Tag: france

WWI Battlefields – Somme, Arras and Ypres

CarloRLeave a comment

Historians defined World War I as the first ‘worldwide conflict’. There is probably no better place to appreciate the multi-ethnic provenance of the two opposing formations than in the region between Amiens, France and Ypres, Belgium.

Along this sector of the front, which did not move much between 1914 and 1918, Germany alone fought against the allied forces of France and their mainly African colonies, Belgium and the British Empire, which included Britain, Canada, Newfoundland, India, Bermuda, Rhodesia, New Zealand and Australia. Even the Army of South Africa found its way to the battlefield of the Somme in 1916, and the United States contributed to the last battle of Ypres and to the final rush against the German positions in 1918.

The contributions of all these Nations are remarkably represented by memorials and war cemeteries, which since then point the map of this area remembering the history of those fateful years and the fierce battles which took place – most notably the Battle of the Somme, the three Battles of the Artois with the Battle of the Vimy Ridge, and the five Battles of Ypres.

The fury of the Somme offensive, which took place between July and November 1916 and procured 1.1 million casualties – including more than 300’000 killed – on both sides, meant the region is particularly dense in memorials, which in some instances include little sections of the once extensive labyrinth of trenches. Due to the quality of the soil, these trenches have largely disappeared here, differently from the case of the region of the St. Mihiel salient, south of Verdun (see this post). Besides the overwhelmingly high cost in lives of the few miles of terrain gained by the Entente, this battle is famous also for the first ever use of tanks.

The battles of the Artois for the control of the area north of Arras were fought between 1915 and 1917, and here was recorded one of the top average deaths-per-day rates of the war, in the order of 4’000 on the side of the Entente.

The town of Ypres found itself on the line of the front from the first offensive of the Germans, when they tried – and failed – to reach for the coast of the North Sea in 1914. The region south of there saw continuous action until the final ‘100 days’ campaign of 1918, which actually broke the German lines and convinced the Kaiser to withdraw his troops, putting and end to the war. Ypres is mostly famous for the first ever use of lethal gas to drive enemy soldiers out of the trenches. More than 400’000 soldiers were killed on that sector of the line of the front, during at least five massive operations scattered over four years of war.

This chapter presents some notable war sites in this extensive region, which is easily accessible between Paris and Brussels, and today well prepared for tourism and very nice to visit – a pleasant countryside with many small and picturesque villages. Photographs were taken in 2016, during the first centennial of the Offensive of the Somme.

Map

Instead of looking how to reach for each site listed below in its dedicated section, you can find here a comprehensive map where you can see their respective locations at a glance. None of these sites is difficult to reach, provided you have a car – the most time-effective way to move around in that region. You can find a parking nearby each point of interest.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Sights in the Somme

The battlefield of the Somme Offensive stretches roughly over a triangle between Amiens, Bapaume and Peronne. The offensive took place between July and November 1916, and was conceived to decrease the pressure of the Germans in the area of Verdun further southeast, where the French were facing the mighty blows of the German war machine. This offensive was operated by the British and French on two split parts of the sector.

This battle is among the most famous in WWI due to several reasons. One is the atrocious death toll on both sides in face of the very little motion of the front line, which was pushed some miles towards the east. It was also the first battle where the Kitchener’s Army saw serious combat – this name is attributed to the corps of the British Army formed as a result of the recruiting effort of the ministry of war of the time, Lord Kitchener, soon after the first phases of WWI. These mainly very young, non-professional soldiers participated in the thousands in this bloody offensive.

After the offensive, the front line remained stable roughly until 1918, with hostilities lasting in the area until the end of the war.

There are many commemorative monuments, cemeteries and museums on the area of the battlefield. A nice institutional website made for tourists and listing many sights is here. Further information on the British website here. I suggest devoting at least a full day moving around the area with a car without the need to rush. Most sites are open 24 hours, while museums and documentation sites clearly have opening times. The following are just some major sites which are surely worth visiting in this region.

Museum ‘Somme 1916’, Albert

This is the ideal starting point for the exploration of the battlefield of the Somme. The small town of Albert is just where the line of the front ran at the beginning of the battle of 1916. This proximity meant the village was on the line of fire of the artillery of both Germany and the Entente. As a result the village was largely destroyed during the war. The museum has been built in a tunnel under the local church, rebuilt in the 1920s. The tunnel was dug as an air shelter in the 1930s, in preparation for another war soon to strike in the region…

The exhibition has three highlights. The first is a vivid reconstruction of several portions of the trenches on the sides of the two opponents. Some special features including optical equipment and weapons of the respective formations are displayed. Shelters, medical rooms and firing positions are all part of the tour. Germany and the British Empire are especially represented, for together with the French on a lesser scale, they were the most involved in this bloody battle.

Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Somme Albert WWI
Somme Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI

A map of the battle and some ‘war bulletins’ telling the number of shells shot and the number of casualties help understanding the huge cost of every inch of terrain gained by the Entente during the four months of the offensive.

Secondarily, many items left behind from the days of operations have been collected and are showcased. These include many weapons and shells, plus material dug out from the ground, like helmets, knives, pots, buckles, tags and even still branded canned food!

Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI

A collection of different fuses illustrates the many possible functions of the shells.

Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI
Museum Somme 1916 Albert WWI

The third interesting feature of this place is of course a very realistic reinstatement – with lights and sounds – of the ‘environment’ of a trench during war operations. This is impossible to capture in pictures, but it is designed very well and makes for a very evocative introduction to a visit of the area.

The museum has its own website here.

Lochnagar Mine Crater, Boisselle

The first and most spectacular phase of the Somme Offensive was probably its very beginning. During the months preceding the attack – starting early in the morning of July 1st, 1916 – the British prepared a series of underground tunnels, coming close to the German positions, and stored a number of colossal mines there. The attack began at 7.00 am, with a shelling over the German positions so intense that it was heard in London. About 30 minutes in this firestorm, 19 mines placed beneath the German lines were detonated within a couple of minutes.

Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI
Lochnagar Mine Crater Somme WWI

The first of these mines was responsible for the Lochnagar crater, about 450 ft across and 220 ft deep, and obtained firing some 27 tonnes of explosive! At the time it was the most intense and loudest ordnance ever fired. Today you can still appreciate the size of the crater as you walk all around it.

Pozières

A group of interesting memorials is located around the village of Pozières, which was geographically in the center of intense action. A small memorial of New Zealand can be found nearby the former place of observation bunker called ‘Gibraltar’. Only part of the foundations of this observation post can be seen today.

Gibraltar Pozieres Observation Post Somme WWI
Gibraltar Pozieres Observation Post Somme WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Gibraltar Pozieres Observation Post Somme WWI
Gibraltar Pozieres Observation Post Somme WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
British Memorial Somme WWI
British Memorial Somme WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI
Somme Battlefield WWI

Another sight is the local Australian memorial, and the unusual memorial of the British Tank Corps, with miniature models of the tanks used in the battle.

Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Tank Corps Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI
Australian Memorial Pozieres Somme WWI

Only about 30 tanks could take part to the offensive. Used in action nearby here for the first time in history, while possibly not decisive in this particular battle, tanks undeniably confirmed their potential in breaking through the enemy lines, without fearing the barbed wire obstacles and machine gun fire. Tanks were soon to be developed further, and participated in the last offensives of the war in the hundreds.

London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval

This cemetery is mainly dedicated to the British soldiers of the ‘London’ Division, mainly responsible for the conquer of the High Wood, a fiercely contended group of trees placed on top of a low hill, taken and lost several times in the battle of 1916. It is one of the largest among the many war cemeteries in the region.

London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI

It is composed of a smaller part built soon after the Somme Offensive, and of an extension added around the original nucleus, for more graves which came later during the war. Looking at the graves it is possible to notice that many of the soldiers buried there are unidentified – ‘A Soldier Known Unto God’ is the inscription you find often times.

London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI
London Cemetery and Extension Longueval Somme WWI

The cemetery was enlarged again years later after WWII, as more British soldiers were lost in the war against Hitler’s Germany in the area.

Delville Wood South African National Memorial, Longueval

This memorial has been erected in the 1920s on a land assigned in perpetuity to South Africa by the French government of the time. The memorial is the main WWI monument to the Army of South Africa in Europe, commemorating their service and the death of more than 10’000 throughout the war.

Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI
Delville Wood South African National Memorial Somme WWI

A British cemetery can be found cross the road, facing the South African monument, where a further memorial to the troops of New Zealand can be reached nearby following the local indications.

Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval

The grandest memorial in the battlefield of the Somme, Thiepval was completed in the early 1930s and inaugurated by the Prince of Wales and the president of France to commemorate the soldiers of the British Empire who died in the area and whose burial site is unknown. More than 72’000 names are graven on the sides of the memorial.

Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval Memorial Somme WWI

The memorial serves as a joint French-British monument, and a number of soldiers of both nationalities are buried nearby.

Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI

Close to the memorial there is an interesting documentation site, with a very vivid and modern pictorial reconstruction of the trenches.

Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI
Thiepval British Commonwealth Memorial Somme WWI

The location on top of a hill on the very battlefield of the Somme Offensive makes this place really evocative, notwithstanding the many tourists.

Auchonvillers

Not far from Thiepval it is possible to find the village of Auchonvillers, where on private land – actually in the garden of a local teahouse – there is a small part of a preserved covered trench.

Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
aAuchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI
Auchonvillers Trenches Somme WWI

In the vicinity of the village it is easy to spot the Ulster Tower. This was built in the 1920s to commemorate the contribution of the ‘Ulster’ Division of Northern Ireland, and is an almost exact copy of a tower in Bangor, Ulster.

Ulster Tower Somme WWI
Ulster Tower Somme WWI
Ulster Tower Somme WWI
Ulster Tower Somme WWI
Somme Memorial WWI
Somme Memorial WWI
Cruachan Scottish Memorial Somme WWI
Cruachan Scottish Memorial Somme WWI
Cruachan Scottish Memorial Somme WWI
Cruachan Scottish Memorial Somme WWI

Not far between Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel, one of the countless smaller monuments is a Celtic Cross bearing the inscription ‘Cruachan’, the war cry of the Campbell clan. It commemorates a number of Scottish Divisions fighting in the battle.

The Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont-Hamel

This is one of the largest preserved trenches of the Somme area, and one of the only two Canadian historic landmarks out of mainland Canada. The park has original trenches on display, some of them preserved, some today barely visible. The site commemorates the action of the Newfoundland Regiment, which had one of the highest casualties tolls of the war, being reduced to less than 20% in the first day of combat during the Battle of the Somme – almost 700 casualties.

Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI

A 1:1 size statue of a caribou, the mascot of that territory which at the time was not part of Canada, is prominently standing on top of a hill in the park. Scattered around are other monuments, two small cemeteries and the ‘Danger Tree’, a copy of a dead tree originally standing there and helping the German artillery adjusting the sight and better directing their fire, thus causing more casualties in the nearby spot.

Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI
Newfoundland Trenches and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel Canada Somme WWI

Red Baron’s Crash Site, Vaux sur Somme

The site of the crash of Manfred von Richtofen, aka ‘The Red Baron’, is in a field nearby Vaux sur Somme.

Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI
Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI
Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI
Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI
Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI
Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen Crash Site Somme WWI

There is only a small placard on the road, remembering the fatal crash due to Australian machine gunfire. This happened in April 1918 though, much after the end of the Somme Offensive in summer-fall 1916.

Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux

This is the main commemoration site of the Australian troops in WWI in Europe. It was erected here due to the proximity with the sector of the front assigned to Australia during and after the offensive of 1916. A successful battle was fought there in 1918, in the final months of the war.

Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI

It was the last major commemorative monument to be completed in the area, being unveiled in the late 1930s at the presence of King George VI. Also men from the air force are commemorated and buried there. The names of thousands of soldiers without a grave are listed on the sides of the monument.

Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI
Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux Somme WWI

While the architecture was somewhat contested at the time, the location is gorgeous, overlooking the southern area of the battlefield of the Somme. The monument was hit during WWII, and traces of the bullets can be seen on the side slabs of the monument.

Australian Corps Memorial, Le Hamel

This monument commemorates the effort of the forces of the Entente in the battle taking place here in summer 1918, when the war was still fiercely raging in the area notwithstanding the approaching end. The monument has been erected close to a small section of trenches, of which traces can be seen nearby. Flags of some of the participants to the struggle on the side of the Entente are present.

Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI
Australian Corps Memorial Le Hamel Somme WWI

When I visited there were some poppies in a field nearby the monument. Poppy flowers, rather common in the region, were the only flowers on the devastated no man’s land between the adversary trenches. These flowers came to represent the sacrifice especially of the British soldiers, and the poppy was adopted as an official symbol of war veterans in the 1920s.

Sights in the Artois

The French city Arras in the heart of the region of the Artois found itself on the front line as it got stabilized already in 1914. Three bloody offensives which caused the French huge losses were launched in the region in 1915. The front moved a few miles forth and back, without any decisive breakthrough on either side. In April 1917 a major battle was fought in the area, which led to the conquer of the Vimy Ridge. At that time, the British had taken over responsibility for that sector of the front. The area is especially famous for the underground tunnels, dug by both opponents to place mines and for sheltering and storage purposes, thanks to the soft chalky soil typical of the region.

Wellington Quarry, Arras

These tunnels were carved in central Arras mainly by men of the New Zealand Tunneling Company, who included enlisted natives from the Pacific islands. Works were started from an existing quarry. Some areas are really spacious, while parts of the extensive tunnel network are narrow and made only for trolleys. Original inscriptions can be seen on the walls, as well as everyday items collected by archaeologists.

Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI
Wellington Quarry Arras WWI

The quarry is managed by a local society and can be visited on guided tours. Full information here.

Memorial and Commemorative Park, Vimy

This large area, now belonging to Canada, surrounds the Vimy Ridge, where the homonym battle was fought in 1917, leading to the conquer of this piece of territory by the Entente. Actually, the uncontested protagonists of this offensive were the Canadian Divisions. Many soldiers coming from different territories of Canada overwhelmed the German defenses in a well prepared and coordinated attack. Together with the Newfoundland memorial in the Somme (see above), these are the only two Canadian national landmarks outside of mainland Canada. There is a visitor center with Canadian Rangers, offering information and guided tours.

A first part of the site is composed of a preserved group of trenches, which are partly open-air and partly underground. The extensive network of tunnels in the area was prepared in advance, and provided a protected area for billeting troops as well as for storing materials, goods and medical facilities. Visiting the underground part is possible only on guided tours.

Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI

Surface trenches are have been refurbished, but the majority of the grounds are preserved in the sense that nobody is allowed to walk on them, also for the very high danger bound to unexploded ordnance – warning signs can be found almost everywhere. You can still see strange grooves in the ground, either grenade craters or trenches.

Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI
Canadian Memorial Vimy France WWI

The most visible part of the site is the Vimy Memorial, built right on top the Vimy Ridge and inaugurated in the mid 1930s by King Edward VIII and the French president. It commemorates the service of the Canadian Divisions in Europe during WWI. Thousands of names of Canadian soldiers lost and whose burial is unknown are listed on the monument, which is a fine example of architecture from the time.

German War Cemetery, Saint-Laurent-Blangy, Arras

Despite the most visited are the war memorials and the annexed cemeteries of the Entente, all along the front are also a number of German war cemeteries. One is located close by a more apparent British cemetery northeast of Arras, along a road called Chemin de Bailleul.

Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI
Vimy France German Cemetery WWI

The smaller number of cemeteries and an equal number of soldiers killed meant German war cemeteries are more crowded. In this small cemetery about 22’000 mostly unknown soldiers are buried. Some of the gravestones tell about the Jewish ethnicity of some of these German soldiers.

Sights around Ypres

Moving north from the Somme along the line of the front, passing Arras and crossing the border with Belgium, the very nice and relaxing countryside would not easily recall the deadly battles fought in the area during the full scope of WWI. The city of Ypres was involved in five great offensives between 1914 and 1918 – sometimes associated also to other ‘official names’ by historians – and similarly the salient to the east and south of the town, stretching over the Flanders region to the border with France, was fiercely contended for the duration of the war.

‘In Flanders Fields’ Museum, Ypres

An excellent starting point for the exploration of the WWI sites around Ypres is this modern museum, located in the central square of the beautiful medieval town of Ypres. Actually, the exhibition can be found in a medieval building once hosting a kind of stock exchange, among the oldest in the world.

The museum starts from setting the scene and telling about WWI. Further on, the focus is on the German offensive in Belgium in 1914, and the actions around the town of Ypres, where French, Belgian, British and later American forces were active against the Army of the Kaiser.

Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres

The museum is very modern, you are given a special bracelet giving access to multimedia explanations along the self guided tour. Visiting may take more than 1 hour if this is the first site of the kind you are visiting, may be less if you go with some preparation concerning WWI facts in the area. Full information here.

Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres

The Menin Gate was originally one of the gates of the town of Ypres, fortified by Vauban in the 17th century, along the road going to the village of Menen. Incidentally, this was the gate through which many of the soldiers billeted in Ypres and going to the trenches nearby were to walk through. The location was chosen to be transformed into a memorial for the troops of the British Empire. This was unveiled in the 1920s, and more than 54’000 names of soldiers of the British Empire lost in the battles around the Ypres salient without a grave are listed.

Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial WWI

A short commemoration ceremony – the ‘Last Post’ ceremony – is celebrated every evening at 8 pm by the gate.

British War Cemeteries, Ypres

Similar to the battlefield of the Somme, many war cemeteries can be found in the region around Ypres. At least one of them can be found in the medieval town, with a scenic view of the moat running around the ancient fort. As typical, some graves belong to unidentified soldiers.

Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI
Yrpes Cemeteries WWI

Memorial Museum ‘Passchendaele 1917’, Zonnebeke

The battle of Passchendaele was an offensive carried out by the forces of the British Empire with the support of the French between July and November 1917. Often identified as the Third Battle of Ypres, it turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles on this front, where a gain of around five miles in favor of the Entente was paid with about 520’000 casualties, equally shared between the two opponents.

In the town of Zonnebeke it is possible to find a very well designed museum and memorial of this battle. Besides showing the facts of the battle and the devastating effects in the area, the museum has on display a huge collection of original war equipment, including an incredible collection of different types of shells.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI

Another uncommon sight is typical WWI gear – gas masks. As a matter of fact, Ypres is associated to the first ever use of poisonous gas in military history. This is not accurate, since poisonous gases had been used in more instances since ages, and actually had been banned by international agreements in the early 20th century. Furthermore, the first irritant gases was used with limited effects by both the French and Germans earlier in 1914. Yet it was during the Second Battle of Ypres in April-May 1915 that the Germans attacked with a specifically designed and mass-scale produced chlorine gas, turning what had been an expedient into a new substantial part of their arsenal. Chlorine gas, with a distinctive brownish appearance, is very effective against the lungs and other mucosa membranes, and being heavier than air it forced men to leave the trenches where it had been poured.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI

Soon after the introduction of lethal gas by the Germans, the Entente started producing similar weapons. More and more gases were experimented with, but also the corresponding countermeasures. Gas masks became part of the regular equipment of soldiers since the first attacks. These were very effective too, but filters were made to measure with respect to specific gases, so they had to evolve as new gases were used. Furthermore, gas masks were heavy, they limited sight and motion, and made breathing much more difficult. Plus they did not offer protection against skin burning gases. So, while casualties due to gas attacks turned out to be high but not outrageous at least in face of what had been expected by their designers, the use of gas contributed in changing the face of the war, and made things harder especially for the morale of the troops, which started feeling much more vulnerable even when crouched in their trenches.

In the museum you can see a collection of original models of gas masks, and you are provided a description of the appearance, effects and even a reproduction of the smell of the most widespread gases used during WWI. There are also reconstructed dugouts and underground shelters where you can move in, to experience their small size.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI

The open-air part offers a reconstruction of a section of the original system of trenches, including some typical features like wooden or metal reinforcements. Many interesting technical details are provided during the visit.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI

There is also an American prefabricated house from the time, representing many similar items which were provided by the US following the end of WWI to help civilians after the devastation brought by the war in the area.

Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI
Memorial Museum Passchendaele Ypres WWI

This very nice and modern museum is very easily accessible, full information here.

Tyne Cot War Cemetery, Zonnebeke

This is one of the largest war cemeteries of the British Empire in the world, totaling more 11’900 graves from WWI. The majority of these men were lost during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. Before completion of its monumental part, the site was visited by King George V back in the early 1920s.

Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI
Tyne Cot Cemetery German Bunker Ypres WWI

The walls of the cemetery include two blockhouses, originally parts of the German rear lines and conquered during the actions of 1917. The place is associated also to a small and modern visitor center. Website here.

German Trenches ‘Bayernwald’, Heuvelland

This open-air park is centered on a section of refurbished and preserved trenches of the German Army, originally occupied by the divisions of Bayern. Not far from this site it is possible to see the craters of two German mines.

German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI
German Trenches Bayernwald Heuvelland Ypres WWI

The site is really interesting to visit. Entrance is at a small fee, but tickets are on sale by the local Tourist Office in the small village of Kemmel, about four miles from the actual site.

US Troops Memorial Ypres WWI
US Troops Memorial Ypres WWI

Along the road connecting the two, it is possible to spot a memorial for the troops of two American Divisions who fought in this area.

Christmas Truce Memorial, Comines-Warneton

This site is just one of the points where this unique event took place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914. In the days before Christmas, the Germans had started putting candles on the rims of the trenches and singing carols, which were heard by the British, who on their turn started singing similar carols in their language. An unofficial de facto ceasefire became effective, during which soldiers from both sides started fraternizing, taking pictures of each other, exchanging trinkets and even playing football. Some corpses were removed from no man’s land by both opposing formations. There was no artillery fire in many sectors of the front, especially those around Ypres.

Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI
Christmas Truce Trenches Ypres WWI

This happened only in 1914 though, when it was thought at least among the troops on both parts, that the war would not last long. Later in 1915 actions started getting bloodier and it was realized that the war would cost much more and would last much longer than expected, and even this little shred of humanity was lost in the firestorms.

What you see is just a preserved piece of opposed trenches, really close to each other in this sector, and a British war cemetery nearby.

Ploegsteert Memorial and ‘Plugstreet 14-18 Experience’, Ploegsteert

This nice commemorative monument of the British was built for the more than 11’000 soldiers lost in the nearby sector of the front between 1914 and 1918 whose burial site is unknown. A Last Post ceremony is held here once per week.

British Memorial Ploegsteert Comines Ypres WWI
British Memorial Ploegsteert Comines Ypres WWI
British Memorial Ploegsteert Comines Ypres WWI
British Memorial Ploegsteert Comines Ypres WWI
Irish Peace Tower Messines Ypres WWI
Irish Peace Tower Messines Ypres WWI

Besides the museum there is a small war cemetery and a modern documentation center, mainly centered on multimedia exhibits telling the facts of this sector of the front in WWI, and trying to describe the everyday experience of those fighting in the trenches. Full website here.

Not far north, moving towards the border Ypres, it is possible to spot the Irish Peace Tower of Messines, built close to the homonym ridge where a battle was fought. This tower commemorates the sacrifice of those from the Irish Island in WWI. It was unveiled in 1998 at the presence of the Queen Elizabeth II, the President of Ireland and the King of Belgium. The design recalls that of a round tower, some of which can be found in Ireland. The stones for construction were transported from the ‘Green Island’.

Extra feature: WWI Commemoration Monument, Detmold, Germany

Touring the nice city of Detmold, not far west from Hannover, I could spot a commemorative monument to the local division of the German Army, dedicated to the soldiers killed in action during WWI. Many campaigns named after the homonym sites in northern France and Belgium are listed on the sides of the monument.

Detmold German WWI Memorial
Detmold German WWI Memorial
Detmold German WWI Memorial
Detmold German WWI Memorial
Detmold German WWI Memorial
Detmold German WWI Memorial

Forts of the Maginot Line

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Soon after the end of WWI, the government and the top-ranking officials of the victorious French Army set plans for a defensive system along the eastern border, which would protect the nation from future invasions. The ambitious plan was initially based on a line of reinforced concrete forts placed along the border with Italy, Germany, Luxembourg. Construction started in the last 1920s, and the defense system was named after Henri Maginot, ministry of war at the time and a major advocate of the project, who died well before its completion in 1932.

Construction works continued till at least 1935 on the Italian and German sectors. Soon after, in 1936 due to the re-negotiations of the alliance with Belgium, the line was partly extended along the border between France and Belgium, but it never reached completion, thus failing to seal that sector of the border – which might have been possible only by reaching the coast of the Channel.

When the first thunders of war resounded in Europe in 1939, the forts of the Maginot line were reinforced further. The German Army planned an attack accounting for the presence of the line, and when the invasion of France was enacted in May 1940, a small diversionary army was sent against the French forts, while most of the Wehrmacht moved quickly through the forests of southeast Belgium – the Ardennes – finally entering France in the region of Sedan, next to the western extremity of the French defensive line. So the immense defensive system was outflanked in about three weeks, and an armistice between France and Germany followed soon in June 1940.

The Maginot line is composed of 108 major forts – ‘ouvrage’ in French – plus many more smaller installations. These bunkers had often different characteristics depending on the region, and were interred to an extent depending on the local characteristics of the terrain. Typical features of these forts are turrets with cannons and periscopes. Larger forts have usually two separate entrances for the troops and for supplying goods – shells, grenades, kerosene for the electric generators, food, medical supplies, etc.. These forts could house more than 1’000 troops each. Larger bunkers were often connected by a network of underground tunnels with smaller observation or firing positions, or reinforced barracks. There was also a dedicated telephone communication network all along the line.

Many forts of the line never sustained attacks, while some did. Some were even used in the closing months of the war by the US Army, as strongpoints during field battles against the retreating German Army.

Today, many forts of the line are preserved as national monuments. Some of them are open as top-ranking museums, some have been entrusted to local societies of enthusiasts which allow to visit them on a regular or limited basis. Some are usually shut and inaccessible except by arrangement.

This chapter is about a few forts of the Maginot Line in northeastern France visited in 2016. These highlights provide an insight on the typical construction of these defensive installations. Featured are many photographs taken during these visits.

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Sights

Ouvrage de la Ferté

This smaller fort is probably the one in the Maginot Line which saw the most intense action. Located in the beautiful countryside north of historical Sedan, on the border with Belgium, this fort is where the invading Wehrmacht inflicted a first major blow, entering French territory in Spring 1940. It was in the focus of a direct German attack between May 18th-19th, 1940, and no one of the French soldiers in the fort survived.

This installation, located on top of a hill, is composed of two main blocks, connected by an underground tunnel. The interior can be visited only on a guided tour, while the exteriors can be walked freely. The visit starts in the visitor center,  with a very nice animated movie telling the story of the fort, and of the momentous events of May 1940 it was involved in.

Then you are taken to the entrance of the bunker nearby. Getting closer, you are shown original defensive obstacles originally placed along the perimeter of many forts of the Maginot Line. There are six lines of rail beams stuck vertically in the ground, to stop tanks and vehicles, plus lines of barbed wire against attacking troops.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

The entrance is through a bunker – Block 1 – emerging from the side of a hill. On top there are thick metal turrets for observation and rifle/machine gun firing. The entrance is through a smaller drawbridge, leaning over a dry moat. This is a distinctive feature of many similar forts of the line. An attacker close to the main door would find himself on the line of fire of anti-tank and lighter arms shooting through sealed loopholes in the wall of the bunker, and vulnerable to grenade attacks, which could be slipped through specially built inclined tubes. From the apron ahead of the bunker you can spot in the distance another concrete bunker part of the same group, about 1 mile away to the southeast. It cannot be visited.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

Once inside you can see the shooting chamber opposite the wall close to the main door. Original light weapons are still in place – an anti-tank cannon and a machine gun. Close by there are the dormitories for the troops, the office of the commander and other service rooms, including bulky filters for the ventilation system.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

During the fight, a grenade exploded inside the bunker, and this produced an extensive damage. Some non-structural walls collapsed, and what remains can be seen today. The ensuing fire was the final cause of the French disaster during the German attack, as the gas masks of the French troops were not designed against carbon monoxide resulting from a usual fire – most soldiers died from asphyxia.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

The guide will drive you to the other block, walking along the connection tunnel. Block 2 features a revolving turret, which could be also retracted for sealing the bunker when necessary. When extracted, it exposed the barrels of various light weapons. This turret can be accessed if you are sufficiently agile. It was put out of combat by applying explosives which stuck the revolving mechanism – the turret has since then assumed a slightly banked attitude.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

The guided tour ends after exiting through the door of Block 2. Moving around on top of the construction, you can see the clear signs of the German shelling on top of the turrets. Also the print left by a pack of explosive stick to the side of the revolving turret, but causing little damage, can be clearly spotted.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

Between the two blocks, on the side of a local road crossing the site, a further concrete bunker with a small door – this time totally inaccessible – can be found. Opposite the road, there is a monument to the French soldiers who were killed in the attack.

Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de la Ferté – Maginot Line

Getting there and moving around

This site is really worth visiting also for those with a general interest for history, and it offers a very good insight on the specific features of the Maginot Line for technically minded people as well. The guide is very knowledgeable, and provides explanations in English also during visits in French. The place is managed as a modern museum, website here. The guided tour will last approximately 45 minutes. Allow more for touring the outside on your own and taking pictures. It can be reached along the road connecting Villy and La Ferté-sur-Chiers, less than 20 miles southeast of Sedan.

Ouvrage Simserhof

This is one of the big forts – ‘gros ouvrage’ – of the Maginot Line, located close to the German border. It was dug in the side of a hill, with two separate gates. The lower one at the foot of the hill was for supply, where the top one, close to the top of the hill, was for the troops. Both gates are reinforced concrete bunkers with loopholes for light artillery to defend the apron ahead of the entrance.

The place has a modern visitor center. The visit – only possible with a guide – is articulated in two parts. The first is a tour of the lower level, which used to be the storage for ammunitions as well as anything needed to supply the activities going on in the fort. This level has been converted into a dynamic exhibition, with sounds, a narrating voice, some visual effects. It is toured conveniently sitting on a cable car. The second part is a classic guided tour of the top-level, and it will start from the top entrance.

Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof - Maginot Line
Grand Ouvrage de Simserhof – Maginot Line

The inside of the fort is huge, and the tour is pretty extensive. You are shown the firing chambers besides the entrance, many tunnels, dormitories, living quarters for the troops, medical rooms, the rooms for the electrical generators, and many other service rooms. Remarkably though, you are not shown the artillery installations in the peripheral blocks.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is a prominent tourist attraction in the area. The visit to the lower level is more for children and people with a very general interest for 20th century history. The original setting was changed deeply to host a modern dynamic exhibition, which may not appeal to more technically minded subjects. The visit to the top part lasts about 1.5 hour, and is maybe too hard for kids. Many technical details are provided here and many items shown. Yet the fact that you cannot access any artillery position – at least when I visited – is a bit disappointing. Everything in French only when I visited. Info and timetables for visiting from their website. The closest sizable town is Saarbrücken, Germany, about 30 miles northwest of the site.

Ouvrage du Four à Chaux

This is an intermediate size fort, which hosted around 600 men in the days of operation. The visit – only possible with a guide – is very interesting, as the fort has many characteristics typical to larger installations of the Maginot Line – like Simserhof, see above – but it is more compact and easy to visit. Furthermore, during the visit you are shown all areas of major importance, covering the housing part, as well as the artillery control and firing part.

Much like larger forts, there are two entrances at two different levels on the side of a hill. You get inside through the top one, for troops. Access is by a drawbridge over a small artificial dry moat. From there, you are shown a series of long corridors and tunnels, along which you can find the dormitories and technical rooms.

Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line

A special feature is an escape tunnel, built vertically and reaching the top of the hill from the core of the fort. The tunnel is actually made of two twin parts, where the first was designed to be filled up with debris coming from the top of the hill in case of an attack, leaving the other free. This way escape was possible even after the emergency exit had been specifically targeted you enemy fire, causing the debris to fall inside. Further features include the big filters of the ventilation system.

The firing control area can be reached following a corridor going gently uphill. Here you are shown the technical situation rooms from where war operations were coordinated. Several panels and cutouts provide an idea of the structure of the fort.

Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line

Then you get access to the ammo storage. Here ammunitions for bigger calibers were put in canisters which were moved thanks to a rail hanging from the ceiling. Larger used shells were conveyed from the cannon to a storage area throwing them on a slide.

Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line

One of the retractable turrets is still perfectly working. The guide will operate the mechanism, showing how the turret can be moved up and down, and also how it can rotate. A closed circuit camera shows the turret from outside, thus allowing to better appreciate the effect of the mechanisms you see standing inside. This part is very interesting, and provides a good idea of how the fort worked during a battle.

Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line

The guide will finally drive you to the exit through the lower entrance originally for resupply, which is reached going down an inclined tunnel, used to load trolleys full of ammunitions moving them from the storage level to the operative quarters of the fort.

Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux - Maginot Line
Ouvrage de Four a Chaux – Maginot Line

Close by the exit you can find an American M41 tank used as a gate guardian!

Getting there and moving around

The visit of this fort takes about 2 hours and it is very interesting. The museum is possibly less famous than others in the Maginot Line, which makes it more enjoyable, as groups are smaller and the staff is more dedicated. On the other hand, opening times are more limited, you can find information on their website. The visit was in French, but the guide answered my questions in English, plus you are provided a detailed paper guide in English – and probably other languages as well – for the time of the tour. The fort is on the premises of the town of Lembach, about 20 miles north of Strasbourg in the northeastern corner of France, right on the border with Germany.

Casemate Esch

This smaller reinforced artillery position is only rarely open to the public. Yet even from the outside it makes for a pretty unique sight. Actually this installation found itself in the middle of a storm in January 1945, when the 14th Armored Division of the US Army was stopped by the German army in the area of Haguenau during operation ‘Nordwind’, conceived by the Wehrmacht to repeat the success of the offensive in the Ardennes of May 1940. Many found shelter in this fort as a fierce tank battle raged all around.

Casemate Esch, Hatten - Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten – Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten - Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten – Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten - Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten – Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten - Maginot Line
Casemate Esch, Hatten – Maginot Line

Heavy damage resulting from intense shelling can be clearly spotted on this relatively small reinforced concrete building. A M4 Sherman tank has been placed on top of the bunker as a memorial.

Getting there and moving around

The barracks can be visited only on Sunday during the warm season. A view of the outside may be interesting, especially if you have already an idea of what a Maginot fort looks like from the inside. The place can be spotted easily on the side of D-28 less than 1 miles southeast of the small village of Hatten, some 15 miles north of Strasbourg. Information through the website of the larger Schoenenburg fort. For the outside, a tour of 15 minutes should be enough.

