Belgrade War Heritage – From WWII to the Yugoslav Wars

Belgrade, the capital city of today’s Serbia, with a population of 1.3 millions, boasts traces of dating back to the Roman Empire. Strategically located on the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, through the ages it grew to become a major military and trading post.

A city at war – brief historical perspective

In the 19th century, with the foundation of a Kingdom of Serbia free from the Ottoman rule, Belgrade became a capital city of an independent power, right at the geographical center of the Balkan region.

In 1914, tense relations with the better established and more powerful Austrian Empire triggered WWI, where Serbia fought on the side of the winners, gaining territories extending to the Adriatic Sea from the dismembered Austrian empire. These regions were encapsulated in an unprecedented entity, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where Belgrade played again as capital city.

Soon after, WWII saw a bloody and rather unsung front opening in the Balkans, conquered from the north by Hitler’s Wehrmacht, and from the south by fascist Italy. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ceased to exist, and Belgrade – initially the target of massive air attacks by Germany – was made for a while the capital of a kind of German protectorate. It was in the final years of WWII that communist-led resistance para-military corps led by Marshal Tito, secretly supported by the Western Allies, started operating massively against the Axis. Tito was backed especially by the British, who provided war materiel, staff for tactical decisions and political support.

When Serbia was liberated, with the help of the Red Army attacking from southern Ukraine through today’s Romania on Serbia’s eastern border, Tito raised to power, re-founding Yugoslavia as a communist country extending from Greece to Austria and Italy, and with borders with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria – all the latter three being communist countries, deeply entangled with the Soviet Union. Belgrade was again the capital city of a powerful and strategically relevant state.

Quite oddly from Stalin’s perspective, Tito did not capitulate the sovereignty of Yugoslavia to the USSR – unlike most states in Eastern Europe. This again was possible likely through the support of the West, in the quickly evolving geo-political situation soon after WWII leading to the Cold War, where former allies split on the two sides of the Iron Curtain. As a matter of fact, no Soviet military bases were ever placed in Yugoslavia, a communist country which until the Fifties even obtained war material from the West!

Tito managed to keep his post on the international scene and internally until his death in 1980. Soon after, the artificial ties between the many nations united in Yugoslavia began to crack, and almost at the same time of the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the country literally fell apart. As of now the bloodiest conflicts in post-WWII Europe, the Yugoslavian Wars saw the secession of several new national entities from one another and from Serbia. Belgrade is now the capital city of the Republic of Serbia.

War heritage in Belgrade – What is covered in this chapter

The troubled history of Belgrade as a capital city has left permanent traces in the fort, one of the oldest and most prominent highlights in town. The foundations bear traces of the ancient Roman fort, but a defense bunker dug underground within its premises is a witness of the role of this old part of the town in more recent years.

An ideal setting for a weapons display, the fort is also where the museum of military history can be found. Dating from Tito’s era, this place boasts a remarkable collection of war material from all ages, including WWII, the Cold War and the 1990s. It stands as a perfect counterpart for the air museum, covered in this chapter. Further items of interest include one-of-a-kind memorabilia items belonging to Marshal Tito.

Being Tito’s Yugoslavia capital city, it is no surprise the founder of postwar Yugoslavia was buried here. An extremely interesting purpose-built museum – a major relic of the Cold War era – surrounds the mausoleum. There you can find a massive documentation on the dictator, including signed photographs and gifts from prominent western political leaders – including virtually every US President in office during Tito’s many decades in charge! This witnesses the special status of Marshal Tito in the eyes of western powers.

Another characteristic sight is the ‘Genex Tower’, a unique skyscraper of American size, with a style resembling ‘Blade Runner’ motion picture’s set. A real punch in the eye in the landscape, this is tower is of course another witness of how private enterprises – this time, the Yugoslavian tourism group Genex – could get a prominent status in communist Yugoslavia, differently from Soviet-style fully centralized economies. It is also an example of an original architectural style from the Cold War era, showing the great care given to art and architecture by the communist party of Yugoslavia – another prominent example being ‘spomeniks’, monuments scattered over the entire former territory of the country (see this dedicated chapter).

Similarly interesting is ‘Avala Tower’, a TV tower with an elevated panorama platform from the 1960s. Besides the architectural interest, it is worth mentioning this tower was targeted by NATO air raids in 1999, and completely demolished. It was rebuilt in an identical shape and re-opened only recently.

The oddest among war-connected items in town is the former building of the ministry of defense, close to today’s capital directional center. Having being targeted by NATO bombing raids in 1999 and severely damaged, it was left for years damaged and derelict, a memento for the attack by NATO forces, and the focus of much controversy.

Photographs of these sites are from a visit in Spring 2019.

Map

The sites covered in this chapter can be found on the map below.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Sights

Military Museum of Belgrade

When getting access to the beautiful historical fort of Belgrade, a vantage point to watch the oldest districts and the rivers, you will hardly miss an impressive array of cannons, howitzers, tanks and missile batteries from earlier than Napoleon to the Cold War.

This rich collection is the outside part of the Military Museum of Belgrade. Founded back in Tito’s era, this museums offers an overview of the war history of this war-battered part of the world, since ancient times to the latest Yugoslavian Wars of the 1990s.

The collection features interesting items especially from WWII, including pieces of German make, as well as from the Cold War period, like Soviet-made ‘Katyusha’ launchers and SAM batteries.

Despite the initial struggle with Stalin, after the latter’s death, relations with the USSR improved. Since then, military supply for Yugoslavia mainly came from the USSR, flanked by a non-negligible domestic production.

The indoor collection starts from much back in time, with weapons dating from the centuries of the struggle against the Ottoman rule. A major section is dedicated to the 19th century, when the Kingdom of Serbia was founded. As known, the spark for WWI came from the Balkans. Serbia took part to the war on the side of the Entente. As a result, after WWI the Kingdom of Serbia increased its territory and became known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia since the late 1920s.

Resulting from the political union of peoples of diverse ethnicity, religion, language and commercial vocation, this kingdom never experienced much stability. As a matter of fact, king Alexander I was murdered on a visit to France by Macedonian fighters for independence. The blood stained shirt of the king following the assassination – notably the first such event to be video recorded, albeit in 1934 quality – is preserved in the museum.

