Construction and initial purpose
Construction began in 1909 at the same time as the Ino Fort (Nikolaevsky) and was completed by 1915. The project is based on the plan of the exemplary Russian fort of General A. I. Velichko. The main producer of the works is Lieutenant Colonel N. N. Yudenich.
The fort was built to protect against a possible attack by the fleet of the German Empire. It was part of a mine and artillery position that reliably protected the approaches to Kronstadt and St. Petersburg from the approach of large enemy ships. The name of the fort comes from the village of Krasnaya Gorka, near which it was located.
The fort was a system of 25 guns with a caliber from 76 to 305 mm, capable of covering the fairway. The uniqueness of the facility lies in the fact that the work of the gun crews and the gun loading system were located in underground bunkers. The personnel were sheltered from enemy shells by tons of concrete.
The territory of the fort is about 450 hectares. It housed a command post, an anti-aircraft battery, a mine searchlight station, an artillery barracks, a rangefinder pavilion, railway gates, batteries of various-caliber guns, artillery transporters with a rocket launcher and other facilities.
Usage history
Before the First World War. The fort was commissioned in early 1914. By the beginning of the war, the garrison was staffed according to wartime standards: 2,000 artillerymen, 2,000 infantrymen and more than 500 soldiers from other branches of the armed forces. The fort did not participate in the fighting of the First World War.
1917-1919 years. By January 1917, the fort's garrison had grown to 5,500 men. In 1918, due to the proximity of the German army, the fort was mined. The explosion was cancelled, but the charges were not removed. On August 19, during a severe thunderstorm, several charges detonated. The powder magazines of three Kane guns and four 254-mm guns were blown up. The artillery staff was killed, the guns were badly damaged, and one 254-mm cannon was destroyed.
*** During the Civil War, the fort was part of the defensive fortifications of the "red" Petrograd. On November 20, 1918, he opened fire on the Pummola battery captured by the Finns, and on June 29, 1919, on an enemy transport vessel.
*** On June 13, 1919, during the offensive on Petrograd by the Northern Corps of General A. P. Rodzianko, the garrison of the fort raised an anti-Bolshevik uprising. He was joined by forts "Gray Horse" and "Obruchev". On June 16, the uprising was suppressed by fire and landing from the ships of the Baltic Fleet. The rebels defended themselves by shelling Kronstadt and the ships of the Red Baltic Fleet. On June 16, Red Army soldiers entered the fort abandoned by the rebels.
The interwar period. In the 1930s, Fort Krasnaya Gorka was still considered an elite unit in the country's coastal defense. During the "Winter War" of 1939-1940, the fort's batteries fired at railway junctions and Finnish artillery batteries.
The Great Patriotic War. The fort became the center of defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead. Long-range guns and powerful walls of structures made it almost impregnable. Even the German side issued a directive stating that it was useless to bombard the fort.
*** By the end of the summer of 1941, German troops entered the area of effective fire from the Krasnaya Gorka main-caliber artillery, and on August 31, 12-inch batteries opened fire on enemy concentrations in the Koporye area. In September, the Germans reached the shore of the Gulf of Finland in the Strelna area, and the Oranienbaum bridgehead was formed. It was on the shoulders of the Krasnogorsk gunners to ensure the safety of the fairway — the fight against Finnish batteries that could fire at Soviet ships and submarines going on a mission.
*** On January 14, 1944, Krasnaya Gorka batteries opened fire on resistance units in the villages of Gostilitsy and Dyatlitsy.
The post-war period. In the post-war years, the fort was restored, and in 1950 Krasnaya Gorka received a new fire control system. In 1962, the fort was decommissioned. Then warehouses were set up in its premises.
Current status
Since 1988, the fort has been a monument of regional significance. In 1990, it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In 2007, a public museum was opened there under the leadership of Alexander Cenotrusov, Chairman of the Fort Krasnaya Gorka Military Historical Society. In 2025, the museum received state status and became a branch of the museum complex "The Road of Life".
Today, railway artillery transporters, large-caliber guns, memorial complexes and other objects can be seen on the territory of the fort.
Address: Leningrad region, Lomonosovsky district, Lebyazhenskoye urban settlement, Fort Krasnaya Gorka settlement.
Opening hours: Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00.