Abri de Hatten

This site is actually an extremely interesting WWII and Cold War museum, centered on the reinforced barracks in the village of Hatten, part of the Maginot Line. Inside the barracks, which can be toured on your own, you can find some of the original rooms rebuilt with their original furniture, especially a dormitory, a kitchen, medical facilities, air filters and power generators.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

Due to the big size of the bunker, some rooms have been used to host extremely interesting exhibitions. These are about the life in the area in the times of the German occupation. Pictures and rare original artifacts with Nazi insignia are part of the collection. A unique German map of the world from 1941 is displayed – showing with the Swastika as the national flag of Germany, and many borders in Europe looking very different from now!

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

A room is dedicated to the wreck of a Messerchmitt Me-262 Schwalbe, the worlds first operative jet engined fighter. This aircraft was downed nearby the fort in the closing days of WWII. The two jet engines make for an interesting sight, plus there are many components of the avionics system originally on board this very aircraft, really futuristic at the time.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

Another room showcases detection and communication gear from the Cold War years, and from both sides of the Iron Curtain. This recalls the fact that, soon after WWII, France decided to keep the largely untouched Maginot Line as a defensive installation against the Soviets. Having grown obsolete after nuclear stockpiles had begun to be produced also in France, the line was finally decommissioned by the early 1960s.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

The premises of the reinforced barracks are scattered with further interesting items, including cannons of several makes and bores, anti-tank, anti-aircraft and heavier field cannons, from France, Germany, the US and the Eastern Bloc.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

There are a MiG-21 and a Mil helicopter from the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR), a French Dassault Mirage, several antennas, a Soviet surface to air missile, more trucks from the GDR. There is also what appears to be a partly authentic border control booth with national insignia from the former border between possibly West Germany – maybe somewhere in Berlin – and the GDR.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

There is a small memorial building dedicated to a group of soldiers of the French Army which after the armistice with Germany in 1940 were integrated in the Wehrmacht, and later sent to fight on the side of the Germans against the Soviets on the European Eastern Front. Due to the very harsh conditions of that sector of the front, many would never come back.

There are also two further buildings in the museum. The first is about the Maginot Line, with a comprehensive – and very interesting – collection of models of its various types of forts and reinforced structures. The second is on WWII, with remains of a downed Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, German transport vehicles, and many artifacts and weapons.

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

Among the most peculiar items on display there is a parachute for pigeons. These birds were extensively used for communication between occupied France and Britain. British birds were parachuted in France. If they fell in the right hands, they could be loaded with a message and launched. Their instinct would then guide them back to their home base across the Channel. Some of these birds even received military decorations for their bravery in this vital service!

Finally, a small collection of heavy army vehicles are kept in operative conditions by a local society of enthusiasts. These include US half-tracked vehicles, trucks, an American M60 and a Soviet T-34 tank!

WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum - Abri de Hatten - Maginot Line
WWII and Cold War Museum – Abri de Hatten – Maginot Line

Getting there and moving around

This unique, one-of-a-kind collection can be visited on a self-guided basis. Depending on your interest, a visit may take from 45 minutes to more than 2 hours. A website with some visiting information is here. There location is on Rue de l’Abri, immediately to the west of the village of Hatten, 15 miles north of Strasbourg. Most explanations are in French and German, plus scant signs in English. Please note that they accept only cash.

Fort de Mutzig – Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II

While not a part of the Maginot Line, the history of this fort is interesting, for it was erected by the Germans at the end of the 19th century, when the regions of Alsace and Lorraine – now part of France – had been lost to the German Reich following the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. It was designed and built as the most technologically advanced fort of its time. The construction was based on concrete instead of masonry, which made it capable of withstanding heavy shelling from the most modern and powerful howitzers of its age. It was made of three sectors, erected on top of a hill not far from Strasbourg, and was part of a defensive line built around that city against the French. It was dedicated to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

This immense structure featured two batteries of four heavy 150 mm howitzers and fourteen 105 mm cannons in specifically designed turrets, plus lighter observation and firing turrets. About 1’000 men stationed in the fort, which saw limited action in WWI and was ceded to France in 1918. Correspondingly, it changed name to Fort de Mutzig. At the beginning of WWII, it was regained by the invading German Army, which occupied it but later sent the cannons to the Atlantic Wall. It was bombed by the Luftwaffe in the closing days of WWII, but it basically went through the turbulent first half of the 20th century without sustaining any major damage. It was later abandoned and re-opened as a museum, frequently updated as more sections are restored.

It is today one of the largest and best preserved examples of early concrete forts – actually a good example of WWI military architecture, as construction techniques remained very similar until after WWI.

Visiting is possible only in guided groups. The visit will take you to the northern sector, where you can see the firing chamber for defending the gate, and a series of rooms including the living quarters of the troops stationed there. There are a the dormitories, a medical room and even a bakery. Most writing from the time is in German, and most machines bear the name of a German brand! You can visit the original toilet – even there, no privacy was allowed, to prevent the troops from committing suicide by always keeping a watch on them.

Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig

Inside the many empty rooms, there are exhibitions of artifacts like models of the turrets, reinforced observation posts and weapons from the original supply of the fort.

Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig

Interestingly, the original electric generators have been carefully restored together with the power-plant control panel – very nice, really from an older age!

Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig

The tour of the exterior will take you to the top of the fort, where observation and firing turrets can be seen from the outside.

Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig

Finally, a battery of four 150 mm howitzers is approached and visited.

Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II - Fort de Mutzig
Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II – Fort de Mutzig

Getting there and moving around

The fort can be reached on top of a hill about 12 miles west of Strasbourg. The road going uphill starts between the villages of Mutzig and Dinsheim-sur-Bruche. The guided tour – the only way to visit – takes about 1.5 hours. The visit will be extremely interesting for the general public and more technically minded people as well. Website with information here.

The Salpa Line – Finland’s Anti-Soviet Barrier

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Possibly one of the world’s best preserved military installations from WWII, Finland’s Salpa Line – the name ‘salpa’ meaning ‘latch’ – is a defense line composed of about 700 reinforced concrete bunkers with anti-tank cannons and machine-guns, more than 200 miles of anti-tank obstacles, roughly another 200 miles of trenches pointed with over 1200 machine gun nests, 500 artillery positions and more than 700 quartering dugouts. All this, and everything necessary to operate this enormous war machine, including hundreds of miles of new roads, electric cables, dams, telephone lines, etc., was built to defend the border between Finland and the Soviet Union.

History – in brief

The Winter War

Finland enjoyed the rigors of WWII since 1939, when following the Ribbentrov-Molotov pact between Nazi Germany and the USSR, it was agreed off the records that this Country should enter the sphere of influence of Stalin’s communist dictatorship. Finding no other way to submit the Finns, Soviet troops attacked Finland from the East all along their common border, from the Gulf of Finland up north to the Barents Sea, at the end of November, 1939.

This rarely told chapter of WWII is known in Finland as the Winter War. Finland, which on a September 1939 map looked somewhat larger to the east than it looks today, fought fiercely against a numerically much superior enemy, which at the time was not engaged on any other major front. Despite the very difficult situation, with no help – except limited arm supply – from the outside, the motivated Finnish Army led by General Mannerheim recorded some marked victories especially in the central sector of the border, and managed to avoid a complete defeat. This unexpected military resistance, and the promise of Britain and France to support Finland had the war continued further, led the USSR to agree upon a peace treaty as soon as mid March 1940, basically crystallizing the military situation reached at the time. As a result, the border moved west by about 60 miles in southern Finland, with the loss of the Karelian Isthmus and the city of Vyborg, the access to lake Ladoga, Finland’s Eastern Karelia – simply known as Karelia in Russia – and a large territory in Lapland, mostly uninhabited. Finally, the peninsula and port town of Hanko, 70 miles west of Helsinki, was ceded to the USSR for 30 years.

Building the Salpa Line

It was at the end of the Winter War that Finland’s government, following the suggestion of General Mannerheim, took the decision to built the Salpa Line, to defend the new border against any possible attack of the Soviets.

Construction work on this impressive system, made not only of a chain of forts, dugouts and barracks, but also of an extensive network of communication and transport infrastructures, was carried out mainly between spring 1940 and summer 1941, Finland’s so-called Inter-War Period. Up to 35’000 workers – mainly civilians from private companies – were involved, roughly bringing the defense line to completion by mid 1941. The line was designed primarily to protect the most populated and easily accessible part of the Country in the south, and a major concentration of strong points was erected along todays border line with Russia, between the Gulf of Finland and the town of Joensuu.

At the same time, a smaller branch of the Salpa Line was erected on a much smaller scale on the new border with the USSR, along a 3 miles line cutting through the Hanko peninsula.

The Continuation War

In the period between the end of the Winter War and the surprise offensive of Germany against the USSR in June 1941, the Nazi Wehrmacht had successfully annexed Denmark and Norway to the Third Reich, thus becoming a neighbor state for Finland, just like the Soviet Union. In the process, Finland allowed Germany to transport troops and material to northern Norway moving on national land, and receiving arms in return. In the same period Hitler refused to endorse further Soviet attacks against Finland, thus further narrowing the diplomatic distance between Germany and Finland, which nonetheless managed to remain independent throughout WWII.

When the war broke out between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Finland took the initiative and attacked the USSR, soon regaining control of basically all territories lost in the Winter War, including the port of Hanko, by the end of 1941. The German Wehrmacht attacked the Soviet port town of Murmansk and the nearby area, rich of natural resources, from the northernmost Finnish region of Lapland.

Due to the quick movement of the front line back east, the Salpa Line saw basically no fight, and was maintained until the end of the war with the Soviets in 1944 as a rear defense line.

This phase is known as Continuation War, and quickly turned into a war of attrition along a stable border line. This equilibrium was cracked when the military situation started to get worse for Germany after the defeat of Stalingrad in early 1943. After months of negotiations with the USSR to put an end to the conflict, following a massive Soviet attack on the Karelian Isthmus in August 1944 and the second loss of Vyborg, an armistice was signed in September between Finland and the Soviet Union, in favor of the latter. It restored the border line as it was at the end of the Winter War and imposed a long-term lease of Porkkala – a peninsula on the Gulf of Finland 30 miles west of Helsinki – instead of Hanko. Also included were heavy war reparations and the neutrality of Finland with respect to further Soviet campaigns. Plus the immediate expulsion of all German forces from Finnish territory.

Nonetheless, differently from almost any other Country touched by the Red Army in the events of WWII, Finland managed to retain its complete independence from Stalin’s communist empire, and part of the credit goes to the existence of the Salpa Line, a major deterrent against any further Soviet military aggression.

The request to severe any contact with Germany led to the final chapter of WWII for Finland, the Lapland War, when the Armies of Finland and the USSR attacked the Wehrmacht in the north of the Country, starting a campaign lasting months until the final defeat of Germany, causing the total destruction of many villages and of the town of Rovaniemi.

Sights

As a result of the course of events, Finland’s fortified line of defense did not see any direct military action. This spared it for posterity as a notable example of military technology of the Forties. Of course, as war technology evolved rapidly soon after WWII, the Salpa Line rapidly became obsolete and was largely abandoned. Most dugouts, soft construction works as well as most wooden, unreinforced positions have been reclaimed by nature. Only traces of the trench lines exist today, except in those spots where they have been explicitly preserved for the public.

Heavy positions are a totally different matter. Except for a few mainly in the northern part of the Country, blown up by the Soviets in the months of the Lapland War to help expelling Nazi troops from the Finnish territory, most bunkers and strong points are still there, basically intact. The majority has been abandoned, but due to a demolition work being an economy nonsense, they can still be seen today.

At least two small groups of bunkers in the very south of the Country have been turned into top-level museums on local military history, with a modern visitor center, guided tours and so on. Some bunkers, like in Joensuu, can be visited as little local museums. A good number of the reinforced concrete installations have been left open for interested visitors, stripped of any dangerous military hardware, sometimes even partly refurbished, and in most cases they can be freely accessed – provided you find them. Some are included as checkpoints along official multi-miles hiking trails, which are among Finland’s top tourist attractions. More often, either you know where they are in advance or you will hardly find them in the wilderness.

For reaching most of the non-advertised bunkers of the Salpa Line, you need to drive to very secluded locations along unprepared roads. If you like this kind of archeology, this adds much to the fun!

The good news is that Finland considers the Salpa Line a historical landmark as a whole, thus any damage or alteration is strictly prohibited and severely prosecuted. So you are not to see your search frustrated by finding a bunker covered in graffiti or used as a shelter by ravers or drug addicts – as it is often the case with the much similar Atlantic Wall in France. This is also because except for a few cases the superstite installations are located far from any urban center. By the way, Finland boasts one of the Europe’s lowest crime rates, so exploration is made potentially dangerous only because of intrinsic – rusty barbed wire, mimetic manholes, narrow passages, total darkness … – or natural causes – badgers, boars and bears!

In the following a description of a few notable points of interest along the Salpa Line is presented. The list is extremely far from complete, as it would take at least several months of dedicated work to explore the Line in its entirety! Yet this selection provides a good specimen of all basic types of sight you can find along the line. Photographs were taken during a visit in summer 2017.

Map

The following Google map was created based on the very useful information provided on this website, which is an excellent starting point for any exploration of the line. Basic info on the corresponding Salpa Line sites are provided on it almost one by one, and pinpointed on a map, but apparently there is no comprehensive map on that website. The website is also Flash-based and totally ‘iPhone unfriendly’ – it simply doesn’t load on my iPhone 6S. So I can’t take any credit except for having put together all points and having made them smartphone accessible. The red signals refer to points pictorially described in this article. The area of Hanko and the museums of Mikkeli are not covered in the map, whereas some sites will be described in another chapter.


The list below is ordered roughly from the south to the north.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Virolahti Bunker Museum, Virolahti

This site – Virolahden Bunkkerimuseum in Finnish – is among the southernmost of the Salpa Line, conveniently located on the busy E18 connecting Helsinki to St.Petersburg. The museum is a good starting point for getting an idea of the features of the line. There is a visitor center with a modern setup, where you can see a collection of light weapons from both the Finnish and Soviet sides – actually many Soviet weapons left behind by the retreating Red Army at the beginning of the Continuation War were later reused by Finland’s Army. Much information is provided in a synthetic and readable way – both in Finnish and English – on the construction of the line and about the war history of Finland, with a focus of what happened along the sector of the front closer to the Gulf of Finland.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

The outside part is organized along a short trail in the trees. The first main stop is a reconstructed trench, with an example of a spherical soft concrete bunker type, conceived to cover dugouts. Nearby you can see two small heavy metal turrets. These were designed to be partly interred, to form an armored machine gun nest. The thickness of the metal construction is stunning! There is also a line of stones put in the terrain, a typical anti-tank obstacle to be found in many sites of the Salpa Line.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

A German-made Pak-40, 7.5 cm anti-tank cannon in perfect condition is presented in a reconstructed open-top field fortification.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

Nearby, you can access a perfect example of an anti-tank bunker. Three main areas are featured in this type of bunker. First, a relatively large living and sleeping area, with bunk beds for troops, a big stove, a water sink, and an air pump. Second, a firing room with a 45 mm anti-tank gun permanently installed, with the barrel leaning out of a suitably designed blind window. Third, a firing room with a machine gun, with the barrel leaning out of an open slot cut through the thick concrete wall of the bunker. Both the cannon and machine gun fire basically in the same direction, from the front facade of the bunker, whereas the only way in is through a sealed door to the back.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

The bunker is provided with a metal observation turret on top, accessible through a ladder mounted in a very narrow vertical tunnel with a sealed door.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

Another original bunker you can visit in Virolahti is a quartering bunker, capable of sleeping 40 people. The construction is similar to the large living area of the previous bunker, but this is larger.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

Examples of original trenches which have not been refurbished can be spotted as smooth grooves in the ground between the reinforced bunkers. Finally, there is also a collection of cannons – some of them very old – and machine guns, from the USSR, Finland, Sweden, France and Italy. Heavy cannons from various ages were provided by France at the time of the Winter War, and put in place along the Salpa Line in more points, so they can be spotted pretty often in Finnish museums.

Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Virolahti Bunker Museum

Not a part of the museum, it may be interesting to check out what the frontier with Russia looks like today. You can come pretty close to the border zone driving south of E18, along the unpaved Kurkelantie road going to the small villages of Reinikkala and Kurkela. There is a well signed respect zone instituted along the border line, which cannot be accessed without all necessary papers and permits.

Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone

Nonetheless, the striped posts marking the border can be spotted with a zoom lens from the distance. I can’t guess whether in Soviet times the border did look like this, or instead it used to appear less penetrable. Of course it may be just a matter of appearance – when I was there, I personally didn’t even think to try coming close to Russia without an explicit permission, so I don’t know what may happen should you try to get near the border by entering the respect zone by foot!

Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone
Kurkela Finland Russia USSR Border Zone

The Virolahti site can be visited in something less or something more than 1h, depending on your level of interest. It is flat and easy to tour, with a large free parking nearby. Website here.

Salpa Line Museum, Miehikkälä

This is probably the biggest exhibition on the Salpa Line, and the most visited also. The visitor center proposes a series of itineraries for touring the site on a self-guided base. The highlights are anti-tank and machine gun bunkers, a plane spotting wooden turret, trenches of various types, cannons and more. Together with Virolahti (above), it is surely a place to be if you want to capture at a glance what the Salpe Line is all about.

