina.  The series of forts here protected potential incursions from the north towards Kotor and linked up later to Austrian defenses in front of the town of Trebinje.  Most of these forts are in various states of decay.  The metal and many of the stones long ago removed by locals, as well weather and earthquakes taking their toll leaving behind atmospheric ruins with magnificent views in several cases.

beyond vrmac

Further past Fort Vrmac on the Vrmac Peninsula, there are several other forts to find.  Verige and Bijeli Pjesak sit up the mountain guarding the narrow inner entrance to the Kotor Gulf.  On top of the Vrmac mountain – the Vrmac fort is a few kilometers lower to the south – is where a newer replacement was planned before wars intervened.  The view from 706 meters – there is a communications antenna here presently – is spectacular.  Above the town of Tivat, you can find former blockhouses repurposed into homes.

BACKING UP THE MOUTH

At the west end of the Luštica Peninsula at the entrance to the Hercegnovski Gulf are more forts in case ships were able to run the Prevlaka-Mamula-Arsa line of forts at the mouth of the Bocce – forts Kabala and Luštica with outlying batteries mixed in with a former Yugoslav radar station.  Across from these forts, two other battery forts lie underneath the border crossing – Montenegro-Croatia – part of the Austrian Gruppe Kobila.  Above Herceg Novi is the Spanish Fort dating to 1538 when the Spanish under Andrea Dori conquered the town leaving behind a 6,000 man garrison to begin laying the foundations for this fort atop earlier works.  The Ottomans came back in a year chasing the Spanish away.  They then went on to complete the works.  The fort lost its importance with the construction of the other Austrian forts on Luštica, Kobila and the mouth of the Bocce.

WORLD WAR ONE AT THE BOCCE

Montenegro was dynastically and ethnically aligned with the Kingdom of Serbia.  Montenegro’s parliament voted for war on 1 August 1914 though King Nikola waited a couple days before signing the declaration 6 August.  The country was financially exhausted from taking part in the First and Second Balkan Wars in the preceding years.  Possible union was already being considered with Serbia before the new war came about.  A couple days later, 8 August, Montenegrin artillery on Mount Lovćen started firing on the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro.  The Austrian forts below along with the guns of the SMS Kaiser Karl VI fired back aided by naval seaplane reconnaissance.  A month later – 13 September – three coastal battleships – Monarch, Wien and Budapest – arrived to lend their artillery weight to the conflict.  Montenegrin artillery, now outgunned, continued artillery duels on a daily basis.

ENTER THE FRENCH

French entrance into the war brought some changes to the situation at the Bocce.  They landed a detachment including four 150 mm and four 120 mm gun at Bar/Antivari on the night of 18-19 September.  A month later, the guns were in position on Lovćen and started firing on 19 October.  In response to the changed situation, the SMS Radetsky was sent south on 21 October.  This last pre-dreadnaught of the Austrian navy featured a broadside of four 305 mm guns and another four 240 mm guns.  Aerial reconnaissance and mapping enabled the Radetsky to score several hits on the Franco-Montenegrin positions.  Opening fire 22 October, several hits were made directly with one of the French 120 mm guns knocked out two days later.  Another was knocked out on 26 October from a predawn bombardment.  The French pulled out their guns giving up the first battle of Cattaro.

ENDGAME

Serbia was finally successfully invaded by the Central Powers’ nations at the end of 1915.  Austrian high command decided it was time to knock out the Montenegrins.  8 January 1916, a massive bombardment began on the Mount Lovćen positions. 

The Budapest again used to assist.  By 10 January, the Montenegrin positions were overrun.  Two days later, the capital of Cetinje fell.  King Nikola fled and ordered his army and government to continue the fight side by side the Serbian forces who had escaped.  The government left in place in Montenegro decided surrender was the better option.  Montenegro was then occupied for the rest of the war and then annexed to Serbia and the subsequent Kingdom of Yugoslavia after the war.  The Austrian commander in Kotor, Stjephan Sarkotić, Croat by birth with a long history of service in the region, was made a Hungarian baron with the title of von Lovćen.