Like elsewhere in Europe, WWII years saw the suppression of the existing institutions. In 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded by neighboring Hitler’s Germany (which at that time was a single entity with Austria). The Nazi rule was implemented in the region of today’s Serbia, administrated by a German-backed local government. Items from this era are abundant, and include maps, weaponry and uniforms.

Of special interest are also the double-language notices – in German and Serbian – produced by Nazi Germany, with the distinctive eagle and swastika (similar to what you can find in the occupied territories of the USSR, see for instance here).

Also interesting are the bounty signs about Tito and other ‘comrades’ – the resistance movements were well organized and supplied, with the backing of Western Allies operating from Greece and southern Italy in the latter years of the war, thus creating real troubles to the invading powers.

Despite that, also improvised weapons were used, presented in the museum. Being an installation from Tito’s time, the operations of the communist-led resistance para-military units is showcased with flags, banners, uniforms and weapons.

A true relic in the museum is made of a small collection of Marshal Tito’s own uniforms and everyday items. These include some field items – torchlight, map magnifier – as well as more personal belongings – glasses, a USSR souvenir, apparently a pencil case, and more.

Some interesting photographs include portraits of US staff and aircraft operating from Yugoslavia, as well as a copy of the declaration of support to Tito’s army from the participants to the Tehran conference – Churchill, Stalin and president Roosevelt.

A very Soviet-style part of the museum is a kind of memorial, with a statue of Tito and a myriad of banners from various military groups – a kind of homage – completed by a massive engraved metal map of communist Yugoslavia.

A significant part of the museum deals with the 1990s wars. These include the early secession war mainly opposing Croatia, but deeply involving Bosnia-Herzegovina. Weapons of the Croatian army are on display.

A latter part is devoted to the war with Kosovo, which resulted in an open, mainly air-fought conflict against overwhelming NATO forces. From the fierce and polemical titles of the display cases in this latest part of the museum, it is clear that this fragment of history is still an open wound in the collective memory of Serbia. Maps of NATO bombing incursions have been created, and curiously translated into English, for the eyes of western visitors.

More substantial remains from this relatively recent struggle can be found at the air museum of Belgrade, covered in this post, in the form of wrecks of downed aircraft and western missile bodies.

Visiting

The museum is a major attraction among those scattered over the premises of the fort. Access to the outdoor part, surely deserving a walk-through also for those not particularly interested in history, is free of charge, and may be very appealing for the kids. The indoor collection is extremely interesting for war historians or history-minded people, but the exhibition may be hard for children. Most items are labeled also in English, making the visit interesting. Visiting the inside part may take from .5 to more than 1 hour, depending on your level of interest. A photo permit is required to take pictures inside. Website with info here.

Mystery Bunker in the Fort of Belgrade

This bunker is poorly advertised, and only scarce on-site descriptions are provided. It is basically made of a tunnel built close to a the most panoramic corner of the fortress. Access is via a narrow stair, giving access to a U-shaped corridor, connecting two double-floor underground circular towers.

On the lower floor of the towers, sleeping rooms for troops can be found, together with water tanks. On the upper floor what appears as an unfinished or lately interred firing position for high-caliber artillery can be found.

Construction is similar to some installations of the Atlantic Wall (see for instance here and here), hence it may date from WWII or soon after.

Due to the (strangely) scant description, it is hard to tell the history of this mystery bunker, and I am only guessing its function.

Visiting

The site can be visited with an inexpensive ticket, to be purchased (cash only) by the entrance to the helical pit, a much more advertised attraction nearby. To be honest, nobody checked my ticket once by the entrance to the bunker, which at a first glance can be confused with a backyard deposit (it is really not much celebrated as an attraction). Anyway, I came across a Serbian-speaking small guided group on my visit, so there must be chance of getting inside like that, enjoying some better explanation. Visiting alone may take 15 minutes. A little info on the site of the Fortress, here.

Marshal Tito’s Mausoleum and Memorabilia Museum

This installation lies to the back of the older building of the Museum of Yugoslavia, dating from Tito’s era and currently closed for renovation (2020). The neighborhood is very nice, with buildings of many embassies. The mausoleum and the annexed museum are part of a nice ensemble, surrounded by a garden. A very modern entrance hall with shop and services has been prepared at the entrance.

The burial place of Marshal Tito is in a greenhouse-like building, pretty nice and peaceful. The tomb is definitely plain and not bombastic, nothing you would expect from a dictator. Tito’s wife is buried nearby.

To the sides of the building you can find a well designed exhibition including personal belongings of Tito, parts of his office furniture, as well as pictures – including a magnified one with dignitaries attending his funeral ceremony in 1980.

A small excerpt of the huge collection of scepters, a traditional gift offered to Tito by every group or local society on his domestic visits, can be visioned here. Some of these are really nicely crafted, some are funny – some are really kitschy and caricatural.

A second part of the installation is hosted in a small, separate building. Here an incredible collection of gifts, personal belongings, photographs, authentic papers from the fund of the Museum of History about momentous events in Yugoslavian history, autographs and scepters can be found.

Of special interest are the official portraits – often signed – of presidents, dignitaries, kings and queens from various ages and from all over the world. This collection witnesses the relative popularity of Marshal Tito in the West, even though NATO forces never trusted him fully – the missile defense system placed in northeastern Italy in the 1960s and 1970s is a clear memory of that (see this post).

Similar to Ceausescu’s house in Bucharest (see here), the items on display make for a very vivid memory of Marshal Tito life and actions, and really bring back the man from history. Really an evoking place those interested in the Cold War can’t miss out!

Visiting

This attraction can be easily reached by car, a few minutes from central Belgrade, in a nice and safe neighborhood (see map). The local name is ‘Kuca Cveca’. As a branch of the Museum of Yugoslavia, it is modernly managed and has been recently revamped, making the visit enjoyable and interesting. For those with an interest in the Cold War era or Tito’s life and legacy, a visit to this site may easily take 1-1.5 hours on a self-guided basis, despite the place being relatively small and easy to tour. Guided tours are possible as well, info on the official website (in English) here.

