After Kaiser Franz Joseph I. gave his assent, the construction of five bridgeheads (Krems, Tulln, Wien, Preßburg, Komorn/Budapest) was initiated on 22 August 1914. These were intended to protect the specific Danube crossings from enemy attacks and make possible the safe transfer of large bodies of troops across the river.

The Krems bridgehead was constructed as a defence belt around two bridges across the Danube that were already in existence – the Mautern-Stein road bridge and the railway bridge. The bridgehead was intended to serve for defence against the Russian or Italian enemy in the case of war either of type “R” (Russian invasion) or “I” (Italian invasion). However, the defence belt was never completely constructed. In theory, the system would have been capable of accommodating 34,000 soldiers consisting of infantry, cavalry and heavy artillery. The intended artillery was however obsolete and originated partly from 1861.

The Krems bridgehead was subdivided into five sectors – I to III were situated to the north of the Danube and IV and V to the south of the river. Sector V was split into the defence points Göttweig, Waxenberg and Eggendorf/Fucha. Under supervision of the fortification lieutenant Alfred Sighartner, the Göttweig defence point was expanded in the area of the Göttweiger Mountain.