Osowiec Fortress built
1882 CE.
Shown on the map at 53.469°, 22.644°.
Osowiec Fortress (Polish: Twierdza Osowiec; Russian: Крепость Осовец, romanized: Krepost' Osovets) is a 19th-century fortress built by the Russian Empire, located in what is now north-eastern Poland. It saw heavy fighting during World War I when it was defended for several months by its Russian garrison against German attacks. The fortress was built in the years 1882–1892 as one of the defensive works to protect the western borders of Russia against Germany, and continuously modernised afterwards to cope with advances in heavy siege artillery. In 1889–1893, military engineer Nestor Buinitsky took an important part in the creation of the fortress. It was located on the river Biebrza about 50 km from the border with the German province of East Prussia, in the one place where the marshlands of the river could be crossed, hence controlling a vital chokepoint. The extensive marshlands and bogs that surrounded it made attacks upon it difficult. The strategic Belostok–Lyck–Königsberg rail line also ran through the fortress and crossed the Biebrza river there.
Text from the Wikipedia article Osowiec Fortress, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.