Genex Tower

An internationally known piece of contemporary architecture, this strange looking massive skyscraper can be clearly spotted from the fortressof Belgrade, looking west towards ‘Nikola Tesla’ airport. It was built between 1977 and 1980, and is made of two bodies connected at the top through an elevated platform.

The name Genex Tower comes from the legacy Genex company, a large tour operator from the Yugoslavian era, operating even an independent airline, Aviogenex, flying mainly touristic routes conveying visitors from western Europe to the beautiful coast of Dalmatia. This openness of Yugoslavia to western tourism has been an uncommon characteristic in the panorama of communist-led countries. Overt trade relations with the West contributed to a higher standard of living of Yugoslav population, compared to the USSR-controlled Eastern Bloc neighbors.

The tower is today partly a relic. The half once hosting the offices of Genex and its subsidiaries is mostly empty, even though not abandoned – there is a porter apparently living there, and willing to answer your questions on the history of the place! Going beyond the entry hall is not possible, but the hall itself deserves a glance – built with style, it is much more pleasant than the outside of the building!

The atmosphere is really evocative of the Cold War era. Like other buildings – mainly hotels – in former Yugoslavia, the style of the interior somehow recalls the old-fashioned luxury of some older James Bond movie setting!

The residential part is still inhabited as a high-rise condominium. The entrance is via a small door, but despite the derelict appearance of the small square ahead of the building, it looks normally cared for.

The circular platform on top of the tower used to host a panorama restaurant, today long gone.

The view of the platform from between the two main bodies from the base makes for a peculiar photographic set – as a matter of fact, professional photographers were taking pictures  from that spot for a fashion review!

Visiting

The tower can be reached by car, a few minutes north of the city center. This is basically a non-public building, so while visiting is not possible, the open, unfenced premises at the base of the tower allow walking freely around the tower. The neighborhood is densely populated and safe, despite the base of the tower not looking good, due to disrepair. Parking opportunities all around. A walk around the base may take 15 minutes. If you like to get inside the hall of the largely unused (as of 2020) commercial building, you may also have a chat with the porter about the history of the place. The visit won’t be much longer, anyway.

Avala Tower

This tower is located south of Belgrade, and is a vantage point for observing the town and the countryside around. The original tower was completed between 1961 and 1964, entering the world’s top-ten list of tallest buildings at the height of the Cold War era. That tower was targeted by NATO bombing in 1999 and destroyed. It was rebuilt between 2007 and 2009, mostly identical to the original design.

It is today a renowned tourist attraction. A remarkable engineering and design masterpiece, the tower boasts an uncommon three-leg base, giving a shape well fitting in the years of the space age when it was designed – despite the inspiration being reportedly from a three-legged Serbian traditional chair.

The platform on top can be reached via a fast elevator. Strange massive condominiums in the southern outskirts of Belgrade can be clearly spotted from here, but the most striking feature is the wild countryside surrounding Belgrade, really a spot in the green.

Not far from the tower, the interesting Monument to the Unknown Soldier from the 1930s is a remarkable national shrine from the years of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Visiting

The Avala Tower can be reached by car in about 45 minutes from central Belgrade – mainly due to traffic, since it is not geographically far (see map). Parking on site. The place is managed as a modern large scale attraction, website here.

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is open 24/7, a quick and interesting detour from the tower, with a dedicated small parking close to a fashionable ‘old-Europe’ vintage hotel. Explanatory panels nearby.

Ruins of the Ministry of Defense

The building of the ministry of defense was targeted during a bombing raid in April 1999, and severely damaged. An administrative building right in today’s administrative district of downtown Belgrade, it has been left mostly untouched for years now, as a memento of the war against the NATO alliance.

Two buildings can be seen cross the street. Part of the corresponding blocks are still in use, and for safety reasons portions of the damaged buildings have been finally demolished in recent years. More and more plans to convert this very central area to something else have been elaborated, as memory of the troubled 1990s is slowly fading.

Visiting

The place can be reached easily with a walk from the historical and shopping districts of Belgrade (see map). The buildings are inaccessible, and can be seen from the outside. A 5 minutes stop along your walk may suffice to check this item.

The Aeronautical Museum of Belgrade

With a few parallels in aviation history, especially in the years immediately following WWII, former Yugoslavia benefited from supplies by a great number of countries. As a matter of fact, the air force of this newborn communist republic was formed at first from leftovers of retreating Germany and conquering Britain, followed by the establishment of a supply line initially from the USSR, and later the US and again Britain.

The special political ability of marshal Tito, who ruled uncontested as a communist dictator since the foundation of Yugoslavia in 1945 until his death in 1980, and the credit he benefited from especially in Britain, allowed him to keep out of the sphere of influence of the USSR since 1948. In a strategic position on the border with NATO countries like Italy and Greece, Tito adopted a detente policy of ‘equal-distance’ between the two opposing blocs over the Cold War period (even though NATO did not trust him fully, as testified by the deployment of a SAM defense line in northeastern Italy, see this post).

Of course, most of the military supply was of Soviet make, especially after the death of Stalin and well until the end of communism in Europe and the bloody fragmentation of the Yugoslav state. However, concerning civil aviation, autonomy from Moscow allowed the adoption of western aircraft, like the French Aerospatiale Caravelle and much of the Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas inventory, in the major national airline JAT – something which happened very rarely anywhere in the communist bloc over the years of the Cold War, another notable instance being Romania, again a ‘semi-autonomous’ communist dictatorship, who refused the Soviet Tupolev Tu-134 in favor of license-built British BAC 1-11s.

Another effect of the autonomy from the USSR was the creation of a national aviation industry, which especially in the case of SOKO, produced military trainers and light attack aircraft of good success, which despite ageing, are still flying today.

More recently, the fierce conflicts raging over the Balkans in the 1990s have created a major active front for modern aviation, where the air force of Serbia – which inherited the geographically central part of Yugoslavia and its capital city, Belgrade – confronted the NATO alliance in an open conflict. The unbalance of forces allowed the western coalition to quickly establish air superiority, which did not come without a few notable material losses however.

