CZ
DE
EN
Infantry blockhouse N-S 48
Infantry blockhouse N-S 48, codenamed “U stodol”, is located approximately 500 m from Skutina hill towards the road to Sněžné. It is a single-sided blockhouse with a right-hand firing room. Its planned armament consisted of a 4 cm cannon and twin heavy machine guns. The absence of a left-hand firing room was to be compensated for by another pair of heavy machine guns mounted in an armoured cupola. A further heavy machine gun was planned for an infantry armoured bell. The third armoured element planned for the blockhouse roof was an artillery observation bell serving the artillery turret in structure N-S 50. None of these armoured elements was installed. In September 1938, the blockhouse housed a temporary garrison drawn from the 4th Company of Border Regiment No. 18. The planned garrison numbered 19 men. The blockhouse commander was Infantry Lieutenant Ján Kukliš. Construction began on 13 July 1938, and the concrete pour was completed on 20 July 1938. The blockhouse required 2410 m3 of concrete. During the occupation, the embrasures were torn out, and much of the blockhouse was flooded.
The blockhouse contains a staircase and lift shaft 36 metres deep. Visitors can now descend its 201 steps to the underground level, where approximately 9 metres of concrete-lined passage can be viewed, together with a glimpse into the excavated tunnel leading towards blockhouse N-S 49.
In 1999, the Friends of Skutina Fortress Club began restoration work on the blockhouse. It was drained, cleared and restored so that it could open to the public in 2001 as the Skutina Fortress Museum, including the staircase shaft and part of the underground passages.