The Miehikkälä site is unique in its own respect due to the morphology of the territory, with a rocky cliff prospecting on an area of wavy land. The two main armored positions with an anti-tank gun and a machine gun are atypical, dug deeply in the rock, accessible from the top of the cliff, with the barrels leaning out at the level of the surrounding terrain. The bunker with the anti-tank gun features an observation/firing turret directly accessible from the firing room through a very long vertical passage. In the living quarters there is a collection of rifles.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

The bunker with the machine firing chamber presents preserved sleeping and living quarters, and an observation turret.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

Ahead of the rocky cliff you can find two armored turrets like in Virolahti, and an example of the most typical anti-tank barrier of the Salpa Line, made of aligned big rocks put in the ground. This is a distinctive feature of the Salpa Line, and following the rocks may help to find the location of more secluded bunkers in other sites.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

Another interesting item is an old Soviet T-34 tank with the corresponding shelter.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

To the back of the cliff you can find a German-made Pak-40 anti-tank cannon in an open-top field fortification. Looking in the direction of the barrel, you can see a long grove aligned with it. This is a tank trap, where the tank was forced to slow down trying to cross the grove right on the line of fire of the anti-tank gun.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

In a second part of the site it is possible to find a group of rare concrete trenches, mostly similar to WWI constructions you can find in northern France (see this post), a housing bunker with a water reservoir on top and a standard anti-tank/machine gun bunker. These could be seen only from the outside when I visited.

Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum
Miehikkälä Salpa Line Museum

The museum is not difficult to find, and there is a large free parking on site. The visit may take from less than 1 hour to more than 2 hours, based on your interest. While not difficult to tour for an average physical condition, you’d better go prepared to climb many stairs, move along narrow passages and walk short trails going steeply uphill. Website here.

Hostikka Site

The Hostikka site, deep in the countryside north of Miehikkälä, is composed of a handful of bunkers scattered a few miles apart along the roads in the municipality bearing this name. On each site there is a complete description in Finnish and English, and a map. Most sites can be freely accessed, a few are normally closed and can be opened on request, usually visiting with a ranger. A comprehensive map in Finnish can be found here.

From the south, item B186 is a massive anti-tank/machine gun bunker which is normally closed. The guns can cover a flat field ahead of the facade of the bunker.

Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland

A bare 300 ft north along the unpaved main road you meet B182, a machine gun bunker which can be toured freely. You can recognize the sleeping quarters and the observation tower. Climbing on top, you can appreciate the mimetic installation of the bulbous top of the armored tower. There is also what appears to be a firing hole close to the main sealed entrance.

Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland

All armored doors are still there, together with an extensive piping system.

Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland

Driving north for about 0.3 miles crossing the small village of Hostikka, you can find another site, with a preserved trench system, a machine gun and quartering bunker, open but unfortunately severely flooded, and item B166, a huge cave. This is not the only cave excavated in the rock along the Salpa Line. This multi-entry cave was intended for sheltering 80 people and providing access to open-top cannon/machine-gun dugouts. It was never finished, it is uninsulated and very wet.

Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland

The road going to Kirppu passes by items B150 and B132, standard anti-tank/machine gun bunkers. They are usually closed, but can be climbed and walked around.

Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Hostikka Area Finland

All these bunkers unwind along a north-south direction, and are easily accessible parking nearby each site. Visiting may take 15 to 30 minutes for each open site, especially if you want to take pictures inside, less for closed bunkers where you may want to have a walk round. For inside pictures a tripod is mandatory, and a torchlight highly recommended.

Lusikkovuoren Cave

This cave can be reached driving for less than a mile on a secondary road departing eastwards from 3842 in Suo-Anttila. The cave is usually closed and sometimes used for public exhibitions or performances – a very suggestive location! -, yet the place deserves to be seen also from the outside. There are actually two neighbor entrances to the cave, which has been carved deep into the rock at the base of a cliff. The cave, intended to be used as a logistic interchange point, a headquarter and a weapons storage, was never completed. There are draining holes and a concrete pavement inside.

Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave
Salpa Line Lusikkovuori Cave

Hidden in the trees, far from any village, from the outside the cave really looks like a location from ‘The Lord of the Rings’!

Askola Site

The Askola site can be spotted while driving roughly halfway between Luumäki and Lappeenranta, along a busy road called Lappeenrannantie, next to the shore of lake Kivijärvi. There is a parking area just ahead of it. Heading straight to the big bunker you see from the road, you can find a map of the site. There is an uncommon concentration of armored positions in a small area between this trail head and the newly built highway N.6 to the south.

Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta

Despite the majority of the bunkers being normally unaccessible, there are some interesting uncommon sights here. The first is a reinforced dugout, where one of the bulky armored metal turrets you can see in the museums of Virolahti and Miehikkälä is interred in its intended working position. The turret can be accessed from behind and below, and a machine gun is mounted inside.

Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta

Furthermore, there are at least two original tank turrets recycled as reinforced firing positions. These turrets are apparently from BT-7 Soviet tanks, probably lost to the Finnish Army during the Winter War or the Continuation War.

Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta

More standard bunkers and dugouts can be found, but in some cases they can be barely neared due to wild vegetation.

Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta
Salpa Line Bunker Site Toikkala Lappeenranta

About 0.8 miles to the west along the Lappeenrannantie road, you can find a small concrete dam – actually it lies in the courtyard of a private house… This is part of a system made to control the water level in the lake for military purposes.

Salpa Line Lake Kivijärvi Dam
Salpa Line Lake Kivijärvi Dam
Salpa Line Lake Kivijärvi Dam
Salpa Line Lake Kivijärvi Dam

Moving eastwards towards Lappeenranta, in the small village of Rutola it is possible to find another machine gun/housing concrete bunker, with an anti-tank barrier on the shore of the lake. This also lies on private land.

Salpa Line Bunker Rutola
Salpa Line Bunker Rutola
Salpa Line Bunker Rutola
Salpa Line Bunker Rutola

A visit to this site may take a 1-2 hours or more, depending on the level of detail and your ability to move around.

Syysphoja and Puumala Site

Along the beautiful scenic road 62 going from Imatra to Mikkeli it is possible to find two easily accessible forts of the Salpa Line. The first is located on Salpalinjantie road, departing north from the main road east of the village of Syyspohja. The facade of this well deceived anti-tank/machine gun fort, dug in a pile of land and hardly visible from the distance, is partly covered with stones. There are also partly refurbished dugouts and wooden obstacles, plus a long line of anti-tank stones.

Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja
Salpa Line Bunker Syyspohja

West of the village along Töntintie road – very narrow and unprepared – it is possible to find a small Soviet monument to war prisoners interned in a local prison camp.

Salpa Line Prison Camp Memorial Soviet Syyspohja
Salpa Line Prison Camp Memorial Soviet Syyspohja
Salpa Line Prison Camp Memorial Soviet Syyspohja
Salpa Line Prison Camp Memorial Soviet Syyspohja

Another preserved bunker can be found right in the center of the nice village of Puumala, along road Pappilantie. The bunker is basically unaccessible, but very easy to walk around. In a receptacle besides the main entrance there is also a Soviet anti-tank gun, probably captured by the Finnish army.

Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker
Salpa Line Puumala Machine Gun Bunker

General Mannerheim Headquarters and Communication Bunker

Among the highlights of the lively town of Mikkeli, you can visit here the preserved headquarters of the Finnish Army. The office of General Mannerheim and other top-ranking military staff, plus a fully equipped ‘op-center’, were installed in a local children school. Today a few rooms, including one with many original maps and Mannerheim’s personal office, are the ‘main course’ of the museum, and can be visited.

General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli

There are also informative panels, many pictures and some memorabilia belonging to General Mannerheim.

General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Headquarters Mikkeli

Almost cross the the road from the entrance of the headquarters, you can find another strictly related museum. It is a cave were the communication central of the headquarters used to be and work during WWII. This ensured an uninterrupted communication link not only with the Salpa Line but also with all positions on the line of the front. A part of the cave has been carefully refurbished to resemble what it looked like in the years of operation, including much communication hardware from the time, whereas another part has been left empty.

General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli
General Mannerheim Finland Army Communication Bunker Mikkeli

Both museums can be visited according to the respective timetables (website here for the headquarters, here for the cave). Total visiting time for both attractions is about 1.5 hours.

Raikuu Site

Two Salpa Line sites are located close to the small village of Raikuu, both easily reachable driving on reasonably prepared, unpaved roads.

The first is a massive and pretty rare heavy artillery position. There used to be four such positions scattered in the nearby area, two equipped with 299 mm mortars, two with 152 mm naval cannons. This is the only partly refurbished position. The base for the central revolving pinion where the cannon was anchored can be clearly seen, as well as rooms for the cartridges and for artillery troops.

Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position
Salpa Line Kerimäki Cannon Position

The second is a group of three reinforced concrete bunkers, maintained to a very good condition and different from one another. The first two are a machine gun and an anti-tank cannon bunker respectively. The military equipment has been taken away, but the different shape of the barrel hole and the supporting structure for the machine gun or for the anti-tank cannon make them easily distinguishable. The machine gun bunkers bears traces of camouflage on the front facade.

Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker

Some of the original ventilation pipelines are still there, and clear traces of the wooden structures can be seen on the walls.

Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker

The last bunker is partly accessible from behind descending along a steep staircase. This bunker is leaning on the side of a rock, and is well deceived in the bushes.

Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker
Salpa Line Kerimäki Bunker

The site is completed by an anti-tank wall of unusual construction, made of smaller stones put together to a very big overall thickness.

Salpa Line Kerimäki Anti Tank Wall
Salpa Line Kerimäki Anti Tank Wall
Salpa Line Kerimäki Anti Tank Wall
Salpa Line Kerimäki Anti Tank Wall

This site is very nice to visit, it is pretty remote so probably you will stay alone and undisturbed. Total time for visiting both including transfer by car may be 1.5 hours if you want to take pictures, or much less if you just want to have a look around.

Joensuu Bunker Museum, Joensuu

The museum in Joensuu is somewhat smaller than those in Virolahti and Miehikkälä (above), and when I visited it was already closed for the season – in mid-August! The good news is that in case you find it closed, you will miss only a visit to the inside of the bunker, pretty standard and similar to those you can see also elsewhere, whereas the outside can be toured for free at any time.

The first sights are two Model 1877, 90 mm French field cannons provided in a number during the Winter War and extensively used in the following years. Close by there are some steel turrets for protecting dugouts to form armored machine gun nests. These turrets, similar to those you may see also in some other Salpa Line sites, were supplied in very limited numbers and were produced in two shapes – you find both here – and three different weights. Those presented here are all intermediate-weight exemplars, weighing more than 5 and almost 8 tonnes respectively for the round shaped and the two-lobed model. The thickness is incredible, and these turrets could withstand a direct hit of a 45 mm anti-tank gun!

Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum

On the perimeter there is a Soviet 45 mm anti-tank cannon in a wooden open-top field fortification.

Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum

There are two concrete bunkers, put side by side on a promontory. One is equipped with both an anti-tank and a machine gun, the other only with a machine gun.

Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum

There are also well preserved dugouts and a line of rocky anti-tank obstacles.

Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum
Salpa Line Joensuu Bunker Museum

The site is easy to access, with free parking, and compact in size, so less than 1 hour is needed for a visit if the inside is not accessible. Some opening info here.

Huhmarisvaara Artillery Position

Many cannons of French design can be found scattered over the Finnish territory. Except relatively few offered by the French at the beginning of WWII before France was conquered by the German Wehrmacht, the majority are actually Russian cannons from before the the Revolution. When turmoil started to spread in Russia in 1917 leading to the anticipate end of WWI, Finland took the initiative and declared independence from the agonizing empire. As a result, many weapons and military stuff stationed over the territory of the newly constituted Nation were recycled by the Finnish Army.

Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons
Salpa Line Huhmarisvaara Cannons

Many such cannons were later to be placed in the fortifications of the Salpa Line. In Huhmarisvaara, roughly 13 miles north of Joensuu, a concrete fortification for a number of cannons was prepared on a vantage position overlooking a local lake. One of the three Russian-made Model 1892, 152 mm cannons remaining in Finland can still be found in this location.

Vanntajankannas Site

The northern part of the front saw an active participation of the German Wehrmacht in the years of the Continuation War. Possibly one of the northernmost heavy installations of the Salpa Line was located about 5 miles southeast of the town of Kuusamo, close to the administrative border with the Lapland district. The Germans – with the forces of the Organization Todt – built also a railway line about 85 miles long in a north-south direction, with the northern terminal in Kuusamo. The railway helped to supply the army groups operating locally.

The history of this installation, today preserved as an open-air museum with a well maintained walking trail about 3 miles long, is a bit different from others. Soon after the armistice which drove Finland out of the war with the USSR, the German forces, which had to be expelled from the Country, started retreating north towards occupied Norway. They found shelter in the fortifications of the Vanntajankannas site for a few weeks, before loosing them to the Red Army. Soviet soldiers were forced to leave by the end of 1944 in accordance with the armistice agreement, but they blew up every hardware in the Vanntajankannas area before retreating to the USSR.

What can be seen here is what remains of some big concrete bunkers, of the types you can find elsewhere along the Salpa Line. The remains of the bunkers are scattered along the trail. Close to the trailhead there are also scant remains of the local railway station along the German-built line going to Kuusamo.

Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail

The anti-tank line of stones is still clearly visible. In many points the trenches, open-top passages and soft machine gun nests have been refurbished to look like the early Forties when they were built.

Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail

In the most remote part of the site it is possible to spot remains of the original concrete preparation station, used to supply the construction works, and a small concrete sauna for workers and troops – not really welcoming in these days!

Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail
Salpa Line Lahtela-Vanttaja Trail

This site is very nice not only for war history but also for the beautiful landscape, with incredible colors. You can also experience a walk over the marshes typical of this region of Finland. The trail is easy, there is a small free parking nearby the trailhead. I would recommend about 1-1.5 hours to enjoy the hiking trail and taking pictures of both the landscape,  the destroyed forts and preserved trenches.

Harparskog Line, Hanko Peninsula

The southern branch of the Salpa Line, also known as Harparskog Line, is composed of a group of bunkers concentrated in the small area around the village of Harparskog – on the Hanko peninsula -, which found itself on the border with the USSR for the first time following the peace treaty ending the Winter War. The annexation of Estonia to the USSR and the control of the Hanko peninsula gave the Soviets the control of the Gulf of Finland, which culminated in Leningrad to the east.

Hanko was evacuated by the Soviets in late 1941 during the victorious phase of the Continuation War.

Similarly to the rest of the Salpa Line, the smaller line in Harparskog featured all types of heavy concrete bunkers, plus dugouts, field fortifications and trenches. Today you can find at least one of the bunkers preserved as a local small museum, plus plenty of barely maintained but mainly accessible bunkers, stripped of most military hardware but still in a very good condition.

The bunker museum was closed when I visited, so here you have a view of the outside only.

Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland

Some of the accessible bunkers are aligned along an unpaved road towards the northern shore of the peninsula, north of the village. A commemoration stone with an explanatory panel clearly marks the trailhead.

Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland

Besides some more standard bunkers, it is possible to find here a big assembly composed by at least two large bunkers excavated in the stone. The passages leading to the entrances are carved deep in a local cliff, resulting in a very suggestive fort, a mix of natural and artificial defensive positions. Inside this fort it is possible to see also an original stove, ventilation ducts and an air pump.

Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland

Further on you can find an anti-tank line, and also a larger deposit and a cave – unfortunately closed.

Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland

Exploring this area can be very rewarding, due to the tranquil location and the beautiful, wild natural landscape.

Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland
Salpa Line Bunker Harparskog Hanko Finland

There is much more to see in the area, and for a complete exploration I would suggest about 5-6 hours. The sector to cover is not large and for some parts you can move with a car, but the concentration of material is unusually high and well preserved. If you elect to concentrate only on a part of the line, the necessary time may drop to 1-2 hours for getting a good idea of the main features of this site and taking some good pictures inside. Don’t forget a tripod and a torchlight, for it’s totally dark inside most bunkers, and you should wear a pair of appropriate shoes, for there are mud deposits on the floor and the terrain around the bunkers is totally uneven.

Hanko Front Museum, Hanko

A museum on the vicissitudes of the Hanko peninsula in the years 1940-41 has been established and recently refurbished. It will show up along the main road connecting Harparskog and Hanko, around 2 miles from Harparskog.

The inside part presents an interesting descriptions of the timeline and facts of the Soviet occupation. There are many interesting artifacts from the time, including everyday hardware, light weapons, propaganda leaflets in Russian, maps and many historic photographs. It is interesting to note that the weapons put in place by the Soviets included huge railway cannons, definitely easier to move compared to fixed installations of similar size.

Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR

There is also a room with a collection of heavier weapons.

Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR

On the outside there are some reconstructed trenches, a Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun in a reconstructed field fortification, and some other weapons, especially water mines. Active archeology work is going on in the area, and some recent findings, like pieces of artillery and parts of tanks, could be seen when I visited. A short trail in the trees reveals some dugouts and allows to explore the area nearby the former border. Finally there is a 152 mm coastal gun, reportedly the world’s last of the type with this field mounting.

Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR
Hango War Museum Salpa Line Finland USSR

The museum is not large but very rich, so I would suggest 30 minutes to 1.5 hours for a visit depending on your level of interest. Website here.

Soviet Airbases in the GDR – Third Chapter

CarloR2 Comments
The BEST pictures from Soviet bases in the GDR
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Soviet Ghosts in Germany
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As mentioned in previous chapters on the same topic – you can find the first and second here – the territory of the GDR was cluttered with an uncommonly high number of military bases, run either by the local Armed Forces of the GDR (‘German Democratic Republic’) or by the Soviet Union. This was also due to the great strategic relevance of the area, placed right in the center of Europe and on the border with ‘the West’.