A rich display of this peculiar aviation history, actually tracing back to WWI and the early years of aviation, can be found in the Aeronautical Museum of Belgrade, which despite being in today’s Serbia, acts as a kind of Yugoslav Aviation Museum. As a matter of fact, it was founded as such back in the years of Tito, and opened in its current building nearby ‘Nikola Tesla’ civil airport of Belgrade in 1989, when Yugoslavia was still a reality.

This short post provides an outline of what you can find in this museum, with photographs taken on a visit in April 2019.

Sights

The museum occupies a relatively large area in the vicinity of the airport of Belgrade, and is made of an open-air exhibition, open-air storage area, and big mushroom-shaped building hosting an indoor exhibition.

The ‘gate guardian’ is a SOKO J-21 Jastreb, a nice light multi-role aircraft from the 1960s, powered by a British Rolls-Royce Viper jet engine.

Indoor exhibition

The entry hall of the mushroom-shaped building features is a good example of the architectural style from the late communist era. The ground floor hosts a small exhibition about the early days of aviation in the former region of the Balkans, with documents from WWI years. Among the items on display, you can find early pilot’s licenses from notable war pilots, likely granted after training abroad, and actually written in French.

The main hall of the museum can be found upstairs. This large can be walked on two levels. Most aircraft are to be found on the lower level, but a few are suspended to the glassy circular sidewall of the mushroom, lighted from behind by the sunlight – so that taking pictures is just a nightmare!

The centerpiece of the collection is an exemplar of the SOKO J-22 Orao, a twin-engined – two Rolls-Royce Viper turbofans – light ground-attack and trainer aircraft from the 1970s. Designed jointly by Yugoslavia and Romania, this model equipped the Yugoslav (then Serbian) air force during the 1990s, where a handful exemplars are still flying today.

Indeed a clean design with an interesting performance, this aircraft was possibly the last heir of the Ikarus-then-SOKO lineage, originated back in the years before WWII. In this respect, some unique exemplars of aircraft are preserved in this museum, witnessing the existence of a school of skilled aircraft designers in Serbia, not much known in the western world.

A key figure of the Ikarus design bureau, Dragoljub Beslin led the design of Ikarus S-451, a nice, very small, twin-prop attack aircraft flown in 1951, especially designed to sustain high load factors in maneuvers at high speed.

Another unique specimen is the twin-jet Ikarus 451M, the first jet aircraft built by Yugoslavia. Same designer as the S-451, this unusual jet-engined taildragger flew in 1952, but was soon superseded by more modern models, in those years of quick-paced development of aviation technology. Again, the engines were from the West, in the form of two French Turbomeca Palas turbojets.

Another member of the ‘Ikarus 451’ family – it must be said this Yugoslav one is likely the oddest model numbering systems ever created… –  the T 451 MM Strsljen (Hornet) features a more convincing configuration, resembling the single-engined British BAC Jet Provost and the Italian Macchi MB 326, both rather successful trainers from the late 1950s. On display is actually the ‘Strsljen II’ version, which is a attack/training version with more thrust than the first series aircraft. This model was conceived to operate from unprepared runways, and featured two Turbomeca Marbore II French turbojets. The aircraft flew in 1958, but an air force contract was not granted.

Some functional wind tunnel models of other aircraft, actually never reaching the 1:1 prototype stage, are on display. These include a rare ekranoplane design, the UTVA 754. With a mechanic-monster-like appearance like all ekranoplanes (the most famous being probably the Bertini-Beriev preserved at the Russian Air Force Museum in Monino, see here), this machine was designed in 1982 in the then-Yugoslav town of Zagreb, today the capital city of Croatia.

A medevac aircraft conceived for easy conversion between floats and wheels, the UTVA 66H can be visited also inside. The indigenous SOKO is represented by a number of models. These include the SOKO G-2 Galeb, a successful trainer/light attack aircraft from the 1950s, built around a single Rolls-Royce Viper turbofan. During its long history it was exported to several international operators, and gave birth to the more recent SOKO J-21 Jastreb. The Galeb was in service with Serbia until 1999.

Another section of the museum features aircraft of foreign make which witness the intricate history of alliances of both the pre-WWII Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-WWII communist Yugoslavia. Most remarkably, these include a Messerschmitt Bf-109-G! The history of this particular aircraft is not very clear, some sources stating it was captured from Bulgarian air force. As a matter of fact, Yugoslavia acquired about 70 Bf-109-E from Germany in 1940, which in turn furiously invaded from north in a quick an violent campaign in spring 1941.

Next in line is nothing less than a British Hawker Hurricane! A group of Hurricanes were acquired from Britain in the immediate pre-war years, and even license-built in Belgrade in a small number – Yugoslavia apparently purchased aircraft seamlessly from both opponents at the outbreak of WWII. Later on, Hurricane-equipped squadrons of Yugoslavia fought back on the side of the Allies from bases in southern Italy, finally regaining control over the Balkans.

In a similar fashion, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V witnesses the involvement of British-supplied national air force squadrons in the liberation of Yugoslavia from the German invaders.

In the closing years of WWII, Yugoslavia benefited also from the help of the USSR. This is witnessed by a massive – and pretty rare, out of former soviet republics! – Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik. This big attack aircraft, possibly the most famous Soviet aircraft of WWII, equipped three squadrons in the Yugoslav air force, and helped in the fight on the so-called ‘Srem front’ north of Belgrade. An often overlooked sector of the European front, substantial operations were carried out since late 1944 until April 1945, with the forces of Nazi Germany slowly retreating under the offensive of the Red Army (including Bulgarian divisions) and of Yugoslavia from the south. These operations involved 250’000 troops on either side, thus engaging the Germans and draining resources from mainland defense. At that time, an entire division of the Yugoslav air force were equipped with this aircraft type, kept in service until the 1950s.

Similarly, an elegant WWII Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter of Soviet make can be found nearby in the colors of Yugoslavia.

