New Zakamskaya line: organization and maintenance of the defense system

Abstract

The article studies the totality of military, fortification and other features of the New Zakamskaya Line as a defensive line of the South-East of European Russia. The author continued a more in-depth study of the problems of Russian field defensive architecture, which he had previously touched upon in his monograph, as well as in publications of recent years. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of aspects that were previously considered superficially or practically untouched. The fortifications and garrisons of the Novaya Zakamskaya line were chosen as the object of study. In particular, the problem of the sufficiency of the landmilitia forces for the effective protection of such extended borders was highlighted. The ways of using the space of the internal ranges of fortresses and feldshans and the fortifications that defended them to place guns and soldiers during enemy attacks are considered. Particular attention was paid to the presence of auxiliary buildings in the bastion trenches and redoubts: powder magazines, shops, guardrooms, wells, etc. For a comparative analysis of the defensive systems of the European South and South-East, conclusions and specific data obtained from the study of the lines under construction or reconstructed at the same time as the Novaya Zakamskaya, Ukrainian and Tsaritsynskaya lines were used. The historiographic basis for the study of this problem was, first of all, fundamental research on the history of fortification undertaken by F.F. Laskovsky, A.Z. Telyakovsky and a number of other military historians, including those, which were published recently. The source base for studying the proposed issues are, first of all, unpublished sources from the funds of the central archives. It is also necessary to point on materials from field surveys and archaeological excavations. The obtained results confirmed the earlier conclusion that the basic principles in the construction of a defensive line in the Trans-Volga region for the military leadership of the country in the first half of the 1730-ies were following the patterns of Western European fortification and using the land militia as the main military force to protect the border lines, as in Ukraine