Soon after the reunification of the two halves of Germany and the withdrawal of the Red Army after the collapse of the USSR, most Soviet/Russian bases in Germany were deemed unnecessary by the new federal government, hence they were converted into something else. Airbases have been turned most typically into solar powerplants or, more rarely, into general aviation airports. Armored cavalry training areas have been largely cleaned up, and allocated as land for reforestation.

Despite large parts of these installations having been recycled to some other function, substantial traces – and sometimes even more – of these once prominent and populated bases can be found still today. These include many technical buildings, like aircraft shelters, hangars for maintenance, weapon storages, bunkers, … as well as housing and buildings for the families of Soviet troopers. Needless to say, this kind of stuff is of primary interest for urban explorers and war historians as well, for these places – besides being really creepy and often preserving a ‘Soviet ghost aura’ which may appeal to a part of the public… – are usually full of lively traces of the Soviet occupation, like signs in Cyrillic alphabet, murals, monuments and Lenin’s heads, which make for an interesting memento of the recent past, when the map of Europe looked pretty much different from now.

In this post you can find a pictorial description of a visit to the two airbases of Sperenberg and Finsterwalde, south of Berlin, the airbase of Grossenhain, close to Dresden, plus a quick chapter on the former tank regiment base of Zeithain, close to the sport town of Riesa – not an airbase, but convenient to visit and well worth a quick stop when going to Grossenhain. Photographs have been taken in spring 2017.

As for the second chapter, some historical photos from the collectible book Rote Plätze – Russische Miltärfluglplätze Deutschland 1945-1994 have been included to allow for a ‘now and then’ comparison. I do not own the copyright for those pics.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Sperenberg

The Soviet airbase of Sperenberg stands out in the panorama of the facilities of the Red Army in the GDR for two reasons.

Firstly, it was not an attack base, but the primary logistic airport of the Soviets in Eastern Germany. The place was developed with air transport in mind, so differently from most bases around, there are no shelters for deadly MiGs or Sukhois ‘mosquitos’, but instead enormous open-air aprons, hangars and parking bays for Antonov and Ilyushin monster-size transports, as well as for bulky Mil helicopters. The place even bolsters a small passenger terminal for military staff, a truly unique feature. The proximity to Wünsdorf, a small town in Brandenburg which since the end of WWII and until 1994 hosted the headquarters of the Soviet Forces in Germany (covered in this post), may have played a role in defining the function of this base.

Secondarily, Sperenberg was simply shut down at the time of the withdrawal of Soviet/Russian forces, but was never converted into something else – at least at the time of writing. This makes it truly a one-of-a-kind item for lovers of ‘ghost airbases’, for here everything, including all taxiways and the runway, is still there. Nature is fiercely reclaiming much of the area, which is nowadays completely surrounded and partly submerged by a wild forest – making the silent remains of the base look even more creepy, unnatural and haunted…

The installation is also very big – similar to an average-size civil airport – , and besides the airside part, there is also an extensive array of residential buildings for the troops. For the major point of interest of the place is the preserved – for now… – airport infrastructure, I concentrated on that, neglecting the barracks and housing. This was also due to the latter being closer to the old main gate to the base, and standing to the available information there are rangers and local citizens who sometimes keep that part under watch. With only a basic knowledge of German, I think it’s better to take all countermeasures to avoid misunderstandings, thus enjoying a reasonably safe and undisturbed exploration…

Sights

In order to reduce the chance of a contact with the locals, it makes sense to intrude into the perimeter from the northeast, heading southwest directly to the center of the airport, leaving the housing part to the east. This will result in a multi-miles walk in the trees, along former service roads, now seldom used by woodcutters. Sooner or later, you will meet the original fence of the base, with concrete posts, barbed wire and an unpaved service road for service cars running all around it.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

In order to make your way through the wilderness, unless you are from that very district and have a (very) good knowledge of the area, you will need a GPS. I profitably used the Ulmon app on my iPhone. It worked perfectly, all paths were precisely indicated. The external fence around the northwest area is very well preserved. The function of the first group of buildings I came across with is not very clear. You can clearly spot them on aerial photos of the base, to the northwest of the main part of the apron, connected to the airside area with a long straight service road aligned in a northwest-southeast direction.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

I guess the facility may have been a former fuel deposit – there is a large maneuver area possibly for trucks, an inner fence for further protection, a water deposit, possibly for firefighting, and a strange array of aligned pipe ends made of concrete, pointing vertically.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Going southwards to reach the apron area, I came across an abandoned… Soviet boot, plus some more mysterious buildings, clearly blown up at a certain point in history, and possibly not built by the Soviets. These resembled in shape the cannon bunkers placed by Nazi Germany on the northern coast of France, constituting the backbone of the ‘Atlantic Wall’. Maybe residuals from an even farther back era?

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

After crossing another fence – again, concrete posts and barbed wire – and going through a really wild trail in the trees, basically not signed except for traces of animals everywhere, I appeared on the apron in the northwesternmost part of the airport, with a huge array of parking bays for transport aircraft. Reportedly Antonov An-12s and Tupolev Tu-134s used to be placed in this area, as you can see also from historical pictures.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

The proportions of the abandoned airport are really striking. Taking a closer look at many of the parking bays, it is possible to find substantial traces of the original delimiting and direction strips for aircraft. The apron is made of the typical Soviet slabs, not coated with asphalt as typical for most airports in the West.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Moving south from the parking area, which unwinds along an east-western direction – as it is clear from the aerial pictures – , walking along a connection taxiway it is possible to notice its uncommon width, which is not typical to attack bases, but necessary for a transport base operating with Soviet giants.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Accessing the southern east-western taxiway from the west, it is possible to find a very special feature of Sperenberg – the passenger terminal. The small terminal is located to the north of a dedicated apron for passenger/mail loading and unloading.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

The terminal area is made of two main buildings. One is probably older, with a large glass window looking to the apron. A gazebo and some small walkways suggest the place was intended for waiting, and for ‘quasi-civil’ operations.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

The main terminal bears the date ‘1986’. From historical pictures, you can notice that it underwent some modifications during the few years of operations, which ceased by the year 1994. In particular, the central window on the front façade, made for the baggage treadmill, was bricked up at a certain point.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

The inside of the building has been totally spoiled, except for some wallpaper on the ceiling.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

A couple of strange movable structures, possibly extendable covered passages for passenger loading operations, can be found on the apron and in the trees besides the former terminal. Also these can be spotted in one of the aerial photographs. They are full of unofficial mottos and signatures of Soviet troops, written in Cyrillic.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

From the area of the terminal it’s a – relatively – short walk to the western end of the runway.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Moving eastwards from the terminal along the southernmost main taxiway, you come across several interesting items, including a Soviet control tower and many parking bays for large helicopters.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

The only hangar on the airport can be found on a very wide taxiway connecting the two parallel east-western main taxiways. The hangar, albeit appearing rather big at a glance, was probably used for maintenance of helicopters and smaller transports, as large Soviet transports need a much bigger size. Traces of a motto on the front of the hangar, obviously in Cyrillic, can be seen today.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

This also are quite mysterious, for on the photos from the last days of operations the inscription cannot be spotted. It was probably covered in Russian, post-Soviet times, reappearing now as the paint coat is fading.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Also in the area around the hangar another control tower, possibly from an older age, can be spotted, but not accessed.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Taking again to the east along the southern taxiway, more helicopter parking bays can be found, and finally another large aircraft parking area. From pictures from the time, this area was used for parking mainly An-12s, some of them with the tail leaning over the grass. Many interesting strips and indications for aircraft can be found in this area, with writings in Cyrillic, together with strongpoints for anchoring aircraft to the ground.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

From the end of the taxiway, where more interesting signs on the ground can still be found – one of them telling ‘cars must stop here’ – it’s again pretty easy to come to the eastern end of the runway. The connection taxiway descents gently towards the runway.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Here some of the original lights can be found. Some slabs close to the end of the runway appear highly damaged, like they were stricken from above. Possibly some overweight plane heavy-landed here at some point?

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Leaving north from the eastern end of the runway, crossing both main east-western taxiways, you can point back to the fence of the airport. Going further east you would reach the housing area, which I did not explore. Going north I came across an abandoned railway track, and a railway/truck interchange area. Finally, I reached the usual barbed wire and I left in the trees. I had to walk again along a very nice multi-miles track in the wilderness back to where I had parked.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Now that I was fine with the goals of the exploration, I moved to the main gate – where you are quite exposed and it’s easier to get spotted – to take some pictures from the outside. These can be compared to an historical pic from post-Soviet times – see the Russian Eagle to the left of the gate.

Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Sperenberg – Abandoned Soviet Base

Another set of exciting pictures from the air, taken during a special flight over this area, can be found in this chapter.

All in all, I would say Sperenberg was among the most interesting Soviet airbase in the GDR I’ve ever visited. You can really feel the ‘Soviet ghost aura’, for the place looks really like it was simply closed up and forgotten. And I didn’t even look at the housing part. The wilderness around is really nice to walk in spring, you will see many birds, deers and some say they have spotted boars. I walked something around 12 miles in the area, my stay lasted a full afternoon, and I noticed only a few people having a look around, far in the distance. So if you are looking for an evocative walk, mixing the pleasure of the countryside to serious, top-quality urban exploration in a former military setting, this is really a place to be!

Getting there and moving around

Sperenberg is located about 20 miles south from downtown Berlin. The unattractive village bearing this name can be conveniently reached by car, and the main gate to the base can be found to the west of it. If you don’t want to access the base from here – which may attract some unwanted attention – you may elect to go to the area of Kummersdorf a few miles north, park your car and cut through the wilderness to reach the area of the former airport. For doing that you will need a map. The Ulmon map on my iPhone was perfect for guiding me on the task, all major and almost all minor service roads were perfectly signed. Due to the size of the base, you may choose to reach the perimeter from different directions, especially if you are more interested in some part than another. It used to be a full-scale transport airport, so expect to walk a lot if you – like me – want to have a look to everything. Being placed in the deep countryside of Brandenburg, finding a parking place should not be a problem.

Grossenhain

The former base of Grossenhain, close to Dresden, has been in the focus of an important conversion plan. Much of the facilities – especially the many hangars – have been converted into something else, including busy factories and warehouses. The area of the airport has been reduced, and the majority of the original buildings – some of them dating back to the Nazi era – demolished. A small flight club operates from the southeastern quarter of the base, using the original runway. From a bird’s eye view, the area for flight operations has been sensibly reduced, but thanks to the conversion, most hangars are still in place, so it’s easy to get an idea of how the base looked like in the past.

Historical pictures show that this airbase was used for open days in the years of the GDR, and in the transition period between 1989 and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Similarly to other bases in the GDR like Rechlin/Laerz, Jüterbog and Merseburg, this attack base hosted a model GRANIT special weapon storage (‘Sonderwaffenlager’). This is still preserved today, and makes for the most prominent feature of this base.

Sights

Three items make this base really attractive. First and foremost, a bunker for storing special weapons. Perhaps a unique case in the former GDR, the bunker has undergone a complete refurbishment, and it now appears like new.

Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base

The two imposing doors are preceded by a barbed wire fence. It is inaccessible, but it can be easily photographed from the outside. There is even an explanatory panel, both in German and Russian, with photographs from an older time.

Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base

A second sight of interest is the former gate guardian of the base. It is a MiG-17 of the Aviation of the Red Army. It is placed on a concrete post – designed in a pure Soviet-style – with writings in Cyrillic. Pictures from the day of operations suggest a different background than the rotting hovel now behind it. The gray sky on the day of my visit added to the Cold War atmosphere of the place.

Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base

Finally, another sight of interest is a wooden round table from the age of the Nazi dictatorship, used to align flight instrumentation. It is very large, and perfectly preserved. An explanatory panel can be found also besides this item.

Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Grossenhain – Abandoned Soviet Base

All in all, while not a place for a real exploration – the area is very busy and not abandoned at all – Grossenhain offers some very unique items, keeping memory of its strong military past, surely worth a detour for the committed specialist.

Getting there and moving around

Grossenhain is about 20 miles north of Dresden, and just 8 miles north of world-famous Meissen – the birthplace of the Meissen pottery. The still active ‘flugplatz’ – local airport – is immediately north of this averaged-size village. Access is via the road N.101 or N.98, surrounding the airport area to the west and south respectively. There is no barrier except for the small flight club, many public roads have replaced the original taxiways and service roads. You can move in the former area of the airbase with your car and park at your convenience. Just be sure not to interfere with the many businesses in the area, especially big trucks going in and out on smaller roads.

Finsterwalde

This once prominent, very large airbase, is still in operation as a local airport. During the Cold War, this place was selected for storing nuclear warheads with a specially built facility. Other two installations of the kind existed over the territory of the GDR, namely Brand and Rechlin/Laerz.

Sights

The airport area is largely inaccessible, for the airbase is still an active general aviation airport. Among the most visible items in this part, a great example of a control tower from the years before WWII. It has been perfectly refurbished. Nearby are some very big hangars, today hosting some private business. Closer to the apron, some shelters from Soviet times are possibly used as hangars – they were shut when I visited. I could see a Transall C-160 parked outside, a really ubiquitous military transport in Germany, likely not any more managed by the Air Force.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

The ‘ghost part’ of the base is located to the south of the airport. The ideal trailhead is a former railway station and interchange platform. From historical pictures, it’s easy to see this was very busy supplying materials to the base, where also extensive housing could be found in Soviet times.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

Going south following a former service road, still used by woodcutters and acceptably maintained at least for an easy 0.8 miles walk, you can reach the old bunker for nuclear ordnance. It is preceded by parking areas, demolished truck depots and many service roads. The assembly should have looked like the one in Brand, but most of the buildings today are gone.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

The bunker is not interred, so the size can be appreciated from the side. Unfortunately, the bunker has been left open, and at some time in its history it must have been set on fire, so the walls inside are covered in black soot, and exceptionally dark – unfortunately I couldn’t take an acceptable picture even with a torchlight. More recently, it has been used as a dump for common waste. The area is far from hygienic, with piles of garbage here and there. Furthermore, on the outside it was covered by stupid and ignorant graffiti.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

On the plus side, the crane for maneuvering the ordnance ahead of the main door is still in place with its original roof. Also visible is the truck unloading dock, ahead of the entrance to the bunker.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

To the west of the area of the bunker, along the public road giving access to today’s airport, some of the original Soviet housing can be seen, apparently still inhabited in some parts. The base offers also some aircraft shelters close to the southeastern corner, but these are used as storages, and they are fenced and inaccessible.

Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde - Abandoned Soviet Base
Flugplatz Finsterwalde – Abandoned Soviet Base

Another set of exciting pictures from the air, taken during a special flight over this area, can be found in this chapter.

Generally speaking, Finsterwalde deserves a visit for the still active part of the airport, and for the unique nuclear bunker – even though it is the worst preserved of the kind in the GDR, the ‘Soviet ghost aura’ can still be perceived. A visit of about 1-1.5 hour, including a walk to the bunker and back, may be enough for the entire installation.

Getting there and moving around

Finsterwalde is located about 20 miles east of Cottbus, and about 55 miles south of downtown Berlin. The town of Finsterwalde has also another GA airport, to the northwest of the urban area. The former base is located south, and can be reached looking for ‘Fliegerstrasse’ if leaving the city to the south on ‘Dresdner Strasse’, or for ‘Sudstrasse’ when leaving on the L60 to the southeast. In any case, less than 2 miles south of the city center. Parking is possible besides the control tower, or close to the former railway station. As written above, the place is not abandoned, there are small businesses all around and even some fields of solar cells. Anyway I didn’t attract any unwanted attention when exploring the abandoned building of the railway station – even though I am sure I was spotted by the cars passing by – and when heading by foot in the trees to reach the nuclear bunker.

Zeithain

Sights

The countryside around the small sleepy town of Zeithain was once busy with tank operations, with extensive training grounds dating from before WWII. The Soviets maintained the original function of the installation. More recently, the area was mostly cleaned up, almost no buildings remain and trees have grown covering the once barren area for maneuvers, but the partially fenced former military zone still hides an item of great interest from the Cold War age.

It is a complete Soviet commemorative monument. The first part is a very unusual statue of Lenin, in a somewhat informal pose with a hand in his pocket. The centerpiece is a mural with a map showing the trail followed by the Soviets to reach Berlin during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 – which is how Russians call WWII. The mural is extremely well preserved, I would say it was refurbished at some point in recent history.

Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base

The third and most impressive ingredient is a 6 feet tall head of Mother Russia. I would say this is the most beautifully made Soviet sculpture I know of in the GDR. It makes for a good rival, and possibly a winning one, for the three majestic Soviet monuments in Berlin, but with less pomp and more art. Really something with an artistic value.

Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base

The fourth and last component of the monument is another mural with portraits of Soviet soldiers and an inscription in Cyrillic.

Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base

The ensemble is really impressive, the silence and remoteness of the place clearly adding to your perception of it. A walkway leading to the center of the monument can be seen still today.

Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base

As I wrote, there is something strange in this particular monument, for it is too well preserved for an outdoor monument left behind since at least 1994. I guess somebody has been taking care of it in more recent times. Nonetheless, nature is wild around it, and overgrown trees partially hide the perspective.

Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain - Abandoned Soviet Base
Zeithain – Abandoned Soviet Base

As a practical indication, I must admit I took a high risk visiting this place, cause the former perimeter of the base is fenced, and I believe the grounds are now in private hands. The original entrance to the base – you can see the original control booth and the gate – was open when I arrived, but an unlocked padlock was hanging from the door. I heard some cars and trucks moving out when I was taking pictures. So basically I think I intruded into a private business, at the high risk of remaining locked inside – together with my car… I would suggest moving in by foot, in order to make escape easier, just in case you get locked in!