After the end of WWII, Tito was determined not to surrender his political and economic independence to Stalin. In this high-stake gamble, he made no secret of his thoughts, and sought international recognition from the west. As expected, Stalin showed no sense of humor in that matter, and as the USSR broke relationships with Yugoslavia, this country faced the risk of isolation and of Soviet invasion in the early stage of the Cold War (late 1940s).

Over the years, the good relationship established with the western Allies during WWII were strengthened further, and most incredibly for a communist country, the US provided aircraft and helicopters, in the form of Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, Republic F-84G Thunderjet and (much later, in the early 1960s) North American F-86D ‘long-nosed’ Sabre.

The years of Kennedy administration saw a significant improvement of the relationship between Tito and Khrushchev, and this led to a switch to Soviet aircraft in the form of the supersonic MiG-21, which equipped the Yugoslav air force in substantial numbers over the following two decades. An exemplar of this iconic and ubiquitous aircraft, an unquestionably well-performing aircraft in his age, is preserved in the museum. By the way, the early 1960s saw also the widespread adoption of SOKO Galeb trainers and the phase out of older British/US models.

Other peculiar exhibits in the indoor part of the museum are the wrecks resulting from air fight operations during the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s. On the national (Yugoslav) side, the tail cone of a SOKO G-4 Super Galeb – a totally different design from the quasi-homonym G-2 – damaged by a shoulder-launched Stinger missile in 1991.

But much more material is from NATO countries, resulting from combat during operation ‘Allied Force’ against Serbia in 1999. Most notably, you can see a substantial part of the wing of a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the famous stealth aircraft downed by a vintage Soviet SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missile in March 1999, as well as a landing gear, ejection seat, pilot’s helmet, Vulcan cannon and some smaller parts of a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon downed the following May, again due to an SA-3 missile. The first stage of the missile which hit the Nighthawk is on display too.

These are basically the only aircraft lost in action over enemy territory during that operation.

An apparently easier prey, General Atomics RQ-1 Predator UAVs were used in great numbers, some twenty of them being downed. One wrecked example is put on display.

More items of the kind include parts of NATO missiles, including HARM anti-radiation missiles and cluster-bombs containers.

On the upper level, you can find a mostly photographic exhibition mainly about the national carrier JAT. Interestingly, not a single Soviet-made model appears in the pictures, whereas you can find Boeing 707s, 727s, 737s, Douglas DC-9s, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s, Aerospatiale Caravelles and ATR-42/72s – clearly a strong commercial bound with the West, pretty unusual for a communist country!

Another Yugoslav airline started operations to a later date – Aviogenex. This apparently did use aircraft from the USSR, in particular Tupolev Tu-134s, later flanked by Boeing 737s. Aviogenex ceased operations much later than the end of Yugoslavia, and operated as a Serbian company for some years.

One of the most iconic brutalist monstrosities in northern Belgrade is the skyscraper which used to host the headquarters of this airline – it looks like a good setting for some ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Judge Dredd’ movie…

Some more panels include descriptions of airport history and modern operations in the nearby airport of Belgrade. The history line of the national aviation industry is also presented in detail through historical pictures.

Some more aircraft can be found on this level, as well as a SA-3 Goa missile in a non-operative paint scheme, likely for training or telemetry tuning purposes.

Outdoor exhibition

The large area around the building is split between a small outdoor exhibition prepared for the public, and a larger storage area with many more aircraft which can not be neared nor walked around.

The displayed aircraft include an Aerospatiale Caravelle in the colors of JAT. This exemplar was one of three operated by this airline, and was active between 1963 and 1976.

A much elder transport, a German (French license-built) Junkers 52 with P&W engines represents a fleet of four such aircraft operated by the Yugoslav air force, complementing another group of originally German aircraft captured during the war.

An aircraft of historical significance is an Ilyushin Il-14 twin-prop transport. This aircraft was a personal goodwill gift from Khrushchev to marshal Tito, and the founding member of Yugoslav presidential fleet.

A couple of Lisunov Li-2 and some original Douglas C-47 Skytrain, of which the former is a license-built Soviet version, are on display, albeit not all complete. A MiG-21 Fishbed and a Kamov twin-rotor helicopter are also on display.

Another extremely rare item from the post-WWII years, a Short SA.6 Sealand amphibious aircraft of British make has made its way to Belgrade, after years as a transport aircraft in the Yugoslav air force.

The non-visible part of the museum features a rather impressive collection of MiG-21 in several versions, SOKO J-21 Jastreb and SOKO J-20 Kraguj in a large number, a SA-2 Guideline soviet-made SAM launcher with two missiles, and a number of partly assembled aircraft and wrecks.

A mystery item is a part of an allegedly US aircraft, apparently a part of the tail empennage of a bigger transport – any suggestion about this item welcome!

Visiting

The museum is located to the northwest of the airport of Belgrade. It can be easily reached by car from the access road going to the main terminal area. Website with info in English here. Parking ahead of the entrance.

The museum can be visited in about 2 hours by an interested subject, much less if you have just a mild interest in aviation. Much paneling is in double Serbian and English language, allowing to get the most from your visit.

Despite being fully operative, the place has a somewhat rotting appearance especially from the outside, as mostly typical to former state-run institutions in former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, some form of protection for the aircraft in the outside exhibition is hopefully to be considered by the management, otherwise the aircraft with literally disintegrate to the action of the elements in a matter of some years.

The Border Forts of Czechoslovakia Against Nazi Germany

The Maginot line – a line of forts running along the French border with Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium – is a widely known example of military engineering from the inter-war period (see this chapter). The adopted construction technique, based on reinforced concrete pillboxes with walls several feet thick, half interred to decrease visibility from above, field cannons and anti-tank defensive guns, witnesses the great consideration given to tanks and aircraft as attack weapons.

Due to the fast movements typical to the new strategy of the German army since the beginning of WWII, the Maginot line is mainly remembered for having not been involved in any major action, and having being largely bypassed. As a matter of fact, the German opted for a bypass also because the line was in place, so it was not as ineffective as it is often thought.

