Osh Fortress

The Osh fortress was built in 1919 on the site of the former Tsarist Russian military barracks, located in the very center of the “new city” at the intersection of Kurmanjan Datka and Lomonosov streets.

The territory of the barracks was surrounded by cob walls up to 3.5 metres high and 1.5 metres thick. There were embrasures in the wall spaced two metres apart, and three machine-gun platforms adjacent to the fortress. Outside, the walls were protected by several rows of barbed wire.

The history of the fortress is associated with a series of political troubles that embroiled Osh from 1918 to 1920, after the collapse of the Russian Empire and during the establishment of Soviet power.

One of the most famous sieges of the fortress took place on September 1^st, 1919, when the combined troops of Konstantin Monstrov, leader of the Peasant Army of the Fergana Valley, and of Madaminbek, one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet Basmachi movement, captured Osh. In order to break the will of the fortress defenders and cause panic among the population, units of the Peasant Army flooded the fortress and adjoining quarters with water, causing canals throughout the city to overflow.

Soviet forces gained control of the city on September 26^th. The remnants of the armies of Monstrov and Madaminbek set up a Provisional Fergana Government in the mountains, and tried to secure support from European states. Their attempts failed, and on January 17^th, 1920, Monstrov surrendered to the Soviet authorities in Jalalabad. In March of the same year, Madaminbek surrendered.

Mikhail Frunze, for whom the Kyrgyz capital was named from 1926 to 1991, was in Osh twice as commander of the Turkestan Front of the young Soviet Republic. On April 22^nd, 1920, he spoke at a rally of 10,000 townspeople, and the next month, during a meeting of county and city activists, he delivered a fiery speech to the soldiers of the Osh garrison. In memory of this event, a commemorative plate was installed in the garrison.