If you’re walking along ul. Ks. Skargi it’s impossible to miss the white crescent-shaped structure rising by Most Skargi. Wzgórze Partyzantów (Partisan Hill) is one of the few remaining ancient fortifications that once protected the Old Town from invasion. Built between 1594 and 1598, and originally awarded the name Bastion Sakwowy (Saddlebag Bastion), the buildings you see now topping the horizon date from the 19th century when the area was redeveloped to serve as public recreational space. A fearsome tower, designed by Berlin architect Carl Schmidt was added in 1867, though this was demolished during WWII to prevent advancing Russian troops from using it as a reference point for artillery shelling. At the start of the siege of Festung Breslau the subterranean bunkers and catacombs were used as HQ by Nazi high command, though they relocated in March 1945 as the Red Army drew closer. After the war the hillock was re-christened Partisan Hill and the old cellars temporarily housed a museum. Today much of the area lies forlorn and forgotten, a once gleaming construction littered with smashed bottles and spray can squiggles, though recent restoration hints at better times. The windswept loneliness that greets visitors is ripe for myth and legend, and stories of secret Nazi tunnels and the ghostly shrieks of prisoners tortured to death in medieval times abound.