Getting there and moving around

The base of Zeithain is located about 3 miles north of central Riesa, a mid-sized town in the countryside 30 miles northwest of Dresden.

Getting to the entrance of the base maybe a bit tricky, for the area under the administration of Zeithain covers an extensive part of the local countryside, so if targeted with ‘Zeithain’ your nav will probably point in the middle of nowhere and pretty far from the base.

A time-saving way to reach the place is as follows. Start from the junction between the N.98 and N.169, located east of a small town. Take to the north on the N.169. The road goes off with a gentle bend to the right immediately after the junction. Then it becomes straight, and you will have a fuel station to your right, and a road departing to the left – ‘An der borntelle’ is the name of the road. Take it as it goes straight northwest for less than half a mile, till a sharp bend to the left. At the level of the bend, a smaller road – ‘Abendrothstrasse’ – goes off abruptly to the right. Take it, and again less than 0.5 miles ahead the road splits in two, the main road going slightly to the left. Leave the main road and keep going straight. You will see a gate and a wall to your right. This is the entrance to the former training base. I skip providing any further details about how to move on from there, for as I have explained I realized this is probably an actively managed private property. Visiting and taking pictures may take 15 to 30 minutes.

Riesa

Sights

This sleepy town, mostly famous for sports than for everything else, may be interesting for the location, very close to Zeithain – see description above – and for the presence of one of the remaining statues of Lenin in the former GDR. This statue is part of the local Soviet cemetery. Such cemeteries are not so rare and scattered over the immense territory conquered by the Soviets in Europe during WWII. Besides fallen soldiers buried in war cemeteries, due to the great number of Soviet troopers and their relatives in the GDR, I guess it was not uncommon for them to be buried abroad.

Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin

The cemetery is still maintained today, and the statue still looked after as a part of it. This makes it pretty uncommon, for all other statues of Lenin in the GDR have been removed or abandoned. There is clearly some controversy about its placement in a public park in a town of today’s Germany, so it is possible the monument will be relocated at some point in history. For now, together with the ‘Socialist housing’ right behind it in the background of the cemetery, the monument makes for an unusual picture – a Soviet-style ‘postcard from the GDR’.

Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa - Soviet Monument Lenin
Riesa – Soviet Monument Lenin

Getting there and moving around

The small cemetery and monument are located to the southwest of Riesa, and can be reached easily where Poppitzer Strasse and Mergendorfer Strasse meet. You can park at your convenience close by. Visiting will not take more than 10 minutes.

War Museums in Moscow

CarloRLeave a comment

People visiting Moscow from abroad usually spend much of the time in the Kremlin and the nearby districts, where they can find many cultural attractions, as well as fashion stores, great hotels and restaurants. Among the features of Russia’s capital city less known to the average tourist are the many monuments and museums dedicated to war history, which in some cases host extremely interesting exhibitions and artifacts from various ages, which would tell the visitor as much as the most prominent attractions in town.

Three I could visit in person are cited in this post, all of them easily reachable with the usual metro rail in a few minutes from the downtown.

The following photographs were taken during a visit to Moscow in September 2015.

Central Museum of the Armed Forces

This is a purely Soviet installation Cold War buffs will definitely like very much… Despite the old-fashioned website – which after all contributes to the picture of a Soviet-state-owned company… – the building was built following WWII, better known in Russia as the Great Patriotic war of  1941-1945. On the outside, besides the entrance there are a missile and a tank. Once inside you immediately find yourself in a large two-levels hall, dominated by a sculpture of Lenin and a huge mosaic wall, plus paintings of battles and other war-themed scenes all around.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

From soon after your arrival, you get to grips with the only real ‘problem’ of this installation, where – just like many others touristic sights in Russia – everything – including the escape plan in the event of fire… – is written in Russian only. So, from the viewpoint of history, you’d better go prepared if you want to get the most from this exhibition, for you won’t find any understandable written information, unless obviously you understand some Russian.

There are several halls in the museum, related to historical moments from WWI up to the present day. A first notable room presents a lively reconstruction of a WWI trench fight, with lights and sounds.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

The path through the museum follows the course of history, including the revolution, which put an end to WWI for Russia. Then follows WWII. I have to say I never found a collection of Nazi artifacts so rich as the one preserved here in any other place I visited. Literally hundreds of items, from propaganda posters to flags and banners, weapons, medals, papers,… Also present in due quantity are flags and banners of the Soviet Union, as well as Soviet uniforms, weapons and medals from the age of WWII.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

Probably the most notable items from the time are the red banner raised on the Reichstag in Berlin – the corresponding b/w photograph is today one of the symbols of the end of WWII – and an original metal eagle with a swastika, probably taken from the Reichstag or the Reichkanzlei. The flag and the eagle are put together in a kind of monumental installation in a large central hall, celebrating the victory of the Soviet Union in the Patriotic War.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

An old coat and a hat belonging to Stalin are also part of the exhibition.

Moving on to the Cold War period, a first focus is on the early history of the Soviet atomic program, leading to the detonation of the first nuclear asset in 1949, and to the testing by the Soviets of the largest thermonuclear device ever. Many models and some documentation are available – I could not understand the details, in that occasion I really regretted having no knowledge of Russian! The development of strategic missiles is covered next, including the much connected race to space.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

The highlight of this part of the exhibition – at least for western visitors – may be the wreck of Francis Gary Powers’ aircraft, downed in 1959 by a SAM, basically a Soviet invention, during an illegal flight over the territory of the USSR ordered by the CIA. A large part of the fuselage and of the wings can be seen, with technical labels in English. Also part of the ejectable seat and other parts of this Lockheed U-2 are packed together somewhat inelegantly. Some original papers and maps the pilot had with him at the time of the accident are exhibited, together with many photographs. Extremely interesting.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army Gary Powers U2

Approaching the last stage of the Soviet Union, scale models, mockups and parts of larger nuclear missiles are presented. Also the war in Afghanistan is mentioned and the more contemporary war actions in Chechnya and other theaters following the collapse of the USSR are outlined and artifacts and photographs showcased. A window from the relic of the ill-fated Kursk submarine remembers this more recent tragedy – together with a monument on the outside to the right of the entrance.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

Finally, the backyard is full of interesting items like missiles, gantries, heavy vehicles, tanks and so on. Unfortunately, it started raining heavily at the time of my visit, so photographs were not possible.

Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army
Moscow Central Armed Forces Museum Red Army

All in all, I would say one of the best museums in Europe on the topic of 20th century war history, and probably the best on Russian/Soviet operations in the 20th century. The presentation may be perceived as antiquated for todays standards, nonetheless this may be appreciated by people who are not totally new to this piece of history and who are more interested in seeing valuable and unusual ‘hardware’. I would recommend at least a full hour for the interested visitor, extendable to 1.5 hours rather easily including a detailed visit to the outside exhibition.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is not far north from downtown Moscow, less than .2 miles from Dostoyevskaya metro stop (line 10). The building can be approached walking along ul. Sovetskoy Armii, on the side of the park. The neighborhood is decent and safe, I had no bad feelings visiting alone.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War

Moscow is scattered with monuments remembering the Soviet effort and the victorious outcome of WWII, but the focal point of the celebration is the park at Poklonnaya Hill with the museum of the Great Patriotic War. The park is an extensive area, built around a perspective leading to the top of the hill, where the museum can be found (website here). This is hosted in the curved building behind the very tall spine which can be seen from the distance.

Approaching from the east, from the famous Kutuzovski Prospekt where many important political players of the USSR used to live, including Brezhnev, it is possible to spot first a huge arch, just in the middle of the road, and departing from it the perspective leading to the hill, just to the left of the Prospekt. To the left of the hill as well as beyond the spine there is a park with several smaller installations remembering war actions involving the USSR and more recently Russia, and following WWII. It is also possible to find there an exhibition with cannons, armored vehicles and other warcrafts.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow

The museum, accessible from the front of the circular building, is intended basically to celebrate the heroism of the Red Army in the war against Germany. It acts as a place of remembrance for the many who never came back, and during my visit there I coincidentally could assist to a ceremony with high ranking military staff celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Inside the most notable items are huge and very vivid dioramas – I must say, very well made, especially for the age – reconstructing some scenes from some especially dramatic battles of the war against Nazi Germany.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow

In the crypt it is possible to find the very interesting ‘Hall of sorrow’, a more modern monument to the fallen soldiers, with many crystal drops hanging from the ceiling, representing the tears of Mother Russia. These should be really many, with a proportion to the number of soldiers actually lost in the conflict.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow

The exhibition of artifacts includes a selection of items from various moments and fronts of the war. I could not tour this part freely because of the above mentioned ceremony, but what I could see was interesting. Unfortunately, I could not see the Hall of fame.

Above all, the plan of the whole installation and the Soviet style adopted, not so bombastic in this case, are extremely interesting. Touring the museum may take less than 45 minutes. If you are interested in moving in the park, you may need more. Distances here follow monumental proportions, so monuments are not really close to each other as they might seem on a map.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow
Museum of the Great Patriotic War Moscow

Getting there and moving around

The area can be reached easily from Park Pobedy metro stop on line 3. The perspective leading to the museum starting from the arch (and from the metro station) is about .6 miles long.

Museum-Panorama ‘The battle of Borodino’

You can find this museum very close to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War described above. The theme of the exhibition is here the battle of Borodino during the war against Napoleon and the French Army.

Borodino is located about 80 miles west of Moscow. There the advancing French Army faced the full power of the Russian Army. Napoleon himself was present and led war operations, while Kutuzov and Bagration, the top-ranking generals of the Tsar, were among the strategists on the Russian side. The battle was a prototypical battle of the time, with wild fire from cannons, infantry and cavalry, all in the arena. It turned out very cruel, taking a huge death toll on both parts. As a matter of fact, the Russian Army, which had constantly retreated avoiding the contact with the French until that great battle, continued back towards Moscow, which was finally abandoned and set on fire as Napoleon’s Army was reaching it. On one side, the Russians failed to stop the French at Borodino, on the other they set for the French a deadly trap – the French did not quit chasing the Russians until the winter of 1812 finally struck when they were infinitely far from home with no active supply lines, nor food nor resupply storages at hand. The season killed basically 9 out of 10 on the French side, triggering the end of Napoleon’s dreams of power.

The museum was recently refurbished in a modern key, with a detailed description of some moments of the battle on wide screens and interactive panels – again, unfortunately all in Russian. Uniforms, weapons and artifacts add to the visit, but the highlight here is the beautiful panorama painting. This is similar to the cyclorama in Gettysburg, PA, and it is a more than 300 ft long circular painting vividly depicting some important moments in the battle of Borodino. As you can learn from the website, the painting was made in 1912 (before the Soviets) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the battle. The building was renovated in 1962.

Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow

The visit may not take much, especially if you are not interested in the war against Napoleon, but I would suggest going there even only for the uniqueness of the installation as well as  for its artistic significance. In any case, the visit may not take more than 45 minutes, especially if you don’t understand Russian.

Right behind the museum it is possible to see the wooden hut where Kutuzov and his staff discussed and decided for the destruction of Moscow in order to jeopardize the plans of the French to find a shelter there for the approaching winter season.

Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow
Museum-Panorama The Battle of Borodino Napoleon War Moscow

Getting there and moving around

The museum can be reached easily from Park Pobedy metro stop on line 3, like the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. From the metro stop you can walk west on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, and you will soon find the museum on the left (northern) side of the road, about .2 miles from the station.

Hitler’s Wonder Weapons in Northern France

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Following the end of the Battle of Britain, mainly fought in the air in summer-fall 1940, the plans of the Axis for an invasion of Britain were halted and progressively updated and reconfigured. The successful invasion of Holland, Belgium and Northern France had led to a stabilization of the border of the Axis territory on the Atlantic coast of Europe earlier in 1940. Since then and until the counter-invasion by the Allied troops in June 1944, the military command of Germany decided for the fortification of the coast with the Atlantic Wall, a series of naval gun batteries, ammo storages, barracks, radar stations, command and communication centers, and everything else that was needed to detect and contrast an attack from the West, both from the sea and from the air.

But the coast of the Atlantic was not considered only as a border line to be defended. Some large-caliber cannons of the Atlantic Wall built in the region of Calais on the narrowest sector of the English Channel, were capable of hitting targets on British mainland. Furthermore, many port towns on the cost of France were converted into military ports from where the Kriegsmarine operated regularly with various material, including the famed underwater U-Boot forces, running offensive missions against all sorts of Allied ships in various sectors of the North Sea and the Atlantic ocean. Airbases were routinely operated in the regions of Northern France, Belgium and Holland both for bombing raids over Britain and later for fighting missions in defense of the occupied and the innermost territories of the Reich from the Allied bombing runs. With the help of the US, these began to systematically target the Axis in 1943, operating from Britain.

Finally, the newest and most advanced conventionally armed weapons of WWII started to be operated from the coastal area in 1944 by the German armed forces. The famous ‘Retaliation Weapons’, or ‘Vergeltungswaffen’ in German – from which the famous abbreviation ‘V’ of the V-1, V-2 and V-3 – suffered from limited range, and so had to be launched from close enough to their intended target – Britain, by design. Today some relics of the launch sites and some buildings connected with the deployment of such ordnance can be visited when touring the area of the Pas-de-Calais, the northernmost province of France.

The following photographs, taken in summer 2016, portray four notable sites of the kind in that region.

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Sights

V-1 – Ardouval

Since 1943 new weapons enriched the arsenal of the German armed forces. The famous V-1, manufactured as Fieseler-103, reached operational readiness and began to be deployed that year. This relatively simple, subsonic, air-breathing – i.e. non-rocket-propelled – flying bomb, while not very accurate, could be deadly against large target cities like London. Its limited range forced deployment in the occupied territories closest to Britain.

Many launch bases were prepared in Northern France, from where Southern England was well within range. The V-1 was used only after the D-Day – the first registered operative launch was on June 13th, 1944, against Britain. By the end of Summer 1944 the Allied had pushed the Germans roughly back to the region of the Ardennes in Northeastern France, on the border with Belgium. Consequently, all bases in Northwestern France were silenced. Later in the war, V-1 were still launched against liberated Belgium and central England, from more inland and further north bases by the retreating German forces. Total launched V-1 were actually in the order of the tens of thousands.

The Ardouval site is possibly the only V-1 site officially opened to the public in France. It is an open-air museum with no fences, so it is open h24 every day of the year. The site was severely hit before by Allied air raids before it could enter service, so no flying bomb was ever launched from it. Actually, the bomb craters can be clearly spotted in the trees all around. Going far from the paved walkways is not advised due to danger of unexploded ordnance.

Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site

The installation is rather extensive, and traces of some original buildings and service roads remain to this day. Among them a concrete water basin, a generator building, a building with a concrete arch for aligning navigation instruments prior to the launch.

Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site

Two curved trails from the V-1 body storage to the operational buildings and launch ramp can be spotted. The launch ramp was reconstructed, but just besides you can see the launch observation bunker, with a slot for visual checking the launch from very close to the lower end of the inclined ramp.

Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site
Ardouval V1 Site

Barely recognizable ruins of other buildings can be spotted as well. Touring the place is not complicated, thanks to an explanatory panel close to the parking. It is advisable to take a picture of it with your phone, to be sure to see everything the site has to offer. Time required is about 45 min.

Getting there and moving around

The site of Ardouval (Val Ygot) is located close to the town of Ardouval and Pommeréval. It can be easily reached by car from the latter, less than 2 miles from the town center, driving west on the D99. Large free parking on site.

V-2 – Watten & Wizernes

Much more advanced than V-1, the V-2 was the first operational rocket in the world. Invented by the team of Wernher von Braun and tested in Peenemünde, on the border between today’s Germany and Poland, this liquid-propelled rocket came in the latest stage of WWII. The production totalled around 5000 units, and about 3100 were actually launched during the war, basically only from mobile launch platforms. Targets were mainly Belgium and Britain, but the first successful launch took place against Paris in September 1944. As for the V-1, range was among the weaknesses of the design, so that a deployment close to the Atlantic coast was necessary for targeting Britain from mainland Europe.

Mobile gantries were well designed and allowed a relatively fast re-deployment, a critical feature in the last stage of the war when the frontline was moving eastward at fast pace. Despite that, Hitler’s personal preference was with huge, autonomous, fixed launch bases, for which design and construction work began soon after the occupation of Northern France.

Two sites were created. The first was close to Watten, in the forest of Eperlecques – about 40 miles from the coast to the south-east of Calais – and was codenamed ‘Kraftwerk Nordwest’. Work on this monstrous bunker – probably the largest you will ever see from this age – started in early 1943 in a forest, at ground level and with little natural defences.

This installation was designed for the assembly of V-2 rockets arriving by train, and for supplying them with oxygen prepared in place in a dedicated branch of this bunker-factory. The intended role of this installation was the creation of a ‘rocket revolver’, capable of launching rockets at a frequency of 1.5 per hour, 24 hours a day. The Allies did not overlook the potential strategic relevance of the site and bombed it repeatedly. During a raid carried out by US forces in summer 1943 the site still under construction was seriously damaged. Since then it was decided to turn it into a liquid oxygen production factory for supplying other launch sites. Soon after the disembarkment, the place was finally abandoned after being hit by Tallboy bombs by the British. After capture in September 1944 it was decided to further demolish it by testing several new ordnance against a target so hard to crack.

Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten

The site is open as a regular museum, which can be visited on self-guided tours. A trail in the trees leads you to the main bunker, the tallest part of which can be entered. A V-2 mockup allows you to appreciate the proportions of the building. Some of the tunnels can be seen from the outside.

Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten

Also in place are a V-1 launch ramp, cannons and vehicles. Time required for visiting may vary between about 30 minutes to more than 1 hour depending on your level of interest.

Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten
Eperlecques V2 Site Watten

The second site was built starting mid-1943 close to Wizernes, and not far from the previous site in Watten. This was codenamed ‘Schotterwerk Nordwest’, and it was intended for the same basic scope of the other, but it had also to be built to avoid heavy damage from air-dropped bombs. The location was extremely favorable, making use of a former quarry, with tunneling in the body of a U-shaped hill. A distinctive feature still remaining today is the concrete dome covering part of the site. The place was stricken with usual and Tallboy bombs after the D-Day. This caused the collapse of the entrances to the tunnel system, and of the side of the hill. The dome moved and banked to on side, but notably it did not break apart.

La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes

The place is open as a major documentation center. Besides the usual IMAX theatre in a building close to the parking, you can visit on a self-guided tour both the tunnels in the side of the hill and the area below the concrete dome – it can be incredibly hot and suffocating there, where it’s cold in the tunnels. You can find here much information about the history of the site and more in general of the deployment of the V-1 and V-2 in the area. A complete visit without the IMAX may take 45 minute to 1.5 hours depending on your interests.

La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes
La Coupole V2 Site Wizernes

Getting there and moving around

Both sites are easily reachable by car. The site of Watten is located is about two miles west of the town. You can reach it driving west on the D207 from the crossing between D207 and D300. A road called Rue des Sarts takes to the right after about .6 mile. The local name of the place is ‘Le Blockhaus d’Eperlecques’.

The site of Wizernes is located on the D210 about 1 mile south of Wizernes. The local name is ‘La Coupole’ – the Dome’.

Both sites are clearly signed.

V-3 – Mimoyecques

The hatred against the indomitable British enemy reached a pinnacle with the deployment of the V-3, reportedly Hitler’s favorite, a supercannon capable of shelling London from a distance of around 100 miles. The installation in Mimoyecques, close to Cap-Gris-Nez, about 8 miles southwest of Calais, was single-targeted against the ‘symbol town’ of London, for the cannon could not be oriented – it was built inside a hill and pointed upwards in a fixed attitude. The design was based on the older idea of multiple-charged shells, i.e. shells which were accelerated gradually to a very high target speed while running along an exceptionally long (430 ft) barrel. The site in Mimoyecques, codenamed ‘Bauvorhaben 711’, by design accommodated 25 such barrels, allowing the battery to shoot at the very high rate of 10 shells per minute, all the day round. The tunnel was designed to allow a train entering it.

Work on the site began in summer 1943, but the site never reached completion and was severely hit in summer 1944 by Allied bombing raids. President Kennedy’s elder brother reportedly died in an accident on one of them. It is noteworthy that the novelty and originality of the design disoriented Allied intelligence, who did not understand the role of the installation before capture in September 1944.

The concept of supercannons, albeit never provedly succesful from an operational viewpoint, was destined to emerge again in recent history, with a similar installation proposed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and designed with the help of a Canadian company – its manager being reportedly killed by the Mossad to hamper realization.

Together with the other ‘V sites’, Mimoyecques was almost completely demolished in order to avoid any further strategic use. It is reported that Winston Churchill in person pushed for this, to the aim of preventing the yet-to-be-established government of France from any action against Britain – some speculate that what the Prime Minister likely feared was the establishment of Communist rule in France.

Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site

This is site is not so famous as the V-2 sites, and not similarly ‘institutional’, yet there are opening times. You can go on a self-guided tour of the tunnels, where you can find many explanatory panels, as well as a reconstruction of one of the barrels. It’s always too warm for me, but I must say this time it was incredibly cold inside… The visit may take 30-45 minutes. Guided tours are available in French.

Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site
Mimoyecques V3 Cannon Site

On the outside, just besides the tunnel entrance you can find a steel plate once on top of the site armouring the outlets of the barrels. The concrete construction on top of the place lies on a private property. I could only take one pic before being forced to withdraw…

 Getting there and moving around

The area is very nice, with the lovely Cap-Gris-Nez and Cap-Blanc-Nez a few miles away. The site can be reached on the D249 between the small towns of Bainghen and Landretun-le-Nord. Large free parking on site.

World War I Trenches in the Saint-Mihiel Salient

CarloR2 Comments

Not so well-known to the public as the ‘fort city’ of Verdun, the region between that town and the baroque city of Nancy, France, was theatre of fierce fighting in WWI. German troops poured in the area immediately in 1914, and the Fifth Army conquered the region while the advance of the Kaiser’s forces was in full swing almost everywhere between Belgium and the Alps. By the time the line of the front was consolidated at the end of 1914, a salient was established between the villages of Les Eparges and Pont-a-Mousson, extending about 12 miles to the west into French-controlled territory, reaching the small town of Saint-Mihiel. This anomaly in the shape of the front line would be hard to clear, and in spite of several brave actions by the French armed forces, it was to last in place until the closing months of WWI in 1918.

Coincidentally, the United States had started deploying their forces to help those of France, the British Commonwealth and their Allies on the German western front. The silencing of the Saint-Mihiel salient was part of the final assault to the German lines, leading quickly to the end of the conflict, and the first campaign the American Expeditionary Forces of General Pershing were in charge of. The attack was launched on September 12th, 1918 and lasted one week. It involved both ground artillery and troops and the US Army Air Service, and it turned out highly succesful, the salient being totally taken over.

Today the place represents a less-known, highly interesting field of exploration for war historians. This section of the front was the stage of a prototypical static war of attrition, lasting the full duration of the war. French and German trenches faced each other at a distance of a few yards, and they were consolidated and fortified to last for long. Today some of these trenches are still visible, and the region is pointed with memorials erected after the war, just like the theatre of the Somme and that around Ypres (Jeper), north of Verdun (see this post). The difference is the very much lower number of people visiting, which allows a more ‘concentrated’, less ‘touristic’ visit.

A distinctive sight in the region is the imposing memorial to the US forces, commemorating the succesful action against the German army in the salient, and those who died in the operation.

The following photographs were taken during a visit to the area in August 2016.

Getting there and moving around

The area of the former salient is extensive and located in a nice, relaxing countryside, making for a good destination for a bike tour. If you like to concentrate on war relics, I would suggest moving by car from site to site, accessing each site by foot – this was my choice. The war sites are all freely accessible with no restrictions, and none of them requires special physical ability for touring. The only danger to be noted is that of unexploded shells and explosives, which albeit remote is always real in this and all other former WWI theatres of operations. It will suffice avoiding touching any suspect item you may come across. Local explanatory panels and maps can be found in many of these sites, but directions for reaching them only appear very close to the sites themselves.

I listed the sites I’ve explored in this area on the map below. I spent more than half day exploring these sites. I approached from Toul and drove directly to Flirey, which I suggest adopting as a starting point. Then I moved westward via Montsec to Saint-Mihiel. Finally I left north, following the trench of the Calonne and the old service road reaching Verdun (see map).

Your exploration may take less or more than mine depending on your level of interest. There is not a great ‘hardware difference’ between the various trenches, so if you get bored after the first one don’t expect to regain interest from the others… If you – like me – have an interest in retracing the history of the salient and the attacks in its different sectors, then you will likely enjoy your stay in the region.

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Sights

Flirey – destroyed village

Most people know of the air bombing of Europe during WWII and of the destruction it caused to many cities on both sides. What is less known is that WWI brought a sometimes deeper and more complete destruction to villages and non-military buildings. Of course, differently from WWII, this was mainly the result of artillery shelling, and this happened only relatively close to the front, as a ‘side effect’ of firing against enemy troops. The village of Flirey ended up on the border between the invading German forces and the retreating French troops. When the line of the front was consolidated, the village was caught in a kind of ‘nobody’s land’, hence suffered the fate of many towns and villages in similar conditions, being rapidly reduced to ruins.

Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey

Today a small part of the planform of some of the original buildings is preserved in a dedicated small park. There you will find also informative panels about the history of the salient.

‘Sentier historique 1914-1918’ – historical walkway with preserved trenches

A local society of enthusiasts made a precious preservation work on a portion of the French and German trenches just a few minutes from northwest of Flirey, with the support of local institutions. Here you can walk in the original trenches, getting explanations from some panels placed along the trail. The German trenches are notable for the very advanced design with a serious use of concrete – making their trenches really durable and ‘fresh-looking’ even today.

Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches

In some points the French and German trenches are placed at a distance of a few yards from each other.

Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Flirey Trenches

There is a map at the trailhead (see map above for the position of trailhead). I suggest taking a pic of it with your phone for moving around without difficulty.

Butte de Montsec – Memorial of the American Expeditionary Forces

The American Battle Monument Commission had this monument erected on top of  a hill, with a scenic view over Lac de Madine, a local lake, and the hills around it. This is an open air memorial, accessible all day. There is a local office offering explanatory leaflets, but it was closed when I passed by. Anyway, a placard with detailed explanations about the history of both the actions in the salient and the monument is placed at the base of the site. The memorial can be spotted also from quite far away, due to its size and location.

Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument
Saint Mihiel Salient American Monument

Bois brulé – German and French trenches

This is one of three sections of well-preserved trenches closer to the village of Saint Mihiel. Fighting in this area was particularly deadly on the French side from the first days of the war in September 1914 up to June 1915. A refurbished part of French trenches provides an idea of the harsh conditions soldiers had to withstand, especially if you go on a rainy day…

Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé

Also here the enemy trenches are located extremely close to each other. The ground is pocked with craters from artillery shelling.

Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé

Trench of the Bavarians and Roffignac

This site is next to the previous one, and you can walk from one to the other following the old trenches. A more heavily fortified section of the German trench lines can be seen here, with engraved German words over the entry to some underground deposits. This section of the trenches, despite being fairly well-kept, was very lonely when I visited, and I came across some wildlife.

Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois Brulé Bavarian Trenches

‘Trench of the Thirsty’

This last portion of the trenches in the forest of Ailly (Bois d’Ailly) close to Saint Mihiel was the stage of a heroic battle in September 1914. Trying to gain a favorable position on top of the hills close to Saint Mihiel, in order to enable artillery shelling on the village, the French attacked the German trenches and occupied some of them. Later on, men of the 172th Infantry Regiment were caught in a trap and isolated by German troops, who had advanced to their sides into their former positions. The isolated French soldiers opposed a fierce resistance in very difficult conditions, having no food nor water supplies for three days, and fighting in very warm weather and in a smoky, suffocating atmosphere.

Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d'Ailly
Saint Mihiel Salient Bois d’Ailly

Albeit partially rounded off by time and rain, clear traces of long sections of these tranches remain today. Two monuments celebrating the heroism of the French troops involved in the battle can be found at the end of the visible line of trenches.

Calonne Trench

When leaving the area of the salient to Verdun, you may choose to follow the old road today numbered D331 (see map above). This dates back to the days of WWI, and is a quick, almost straight road in the trees, which does not cross any village for about 15 miles. It was used as a supply road for the trenches in the northern area of the salient from the city of Verdun. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take pictures, for I was driving in heavy rain.

Note

As remarked before, there are rather few signs for reaching the war sites, and unless you know of them elseway, reaching them may be difficult. I obtained much valuable information from the book “1914-1918 750 Musees Guide Europe”, a specialised guidebook with double text in French and English and maps. You can purchase it from various shops in more tourist-populated places like the Somme, Verdun or Jeper, or online from the Editor’s website. The book was edited by a group of enthusiasts, and together with its twin publication about WWII, they are must-have companions for war historians traveling Europe. I used these books extensively this year and I found the information contained in them very precise and extremely useful.

Surrender Sites of Nazi Germany – Reims & Berlin-Karlshorst

CarloR1 Comment

Differently from what one is usually taught in schools, World War II in Europe did not stop in one moment with the death by suicide of the Führer, on April 30th, 1945.

As soon as the advancing Western Allies established strongpoints within the original borders of Germany – as these had been before the war – in 1945 the chain of command in Germany began to vacillate. Rumors about contacts between top-ranking Nazi officials and the SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) have lived to this day, and they are reasonable even though not well documented – as a matter of fact, Hitler dismissed both Göring and Himmler just before his death, on account of unauthorized contacts with ‘the enemy’, promoting Admiral Dönitz to the rank of president of Germany.

The understandable confusion of those days at the ‘top of the pyramid’ is reflected by the local autonomous surrender of substantial parts of the German armed forces around Europe, against the will of the Führer, and even before his death. Literally millions of soldiers were disarmed on both fronts in April 1945, and the process culminated in the surrender of all German forces in Italy on April 29th, the day before Hitler’s death.

The new German president Dönitz acted with the same authority of the Führer in the last stormy days of the collapsing Nazi rule, early May 1945. Under Dönitz’s mandate, between the 1st and 7th of May 1945 some separate surrenders took place, including all German forces in Austria, North-West Germany, Holland, Denmark, Berlin – who surrendered to the Soviets -, Mecklenburg and Pommern north of Berlin, and Bavaria. The German navy ceased war operations on May 5th, by direct order of admiral Dönitz.

All this preceded the ‘official’, authorized, unconditional surrender which was signed on behalf of acting president Dönitz separately by General Jödl in the headquarters of the Expeditionary Force in Reims in the early hours of May 7th, and by Feldmarschall Keitel in Berlin-Karlshorst on May 8th, in presence of General Zhukov of the Red Army. The capitulation called for quitting all military operations at 23:01 CET, May 8th. Both of the signers were arrested soon after, as were Dönitz, Göring and other top German players of the war in Europe.

Today, the two locations where the unconditional surrender(s) were signed are open for visitors. The following photographs were taken during visits in 2015 and 2016.

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Reims – Musée de la Reddition

The headquarters of the SHAEF where the ‘instrument of surrender’ was signed on the western front occupied the building of a high school.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims

Today, the building has returned to its original function, but a small part of it with the original room and table have been preserved inside of a museum on-site. The walls of the room are covered with original maps from the time, resembling how it looked like in 1945.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi Germany Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims

Other rooms are packed with showcases, where you can see many items, including an official copy of the document signed by Jödl, authenticated by Dönitz, uniforms, original flags and other memorabilia.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Reims

The museum is rather small, and can be toured in about 30 minutes at most. This excludes the video presentation, which I had not the chance to watch.

Getting there and moving around

The historical place is located to the north of the city center in Reims, very close to the railway station. The exact address is 12 Rue du Président Franklin Roosevelt, 51100 Reims. There is chance of public parking nearby. If you parked somewhere else for visiting historical Reims, I suggest not moving your car, as the museum can be easily reached with a short 5 minutes walk from Porte de Mars, right on the northern edge of the center. Website here.

Berlin-Karlshorst – Deutsch-Russisches Museum

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Soon after the end of the war and the division of Berlin, with the district of Berlin-Karlshorst falling under Soviet rule, the Soviets converted the building where the capitulation was signed for hosting their headquarters. After the birth of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) at the end of the Forties, the place was turned into a museum.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst

Besides the very room where the document was signed, you can find some dioramas dating back to the first years of the museum, as well as a specifically designed foyer and a stained glass window portraying the statue of the Soviet Soldier in Treptower Park – dating from the same late Stalin’s era.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst

More recently, the museum has been refurbished and enlarged with very interesting and well prepared exhibits, including many memorabilia items, findings and relics not only from the events of May 1945, but more in general from WWII and the less known eastern front.

Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst
Nazi German Surrender Museum Capitulation Berlin Karlshorst

Compared to the museum in Reims, this is much broader and richer, going well beyond the preservation of the room and the evocation of the last stage of the war.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is in a nice residential area in southern Berlin. This is not a touristic area, so you’d better go there only if you are interested in this specific museum, cause there is not much else to see. Yet if you are interested in WWII and especially to the eastern front, I would say this absolutely a must – all in all, there is not so much information in the touristic areas of Berlin about WWII, so this might fill the gap.

Anyway, the exact location is Zwieseler Strasse 4. This can be reached with bus 296 from the S-3 station Karlshorst or from U5 stop Tierpark. Alternatively, from S-3 Karlshorst it is a walk of about ten minutes. Finally, if you are going by car – the most convenient way – there is a parking right in front of the building. Website here.

Wolfsschlucht II – Hitler’s Forgotten Headquarters in France

CarloR3 Comments

A few miles from the city of Soissons, and precisely in the municipality of Margival in the northern French countryside, southeast of the region of the Somme – where the fierce offensive of the British and their Allies took place in 1916 – lies a very little advertised and almost unknown item of great interest for war historians.

It was here, not far from where young Hitler fought for the Kaiser in WWI, that the occupation forces of Nazi Germany started building their headquarters in 1942. The place, not far north from Paris and at a similar distance from the coasts of Normandy and the narrowest section of the Channel, was probably selected also for the existence of a long railway tunnel, with an entrance hidden in a small but deep valley – of use for hiding the special armored train Hitler used to travel over the occupied regions of the Third Reich.

Being intended for acting as a major directional center where the Führer himself should be in charge, the military installation was designed with all that was necessary for leading the German offensive and directing operations on a potential western front, and with some comfort for the top figures of the German government. Similarly to other bases destined to host the Führer, the fort in Margival received a picturesque name – ‘Wolfsschlucht II’ or  ‘Wolf’s canyon II’.

