Fortress Koblenz-Arzheimer Schanze

The Arzheim Schanze was part of the Prussian fortress of Koblenz and belonged to the Niederehrenbreitstein system. Of the redoubt, built in the 1860s and demolished in 1927, only a small remnant remains in today's Koblenz district of Arzheim.

The Arzheim Schanze was initially provisionally expanded in 1866 and then permanently developed into a lunette between 1868 and 1873.

After the First World War, this facility, like the other Koblenz fortifications, had to be de-fortified in execution of Article 180 of the Treaty of Versailles. Extensive works were planned, from which only the barracks in the gorge and the hangar remained exempt. The de-fortification work on the redoubt began on March 10 and was reported completed on August 30, 1927.

According to contemporary reports, the de-fortification work left behind a desolate field of rubble with some poorly executed work. On February 11, 1929, the municipality of Arzheim acquired the former fortress site of approximately 29,000 m² with the stipulation that it be brought into an acceptable condition within three months. According to eyewitness accounts, parts of the demolition material were used by the Arzheim population as building material; some houses in Arzheimer Unterdorfstraße feature window frames, floor slabs, and steps made of basalt, as well as sandstone ashlar, which originate from this context.

After the Second World War, a sports field was laid out on the site of the redoubt, on the edge of which indefinable remains of the work still lie today.