What is possibly even less known is that similar defensive lines were built in earnest in other European countries, before and even during WWII, after the Maginot line had failed to stop the invading German army. The enormous Salpa line, built by Finland against the Soviet Union, was probably the last and most effective to be completed (see this chapter). The Stalin line, prepared by the Soviets against Germany in Belarus, is another example. Another country who invested much in this type of deterrent was Czechoslovakia.

To understand the drivers of the design of the huge line of forts envisaged by the Czechoslovakian government of the mid-1930s, one should take a look at a map of Europe from the time. After the defeat of WWI Germany had managed to keep significant parts of todays Poland. The border between Germany and Poland ran close to Gdansk – aka Danzig in German -, and the province of Lower Silesia with the town of Wroclav – Breslau in German – were undisputed German territory. This means that todays border between the Czech Republic and Poland used to be actually a border between Czechoslovakia and Germany in the years before WWII.

With the turmoil preceding the infamous Munich Agreement and Nazi Germany claiming the right to control ‘Sudetenland’ – a large part of the peripheral territories of todays Czech Republic – in 1937 the Czechoslovakian government quickly started the construction of a huge system of forts to protect the border.

The concept was pretty similar to that of the Maginot line, with extensive underground tunnels to shelter soldiers and ammos, facing to the surface with reinforced concrete bunkers with different purposes, including observation, artillery shelling with field cannons, mutual protection with short range anti-tank cannons, machine guns and grenade-throwing tubes. There were also bunkers for accessing the tunnel system with resupply. About 10’000 light fortifications were actually built, more than 200 heavy fortified positions and a handful of heavy artillery positions.

The geopolitical situation in Europe got worse quickly in 1938, with the annexation of Austria in spring and finally the Munich Agreement, which caused the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. As a result of this internationally approved de facto German invasion, the works on the defense line were halted by the Wehrmacht. A relevant part of the hard construction had been completed, but most of the bunkers were still unarmed or lacked some software – air filters, ammo supplies, everyday items for the troops, etc. – and were not serviceable.

Most of the ironworks, including especially all heavy-metal turrets, were salvaged by the Germans. Some of the cannons found their way to the Atlantic Wall. The most massive concrete bunkers were used to test new weapons. As a result, the majority of the most sizable structures are still today in a partly damaged shape.

Some of the bunkers came to life again in the 1970s, when re-founded Czechoslovakia, that time a satellite country of the USSR living under a repressive and hard communist dictatorship, started a low-paced conversion of some of the structures into nuclear shelters for top ranks of the military and political hierarchies.

Notwithstanding these incidents, todays Czech Republic is duly proud of the significant work which was carried out in the difficult late Thirties. Very much was done for the little time available, and the quality of the design and construction is remarkable. While most of the sites are open only rarely, there are some where you can step inside and enjoy an interesting visit. This chapter covers with photographs and text five larger fortified complexes along this anti-German defensive line, from a two-days visit taken in August 2018.

Map

The following map shows the highlights of each of the five sites listed in this chapter. Please zoom in for greater detail. For the Bouda fort I could not spot and pinpoint on the map all the pillboxes you can easily visit from the outside – this are covered by vegetation.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Sights

Stachelberg

The Stachelberg site is located about three miles north of the small city of Trutnov. The fort should have consisted of a main entrance and peripheral shooting positions, some of them linked by underground tunnels, to defend the area of the Giant Mountains. Construction works were terminated much before completion, so the surface bunkers forming the ensemble are actually not connected. Yet the major installation, a bulky infantry positions with provision for anti-tank artillery, provides access to an extensive system of half-prepared tunnels, which gives you a clear picture of the size and capacity of the complex.

The site is open to the public, and the ticket office can be found right inside this huge major bunker. From the outside, the volume of this pillbox is particularly stunning. Also interesting are the anti-tank obstacles, which used to be placed along the border line and between the forts, to trap invading columns in a position where anti-tank guns could be most effective.

This multi-level bunker is also place for a little museum on the fortifications, mainly based on explicative panels and scaled models of weapons and of the entire bunker complex. It covers the history of the fortifications, and explains most technical features of their construction. There are no weapons or other software – they were either not installed before the construction works were stopped, or salvaged by the Germans.

The tunnels can be visited on a guided tour only, starting from inside the main bunker with a descent of several tens of feet along a flight of stairs, originally made at the time of construction. The tunnels unfold on the sides of a major, perfectly straight initial track. Some of the lateral halls, intended to store ammos as well as for sleeping the troops, are very large and close to completion, whereas others are just sketched.

The tunnels were dug in the rock with the help of explosives. The next step in the construction works would have been a layer of concrete from the pavement up to the ceiling of the tunnels. This is present today only close to the entry point, at the bottom of the access stairs.

There are at least other five smaller pillboxes which have been preserved to some extent in the Stachelberg complex. They are accessible with different timetables, and do not provide access to the underground – by design, some of them should have.

One of the pillboxes has been colored in a very bright camouflage. I could not find out whether this used to be the standard, but it looks pretty unusual and not really mimetic… There are also refurbished connecting trenches between the smaller bunkers.

The concrete base of a never built bunker can be found not far from the parking area.

Getting there and moving around

Getting close to the complex is really easy, the area is very scenic and a popular destination skiing, and for nature trail hiking in summer. There is a parking on road N.300 from where the museum-fort can be reached with an almost flat, 0.3 miles track.

The complex can be toured on the outside without restrictions. The main bunker has opening times, and the underground part can be toured only with a guide. The guide speaks Czech, but you are provided a leaflet with explanations in English, upon request. The tour takes about 30 minutes, and is offered on a regular basis, with several entries per day. They warn you about the inside temperature, but I found it pretty easy to bear with normal summer clothes. Website here, but you will need some Google translation to find the info you need.

Voda, Brezinka and Lom

These three forts are actually parts of the same system, built on the eastern end of the town of Nachod-Beloves, the major center in a local valley ending in Poland. Three items in the complex are typically accessible to the public.

The one closest to the town, on the bottom of the valley, is the Voda bunker. This is very convenient to reach, and is basically composed of a preserved typical infantry pillbox with provision for machine guns. The bunker has been painted in a credible camouflage. On one end it is possible to note the damage inflicted by the Germans, when they took out the metal observation turret. This kind of treatment – and damage – can be observed on a great many bunkers of the line.

