Festung

Festung is a generic

. Although it is not in common usage in English, it is used in a number of historical contexts involving German speakers:

• For historical
  fortresses in Austria, Germany or Switzerland
• As part of the reasoning given by the German Army (
  Heer) for the slow progress of the Siege of Warsaw
• For
  German WWII strongholds
  which were to be held at all costs, especially towards the end of the war:
  • Alpine Fortress or Alpenfestung
  • Festung Europa
    — a military propaganda term from the Second World War which referred to the areas of Continental Europe occupied by Nazi Germany.
  • Stalingrad (see Battle of Stalingrad
    )
  • Warsaw (Festung Warschau) see also the Warsaw Uprising
  • Poznań (Battle of Posen)
  • Kolobrzeg (Battle of Kolberg
    )
  • Piła (Festung Schneidemühl)
  • Festung Breslau
    )
  • Battle of Budapest
    )
  • Festung Königsberg
    )
• For entire countries such as Norway which were heavily fortified in World War II. See Festung Norwegen.
• For proposed post war German enclaves (festungen, literally "strongholds") in places such as Brest and Trondheim (see Nordstern (city) § Atlantic Wall)
• For planned national redoubts such as Switzerland's National Redoubt (Schweizer Alpenfestung).

See also

• Die Festung, novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim

References