The fact that soon after the D-Day operations and the real opening of a western front for Germany the region fell under Allied control meant that the installation was used intensively for only about three months in the summer of 1944 – it had began to be used more considerably from the first months of 1944, when an invasion from the sea began to be seen by the Nazi high command as likely.

Hitler reportedly visited the place only in one occasion and for 1-2 days in June 1944, soon after the successful landing of the Allies in Normandy, electing to concentrate personally on the Eastern front and leaving the command of operations to other generals. General Model resided in the installation in August 1944. Soon after the area was lost to the Allies.

But the history of the place was not over. The bunkers, barracks and service buildings had been constructed by the German paramilitary Todt organization with good care and had survived the war basically undamaged. They were used by the French Army until 1955 before being selected for quartering NATO forces until 1968. Then control was given back to the French Army, who abandoned the place with the end of the Cold War in the early Nineties.

Since then the place has been left deserted and has fallen into oblivion. Only in recent years a local society of enthusiasts has begun a lengthy but precious restoration work, which by now has interested only a limited part of the huge area of this military installation.

Due to the extensive use by western forces in the Cold War period, much of the few remaining interiors date from more recently than WWII. On the other hand, the buildings and their disposition are original from the German master plan.

The following photographs were taken during an exploration of the site in August 2016.

Getting there and moving around

Wolfsschlucht II has three main gates, one to the south in Margival, leaving the D537 as the road climbs uphill in a horseshoe bend, one to the east in Laffaux, leaving the D537 to the right before reaching the town center approaching from north, and the last to the north, on Rue Principale in Neuville-sur-Margival.

I selected the first of the three, for immediately after passing the gate and the former guardhouse there is a free area where you can conveniently park your car. This area is technically inside the old fence, so if there is nobody around to greet you and to ask about, you may be worried about your car being blocked inside if somebody closes the gate. I watched the door closely and decided it had been open for months, so I left my car inside. Soon after I met one of the members of the preservation society, who assured there was no trouble in parking where I had actually parked, so I guess you can adopt the same strategy…

I must mention the preservation society has a website where they advertise guided tours of the place, even in English language (website here). I tried to contact them in advance the days prior to my visit, about twenty-five times via phone, but could never speak with anybody – the line was free but nobody answered. I sent also some emails to the guys on the contact list of the site, and never received an answer. I decided to go anyway, and in the event I could tour the place without troubles, except a few restored bunkers, which are closed and cannot be visited except with a guide I guess.

The place is not particularly creepy. Once there, I found an entire family and various other people touring the area, plus people busy in the restoration of some of the bunkers. The railway track is still active, so there are also trains passing right besides the bunkers.

The bunkers are roughly aligned along a single road leading from the southern to the northern entrance, to the east of the railway track. The length is about 1.7 miles one way, so plan a walk of about 3.5 miles for a round tour of this installation.

Sights

The first large bunker you find when approaching from the southern gate is the ‘Loano’ bunker – all names are from after WWII, where the numbers painted on the bunkers are original German. The distinctive concrete dome and the surface with holds for practicing with climbing and doing exercises is an addition dating from after WWII.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

The road then splits in two. Both ends lead to the northern part of the installation, where the most interesting bunkers can be found. The lower path goes along the railway, and climbs uphill steeply towards the end. There is less to see along that than the other path, going uphill immediately behind the ‘Loano’ bunker.

Along the latter, you can find a series of service buildings, barracks, clubhouses and canteens for troops. Also a former square with a flagpole can be seen to the side of the road at some point. Most of the buildings are totally abandoned. I explored some of them with some satisfaction, but what you can find dates clearly from relatively recent years.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Among other buildings, a partially interred bunker for troops, similar to those you can find in the batteries of the Atlantic Wall, can be spotted in the trees, refurbished but unfortunately not accessible. A distinctive feature of some of the buildings is their ‘partially armored’ construction, with the part reaching to the road made of lighter materials and that closer to the hill made of reinforced concrete.

I guess the iron window frames and blinds date back from WWII.

After a good walk you finally reach a T-shaped crossing and a group of buildings. Among them, the one belonging to the preservation society – ‘Berezina’ bunker. To the east you can spot the only multi-storey building of the complex, which reportedly served as a building for visitors, and actually looks like a small hotel. I don’t think this dates back from WWII, for the style is somewhat ‘un-German’. You can step inside at your own risk, for the building is totally derelict. Baths and canteens are still easily recognizable. To the back of the ‘Berezina’ bunker it is possible to find the entry of a heavy armored bunker, in a refurbished camouflage.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Going back to the T-shaped crossing and taking to the west you find one of the most interesting bunkers, a former communication bunker which was named ‘Patricia’ after the war. This building follows the ‘partially armored’ construction scheme. It is exceptionally long, possibly one of the largest of the kind in Europe.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Inside the building it is easy to distinguish the unarmored part to the front from the armored part to the back, closer to the hill.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Again the inside of the armored part is very similar to the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall, a consequence of both being designed by the same design studio. Remains of cables from WWII and of other equipment from various ages make this visit very interesting. It’s very dark inside the armored part, you will definitely need a torch, and be very careful, cause the pavement is uneven and there are manholes and other strange cavities all around.

The last part of the visit will bring you to the Führer’s quarters. Keeping going uphill, the road will turn north. As you reach the top of a steep climb you will be facing a corner building with three square pillars. This is bunker N.1, where Hitler was in his only visit to the Margival site in June 1944. The very sober decoration of the façade with the three pillars is the only distinctive feature of this building, which is again armored to the back.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Leaving the N.1 building to your left you may take a road proceeding around the hill without climbing. Along this road you see a grassy area with curbs framing a square spot on the ground. This is where a ‘normal’ – i.e. not armored – house for the Führer’s entourage used to stay. Further on, you can find an original Nazi swimming pool, again intended for top-ranking staff stationed in the installation.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

Going back to bunker N.1 and taking to the north, you can find large buildings possibly originally hosting command services and canteens. At the time of my visit these were undergoing restoration.

A refurbished bunker with a ‘Tobruk’ shooting post can be found to the northernmost end of the building complex.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

During my exploration I came back to the southern gate and to the ‘Loano’ bunker following the lower road along the railway. Being an active track, it should be approached with extreme caution. It is part of the tour, for it was there from the origin.

Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2 Hitler Headquarters
Margival Wolfsschlucht 2

All in all, this was a stress-free, easy and enjoyable exploration. The site is rich of historical significance and showcases interesting military buildings from the period of Nazi Germany. I would recommend it for everybody interested, including those in lower than average physical condition. Don’t forget guided tours are possible in principle – I wish you are luckier than me in scheduling one!

The Atlantic Wall – Off the Beaten Track

CarloRLeave a comment

Soon after gaining control over French territory in early summer 1940 and after the unsuccessful battle in the sky against Britain the following autumn, having successfully occupied all Nations in continental western Europe, Hitler’s military command decided to fortify the sea border on the Atlantic coast of the Third Reich.

At that time, this meant developing existing strongpoints and building many others anew along a shoreline extending from Norway all the way to the border between France and Spain, thus encompassing the western coasts of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.

The detailed preparation of this pharaonic project – the ‘Atlantic Wall’ – and its realization were commissioned by the government to the ‘Organization Todt’, a paramilitary organization led by Fritz Todt, and following his death by the minister of armaments Albert Speer.

Thanks to millions of tons of concrete, to forced labor – in the form of forced cooperation of the local skilled workers in the respective Countries -, and to often reconditioned cannons transferred from other fronts and older WWI forts, either original German or captured in occupied territories, tens of fortified bunkers for coastal defense of many sizes began to appear on the Atlantic coast and reached operational state between 1940 and 1944.

The proximity of the coast to undefeated Britain made the areas of southern Belgium and of the French Pas-de-Calais and northern Normandy the most fortified of all. Some among the most monstrous pieces of artillery ever deployed were installed in this sector, where it was expected that an invasion of the Reich would take place sooner or later. These batteries were operated by troops of either the German Army or Navy.

Comparatively less fortified, the coast of Normandy was that actually attacked in June 1944. Even though the German command knew an attack was imminent at that time, the preparation of the D-Day included deceptive side-operations, which successfully misled the Germans, who could not know exactly the point of the Allied invasion until little before the fateful dawn of June 6th.

Today, many of the coastal batteries in the area of the beaches of the D-Day, which played an active part trying to interfere with the Allied operations, are obviously national monuments and can be visited very easily.

On the other hand, the majority of the batteries of the Atlantic Wall, scattered along a very long coastline, have slipped into oblivion.

In France, many of the strongpoints close to the coasts and shores of the Pas-de-Calais are still there, derelict and often covered in graffiti, a very common sight along the coastline. More inland batteries and installations, including storage bunkers and service buildings, lie on private land, hence they are not publicly accessible (in theory…). In Belgium, much of what remained was willingly dismantled, leaving only a few sites open to the public as museums. And so on.

Even though the Atlantic Wall was an excessively ambitious project and remained a largely unfinished work, some of the completed installations are unusual and very interesting from the viewpoint of engineering. Thanks also to the many murals, inexplicably not preserved, dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation, exploration of many of these abandoned sites can be rewarding and a very interesting way to spend some time in these regions.

The following photographs were taken exploring some installations of the Atlantic Wall along the coast of northern Normandy and Pas-de-Calais, France, in August 2016.

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Fécamp

The garrison here operated a Würzburg Riese radar, of which the fork-shaped concrete base remains today, plus optical distance measurement devices. Entering the bunkers is not possible, the gates are locked.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Walking north on top of the shore, towards a horrible, really misplaced wind farm, it is possible to spot more measurement stations, with a characteristic bulged roof, a round shaped plant and a very thin observation slot. Going in is generally possible at your own risk – wild brambles obstruct the entrance.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Close to the road running along the coastline more demolished bunkers can be spotted, but they are out of reach, too close to the wind turbines and beyond a guarded perimeter.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall
Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

A car park can be found on top of the cliff north of the center of Fécamp, close to a small church. The area can be toured with a pleasant walk along the coastline on top of the cliff.

Dieppe

In the garden you can reach in the premises of the castle of Dieppe it is possible to spot the former entrance to the service tunnels of the local coastal fortifications. The gates are locked. Also a small bunker for a light cannon can be found nearby.

Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall

On top of the cliff besides the castle an armored metal observation post can be easily found. From there moving south along the road on top of the cliff you pass a totally inaccessible former battery besides a small parking area – the doors have been bricked up. Farther south another concrete observation bunker can be found, this time accessible with the usual precautions – it is very close to the rim.

Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall
Dieppe Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

Reaching the castle is possible from the city center or from a dedicated parking. The top of the cliff with the metal observation post is a popular panorama point with a parking nearby. The concrete observation bunker can be reached with a narrow path with little difficulty – pay attention to the usual brambles and nettles.

‘Friedrich August’ Battery – Wimille

Little remains of this once huge battery with 305 mm naval cannons, operated by the Navy. The area has been converted for industrial production. One of the remaining bunkers, partly destroyed but still very large and imposing, can be spotted from the distance close to a factory on top of a hill, driving along Route de la Menandelle, Wimille.

Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall
Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall

The area is reportedly rich of remains of the Wall, including headquarters of the German admiralty, but all are on private grounds – not just pastures or vineyards, but fenced private gardens. I spent a couple of hours trying to get close to them without success.

All in all, it is much easier and more rewarding moving along the beaches in the area, where you can surely find some interesting remains.

Getting there and moving around

Unless you have some sort of permission and you are going with a local guide, don’t waste time leaving your car, just drive uphill along  Route de la Menandelle, Wimille. You will see the battery to your right in the distance.

‘Todt’ Battery – Audinghen

One of the best museums on the mighty batteries of the Pas-de-Calais has been created in one of the towers of the famous ‘Todt’ battery. This museum (Musee du Mur de l’Atlantique, wbesite here) is surely worth a visit to find an explanation of the working procedures of the battery, its history, and also for the pieces of artillery preserved here, including Europe’s only surviving ‘Leopold’ railway cannon.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

A less visited place nearby the museum is the former N.4 tower of the same ‘Todt’ battery. This is totally abandoned and unfortunately the ubiquitous writers hit very hard with their ignorant spoiling. Nonetheless, in the almost total darkness – you will need at least an iPhone torch for moving around – of some of the former shell storage and service rooms many substantial traces of original Nazi murals can be seen still today – much larger and more interesting than those you can find in the museum.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

Besides the service road, you can explore the firing chamber and the support platform of the cannon with the concrete platform of the main metal pivot still in place.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall
Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

Reaching the abandoned tower N.4 is easy from the museum. From the round about where D940 and D191 cross you will find the museum leaving D940 close by along a road called La Sence. Leaving the museum to your right, keep driving along La Sence. You will come to a T-shaped crossing, where you need to turn left. The road will start to descend downhill, and you will find a convenient parking area to the left just before reaching D940. Leave your car here. Leaving the parking from the main gate by foot, turn right on the road you just came from, and soon after take an unpaved service road to the left, in the direction of the sea. Follow this road until it turns left – about .15 miles later. You can spot the tower partly hidden by the trees.

The tower has a shape very similar to that of the one you can visit in the museum, so you may already have an idea of the plan of the site. Anyway, an entrance can be found on the eastern side – i.e. the back side – of the tower. The murals can be found on the lower floor, so no climbing is strictly needed. The ground is extremely muddy and slippery, so carefully choose your shoes. The rooms are almost totally dark, so you will need at least a small torch and good flash or a tripod for your camera.

You can also walk around on the outside to the front of the tower. Entering from there is very difficult, the level of the ground inside being much lower than that on the outside.

Calais

This unattractive port town is home to many installations connected with the Atlantic Wall. The beaches to the south of the town are crowded with cannon and observation bunkers, which are ‘gently’ moving with time from the original elevated positions to a lower level close to the water.

Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall

On a large abandoned area which was once a huge car park – possibly for embarking cars going over the Channel to England – to the west of the city centre it is possible to spot an armored tunnel/shelter for storing a railway cannon.

Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall
Calais Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

The installations on the western beaches of Calais can be reached and walked very easily. Just park your car in one of the parking areas for people going to the beach and go by foot.

The tunnel/shelter cannot be reached, it is in an abandoned parking which nonetheless is private property (many signs and fences in place). You can photograph it with a zoom lens parking your car in front of the cemetery on Avenue Pierre de Coubertin, or in front of one of the gates of the area on Rue d’Asfeld. No walking is needed.

‘Oldenburg’ and ‘Waldam’ Batteries – Calais

Among the most remarkable remains of the Atlantic Wall, these two batteries are located close to the beaches east of central Calais.

Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall

The two huge towers of the ‘Oldenburg’ battery used to host heavy naval cannons and were operated by the German Navy. Today the cannons are gone, but the huge concrete bunkers are still there. Also a one-of-a-kind bunker hospital can be spotted nearby.

The installations are totally derelict, and unfortunately the area is today on the border of a guarded and overcrowded refugee camp, so you don’t feel very safe when moving around – small groups of young immigrants ‘escaping’ their camp and without much to do will probably find and stare at you – and at your belongings. Try to avoid misunderstandings, but be ready to defend yourself. On the plus side, Calais center is populated by much Police, clearly aware of the exceptional condition of the town in these days.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

The ‘Waldam’ battery besides is placed farther east with respect to ‘Oldenburg’, in the territory of Le Fort Verd. Here besides the ‘usual’ intermediate size bunkers for cannons you can spot an interesting piece of engineering, in the form of a concrete bunker capable of revolving around a pin. At least one exemplar is still in relatively good shape. Also a very unusual observation tower for aiming equipment can be spotted nearby.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

Exploring the site can be done with no official restriction, but the area is mainly for bird hunting, so be careful not to interfere with hunting-related activities. Accessing the totally derelict bunkers is possible if you go prepared to face wild vegetation, brambles and nettles. Immigrants do not go far from their base camp, so you have very low chance to find them if you move in the area of the ‘Waldam’ battery.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall
Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

As usual in the area, ship-arresting devices, once standing half submerged on the beach, can be spotted around, often used as posts for roadsigns or for marking road corners.

Getting there and moving around

As already pointed out, Calais is not only unpleasant as usual for a mainly commercial port town, but it is also living a particularly bad moment, being overcrowded with immigrants posing some security problem. Fearing for my car I elected to park close to the beach way east of the ‘Oldenburg’ battery and of the refugee camp. A convenient parking used by some friendly hunters and local traffic can be found between Le Fort Verd and Les Hemmes de Marck. When driving east towards the latter (along Rue Jean Bart), turn left on a public unpaved road with no signs pointing straight to the coastline. The road turns sharply left towards Calais at some point, and you find a prohibition sign telling not to go further, and a good parking with some information panels. You can park there.

For reaching the ‘Waldam’ battery I would suggest using Google Maps or something similar on your phone – coverage is very strong. This is to avoid wasting time on dead-end passages between the countless ponds and puddles in the area.

The road you can’t drive on going west (Digue Taaf) will lead you back to the ‘Oldenburg’ battery. For reaching the ‘Waldam’ battery you will need to move north of the road, in the hunting area between the road and the beach.

From the parking to the ‘Oldenburg’ battery is about 1.5 miles one-way. Touring the area is a physically requiring task not only for the distance, but for you have to find your way on uneven terrain, with fields of brambles and nettles. You can have much fun if you like exploring and you go prepared, only don’t forget to bring some water and snacks – you are on a beach after all, so it will be hot and you will be totally exposed to sunlight.