Inside, the bunker has been turned into a local museum on the armed forces. There were border guards operating in the area, involved in skirmishes before and after the end of the war. The weapons originally intended for the fort are not in place, but there is an interesting collection of weapons, uniforms, motorcycles and other gear from the army corps operating around there over the years.

The Brezinka fort is possibly one of the most famous of the entire defensive line. The reason for that is that it was recently restored to look like it should have looked, if only it was completed back in the late Thirties. In the restoration process, weapons and system parts from other locations in todays Czech Republic were brought to the Brezinka site.

The visit of the interiors is really exceptional, even compared to the forts of the other defensive lines in Europe. The fort really looks like it could be put in operation today!

The first part of the visit of this two-levels artillery bunker will take you downstairs, where you can find the sleeping quarters for the troops with a food storage.

Close by, there are two rooms for the electrical generator and for the ventilation system. Here you can see the electrical compressor, with backup manual handles, and the huge air filters. These are multi-stage filters, where each stage was designed to stop different poisonous components in the air. The system is working, so you are given a demonstration of the compressor – interesting to get an impression of the incredible noise this system produced!

On the same floor there is also a telegraph system, which was used to communicate with other bunkers in the complex in case of failure of the telephone link. This system was capable of transmitting Morse signals to the other pillboxes next to it, projecting the signal into the ground and using it as a medium – there were no cables! This allowed it to work even if a direct electrical link was lost.

The upper floor is even more surprising, cause basically all weapons have been restored to their original positions. The Brezinka bunker featured two main firing chambers. The one pointing uphill features two heavy 7.92 mm machine guns Zbrojovka Brno Mark 1937, a very widespread and reliable weapon, with an operational range of 1’000-2’000 ft at 500-300 rounds per minute. These were used to target infantry movements along the border line, pinpointed by anti-tank obstacles. Fire direction was from the observation turret or via an optical aim system. The latter was extremely precise, but more expensive than the machine gun!

In presence of an impenetrable smoke curtain or at night, an open-loop aiming system could be used. This consisted of a board with a precise sketch of the view of the outside from the firing point, mounted on top of the machine gun. A calibrated needle pointer was used to align the machine gun with respect to the target, by simply pointing the needle on the intended target on the board!

The third machine gun is a light ZB vz. 26, a very popular light 7.92 mm machine gun. This was used for close defense of the fort access. There are also grenade throwing tubes for the same purpose.

The other firing chamber points downhill, and is supplied with a machine gun as in the first chamber, plus the assembly of an anti-tank cannon and another machine gun. The cannon is a 4.7 cm Skoda KPUV vz. 38, with an up to 1-mile range at 35 rounds per minute. It could pierce a 50 mm armor from 0.7 miles apart, and was a very effective weapon. This very cannon was already in place before the German invasion, and was taken by the Wehrmacht to the Atlantic Wall in Norway. It has been returned to its original location in recent times.

There are other two metal-reinforced embrasures in the bunker for other two ZB vz. 26s. On the same floor you can find a kitchenette and toilets for the troops, ammo storages, and two observation turrets. The latter feature a working movable floor, to allow tailoring to the height of the observer. The turrets were fitted with a periscope, and were used to direct fire. They weighed 21 tonnes each, and could withstand direct close fire from anti-tank guns!

Finally, the room of the commander and the telephone room – with an original machine from the Thirties – conclude the tour.

The Lom object, five minutes uphill with respect to the Brezinka fort, is another infantry bunker. It has not been refurbished to the level of Brezinka, but nonetheless it is used to showcase construction pieces, weapons and memorabilia from WWII years. The armored turret was taken away by the Germans.

Between the Brezinka and Lom bunkers you can find a section of anti-tank obstacles. The concrete base used to support them can be spotted in several places here and other sites of the defensive line.

Getting there and moving around

These bunkers, and especially Brezinka, are surely among the most interesting of the kind to visit, considering also their counterparts in France, Finland and Belarus.

The Voda site is easily accessible by car. The Brezinka and Lom bunkers cannot be reached by car. You can park on a street close to the trail-head and take the trail. Unfortunately, the road going uphill, albeit not uneven, is extremely steep and about 1 mile long. You should definitely take this into consideration when planning your excursion, even if you are physically well-trained. Very few beverages are available at the Lom site, which is five minutes farther uphill from Brezinka. Nothing is sold at Brezinka.

It is a pity they didn’t prepare a better access road, cause the site is surely worth a visit, and may appeal to the specialist and to the general public – especially children! – as well.

Only cash is accepted in all these sites. The Brezinka site is accessible only with guided tours. Tours were offered every 20 minutes in late August when I visited. You are given a detailed leaflet in English or German, in case you can’t speak Czech. The guided tour of Brezinka takes about 50 minutes.

The Lom site can be toured in 10 minutes, whereas the Voda bunker is worth a 20-30 minutes self-guided visit. Explanations are partly also in English and other languages in the Voda bunker.

Information on these three forts can be found from this website.

Hanicka

The Hanicka site features an extensive underground tunnel system, actually connecting the main entrance to some major peripheral forts. The ensemble includes one of the few most imposing firing units in the entire defensive line.

But what makes this site even more unique is the fact that, after having fallen into oblivion since the end of WWII, in the 1970s it was selected to be developed into a nuclear-proof governmental bunker – codenamed ‘Kahan’. The ensuing modifications altered greatly the appearance of the entrance bunker, and most of the systems you can see today in the underground part are actually dating from the 1980s.

The works on the conversion were carried out at a slow pace, and were actually not completed before the end of communism in Czechoslovakia, the collapse of the Czechoslovakian federation and the birth of the Czech Republic in the early 1990s. The bunker was soon opened to the public as a unique specimen of military building engineering from both WWII and the Cold War.

The tunnels can be be visited only with a guided tour. The original entrance to the tunnel, modified in the 1980s, is the starting point of the visit. The entrance to the bunker looked totally different before it was developed into a nuclear shelter. The modifications at the level of the entrance included the construction of a soft service building, with room for storages of trucks, armored vehicles and other material.

