Sarny Fortified Area

Sarny Fortified Area (known in Polish in several names: Sarneński Rejon Umocniony, Sarneński Odcinek Umocniony, Bastion Polesie) was a line of bunkers and trenches along both sides of the Sluch river, in the area of the town of Sarny, northern Volhynia in Ukraine. In the interbellum period Sarny belonged to the Second Polish Republic, it was located close to the border with the Soviet Union. As Polish military authorities regarded the Soviets as the main threat (see: Plan Wschod), in 1936 construction of fortifications began. It was planned to be fully operational in the spring of 1940. Total length of the defence works was some 170 kilometers, number of objects - 358.

Depth of defence works was up to 5 kilometers; they were connected by the radio, but walls of some bunkers were so thick that operators had to go outside. In every bunker there were up to 30 soldiers of the Border Defence Corps (KOP); they were equipped with 75 mm cannons and machine guns. The Border Defence Corps Regiment "Sarny", which operated the Area, was very well trained, and its soldiers, including Władysław Raginis, distinguished themselves during the Battle of Wizna (see Polish September Campaign), and in other battlefields in the area of Osowiec and Upper Silesia, where up to 80% of KOP died or were wounded.

Those soldiers who remained in the Sarny Fortified Area were ordered in mid-September 1939 to abandon the bunkers and move with their equipment towards the Romanian Bridgehead. On September 16, 1939, the eve of Soviet attack on Poland, there were smaller units, defending the Area - two fortress battalions (Sarny) and (Malynsk), two border battalions (Rokitno) and (Berezne) as well as a cavalry squadron Bystrzyce, altogether some 4000 soldiers, but lacking heavy equipment, as it had been sent towards the German border in the summer of 1939.

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