On our left-hand side we see the so called Bock-Casemates. During the 17th and the 18th centuries, the road leading to the city from the lower district Clausen over the Bock promontory was transformed into an impressive bastion. An expansive complex of subterranean tunnels strengthened the defensive force of the fortifications.
During the French Revolutionary Wars, French troops began the besiege of the Habsburg-held fortress on November 22, 1794. They hoped to get food and military equipment. The Governor, Field Marshal Johann von Bender, pitched his quarters in the Bock Casemates. From there he was able to survey the terrain on both sides of the promontory. In 1794, the garrison counted about 25,000 men, who were equipped with rifles, cannons, mortars and howitzers. From the fortress, the artillery kept firing at the terrain within range of their canons. During the winter, the civilian population and the garrison of the besieged city were suffering. The French soldiers supplied themselves by plundering the surrounding villages. They, too, suffered from the winter. Cut off from the outside world, Bender had to have by necessity money minted in the city to pay for the troops' pay. This money was valid only in the city. In the spring of 1795, the reserves of flour and firewood were exhausted. The hope of seeing an auxiliary army come to deliver the besieged faded. Hungry soldiers began to slaughter the horses. Several times the besiegers asked Bender to surrender. He repeatedly refused. The garrison troops tried unsuccessfully to break out of the fortress. End of April 1795, the French decided to construct a shielded battery on a nearby height and to equip it with mortars to burn the place. Faced with this threat, the Austrians attempted a massive exit in the night of May 15 to 16, but they were repulsed with heavy losses. Now convinced of the uselessness of such actions, the governor ordered to bombard relentlessly the positions of French artillery. The fire lasted twelve days but the French batteries fought back and caused a lot of damage, so that the inhabitants of the city asked Bender to surrender the place.
After some negotiations, which allowed the Austrian garrison to leave the fortress with the honors of war, the capitulation was signed June 7, 1795 at the French headquarters in Itzig.