Fort Wilhelm (Wójtowice)

 ruins, fortification, interesting place

Fort Wilhelm is a small fort located in the Suteden Mountains. It was built between 1790-1795 on the orders of Prussian King Frederick William II as a detached fort to secure the border with Austria. The builder was Lieutenant Gustav von Rausch, later general and Prussian Minister of War. The fort was built on the simple idea of three staggered rectangles surrounded by a shaft and a dry moat.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the fort played no military role. Over the years, it was abandoned and gradually fell into disrepair. Finally, in the second half of the nineteenth century the German government decided to strip it. The stone from the fort was in 1875 used to build the railway bridge and school in Habelschwerdt.