After the Italian occupation of Ljubljana in April 1941, the occupier anticipated the new state structures will assume power relatively peacefully. But despite a strong military presence, the capital of the erstwhile Drava Banovina now became a hotbed of resistance that could not be contained. Thus, in January 1942 the Italian army under General Mario Robotti commenced to physically separate Ljubljana from its hinterland with barbed wire. To speed things up, on 18 February fresh troops arrived to aid in the first stage of installing a 32 km long barbed wire fence around the city. Five days later, in the morning of 23 February, the main road connections to the hinterland were cut off with wire obstacles, and armed military units were positioned along the wired perimeter. The wire ring around Ljubljana was closed at 2 pm and at 3 pm residents’ movement in and out of the city was officially restricted by relevant decrees.
In the following days power lines were set up to provide light along the wire, and checkpoints, machine gun nests and defence bunkers had been fortified. But this wasn’t enough. Dissatisfied with the progress during his visit to Ljubljana in July 1942, Mario Roatta, commander of the Italian Second Army, demanded that by 15 September 1942 a new defence belt of fortified blocks at entry points into the city, a fortified artillery post plus a series of fortified machine gun nests should be constructed, in addition to a 26 km long patrol path and a new access road over Mt Golovec east of the city centre. The works were carried out by Italian civilian companies according to the plans of the XI Army Corps.
Meanwhile, by August 1941 an interior defence strip was set up to separate the suburbs of Vič, Šiška and Moste. A total of 34 guardhouses were put up at passage points, and road movements were restricted by Czech Hedgehogs . Thus, Ljubljana became the largest of the hitherto recorded six wire-encircled towns in the occupied Province of Ljubljana, the rest being Črnomelj, Idrija, Logatec, Metlika and Novo mesto.
Movement across checkpoints in Ljubljana was subject to strict control. While the resistance could not be contained, passing the border made the daily life of locals difficult as it required having a special pass. As a result, residents lost touch with the hinterland and the supply chain, and the goods began to dwindle. MNZS.
Part of the wire ring around Ljubljana in Šiška. The entire strip was 32 km long, and an extra 9 km of wire obstacles were installed inside the city. 32 km of wire was used to electrify the ring. In total, the Italian defence ring required 84,000 man-hours by soldiers and 420,000 man-hours by workers of Italian companies. Slovenian workers, mostly forcibly mobilized, performed 60,000 man-hours. Author: Jakob Prešern. MNZS.
Czech Hedgehogs at Streliška street. The Italian occupation authority not only set up an exterior wire ring but also an interior ring around the city centre, which was supposed to be completed by October 1943. The total 34 checkpoints, for which they used 225 Czech hedgehogs (1.25 to 3 m long), were erected next to main buildings of the Italian civilian authority, Carabinieri posts and barracks which had been additionally fortified and protected with wire. Author: Jakob Prešern. MNZS.
Wire around the defence bunker close to the erstwhile Evangelical cemetery in Navje in the present- day district of Zelena jama. Ljubljana Castle in the background. In total, the works required 1.770.000 building stones, 120.000 bricks, 1100m3 timbers, 1500 t concrete, 50 t lime, 10 t iron, 151 t barbed wire, 15,000 long stakes and 45 short stakes, roughly 1 t copper, 1000 electricity poles and 800 light bulbs. Author: Jakob Prešern. MNZS.
In 1985, the City Municipality of Ljubljana set up the Path of Remembrance and Comradeship to commemorate and mark the perimeter of the barbed wire ring around Ljubljana during the war. Every year on Friday and Saturday before 9 May, which marks the end of World War II in Europe, the March along the Barbed Wire is held, drawing thousands of walkers of all ages. The huge event closes with an annual ceremony in the city centre in memory of the hardships in the days of occupation and the wire fence around the capital. MNZS.
