Hundreds of bunkers were built
With the signing on 12th November
1920 of the Treaty of Rapallo, between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes and the Kingdom of Italy, the border between the two kingdoms was
defined. In 1938 building began along the length of the border of a system of
fortifications, later named the Rupnik Line. It was named after the General of
Slovene origin, Leon Rupnik, who was the Chief Staff Officer responsible for
fortifying the defence lines.
Several hundred bunkers were
built, among them there were also three underground defence blocks, named 'Hlavče njive', 'Hrastov grič' and 'Goli vrh', which were strategically of
key importance in the defence against possible invasions towards Ljubljana by
Italian soliders. Between the large buildings there were smaller anti-infantry
bunkers built for two to seven soldiers.
There was barbed wire installed between the buildings, whilst in the
valley anti-tank barriers were also erected. At the start of World War II all
operations on the defence line immediately stopped and many of the buildings
remained untouched. The defence line never experienced any major battles and,
thus, never served its purpose.