In the first hall giving access to the tunnels you can find weapons, communication systems, scale models of the site, maps and much more from both the ‘two lives’ of the bunker, in the 1930s and 1980s.

Access it through a thick, typical soviet nuclear-blast-proof gate. Inside, you see the nuclear-proof system allowed to seal a section of the entry tunnel close to the gate. The bunker was designed to allow long-term survival and operations for 300 people also in case of total insulation from the world outside.

A modern energy production system was put in place and can be seen together with water and gasoline tanks. The structure of the bunkers was not altered significantly, but the various systems date clearly from more recently than the Thirties.

There are also extensive sleeping quarters and a medical facility to the far end of the main tunnel, which was built in the side of a hill.

You finally come out in a former infantry bunker, reached climbing upstairs to the top of the hill. Here the embrasures and reinforcing panels of the firing chambers are still in place.

The next part of the visit will take you to some other smaller bunkers, visible only from the outside.

The visit ends in front on the major RS-79a bunker, a top of the line artillery bunker. This was provided with three embrasures for field guns. The size of this installation is really striking. You cannot visit inside this bunker.

It was somewhat damaged by weapons testing by the Germans, and never refurbished. You can see a nuclear-proof door substituting one of the original embrasures.

Back to the parking, it is possible to see from the outside an infantry bunker and examples of anti-tank barriers. This bunker is a rare example of a totally undamaged fort of the line – even the metal turrets are original and have been left in place by the Germans.

Getting there and moving around

The Hanicka complex can be explored outside with no restrictions, but the inside can be toured only with a Czech-speaking guide. They provide you a leaflet in English. The visit lasts about 60 minutes. Info on their website.

The entrance is via the original entrance bunker, modified in the 1980s. Reaching this point from the parking on road N.319 is a bit demanding, cause you need to walk on an unpaved road going uphill with a relevant grade for about 0.7 miles, then you have about another 0.7 miles walking on an easy, flat road. Differently from Brezinka (see above), they have a facility selling food, beverages and souvenirs close to the entrance. It’s a pity they just did not prepare a good road and a parking nearby the entrance.

Anyway, this site has much to offer and the visit is highly recommended, both inside and outside, for children and adults as well.

Bouda

The two nearby forts of Bouda and Hurka share a basically similar construction, and represent possibly the best examples of almost-complete forts in the defensive line. They are articulated around a straight tunnel, mined in the side of a mountain. The section of the tunnel next to the main entrance bunker features a narrow gauge railway, used to transport ammos and various supplies to the storage units inside. Deeper in, there is provision for sleeping quarters for the troops. To the far end of the tunnel you can get access to a group of fortified installations and artillery bunkers.

The Bouda installation can be visited thoroughly. The site is very big but more remote to reach than Hurka. Besides the access bunker, where the ticket office can be found, you can see a specimen of a metal turret. None of the original turrets has been left in this site, all have been salvaged by the Germans.

Soon after the beginning of the tour, you will see the terminal of the narrow gauge railway. The double track goes through a short incline. At the base of the incline the main tunnel starts.

Not far from the entrance you meet slots for sealing doors and related actuation systems. These were installed by the Germans and used to test their reliability and the effectiveness of their weapons on them. They had some cannons installed further in along the tunnel, and shooting on the armored doors they had installed.

The railway turns single-track, until you reach a major storage for weapons with a loading platform. One of the storage chambers has been reused to display a collection of weapons used in the forts and the corresponding armored embrasures.

Further on you visit a group of chambers originally intended to be fitted as sleeping quarters. The dividing walls and metal frames have been demolished at some point – or may be they were never installed – but some of them can be seen, original or reconstructed. In this area there is also a memorial to Czechoslovakian troops.

Further in the tunnel you reach another set of chambers, one of them with pieces of armored constructions and other heavy material from around the site. Then you get access to the stairs leading to a heavy artillery bunker.

What you see here is the cylindrical concrete box where the actuation mechanism and reinforced cupola should have been installed. The size of the construction suggest the total intended size of the field cannon assembly, really big! This should have been very similar to some of the installations in the Maginot line (see this post). There is also a firing chamber for lighter weapons where nothing remains except some metal coating.

The guide will lead you back to the bottom and inside the main tunnel, and ascending along another stairwell you can reach an observation bunker with provision for light weapons. This bunker is in a better shape, and significant traces of the original soft construction are clearly visible.

Damage is due also to weapons testing carried out by the Germans, clearly visible from the outside.

Upon reaching the surface, you will be directed along a walk through the exteriors of the bunkers in the fortress, including the incomplete heavy artillery bunker, with the large concrete pit from visible above.

Finally, you access one of the bunkers, which appears pierced and heavily damaged from the outside. On the inside the firing chamber is fairly well conserved, with the original embrasures for machine guns still in place. The wall is pierced presumably by a shell or mine.

This very bunker was used also for testing high-yield explosives, and as a result of a huge explosion it shifted sideward of a few feet, without collapsing and with no alterations to its general shape – really sturdy! You can clearly appreciate the shift by going down in the stairwell!

You will then return to the main entrance with the ticket office where the visit will finish.

Getting there and moving around

The bunker parking can be found very easily driving north of the road N. 11 between Cervena Voda and Cerkovice. The area is popular for nature trail hiking, and the fort is also a popular attraction. Following the road signs, you will be driven to an observation tower on top of a mountain.

From there, the entrance to the bunker can be reached only by taking a trail which descends along the northwestern side of the mountain. The distance to cover by foot is a good 1.5 miles, so this should be taken into consideration when planning your trip. You have to go uphill on your way back to the parking, so the trail is more demanding when you are leaving. There are signs on every crossing, so you should not get lost. By the way, the walk is really nice, going in the trees with some bird-eye views on this beautiful countryside!

Once at the entrance of the bunker you can find refreshments and souvenirs. The bunker can be visited only with a guide. They are offering three options for the visit, each of them adding something to the other, yielding a difference in time. I took the most complete tour, and it took about 180 minutes.

You are provided jackets for staying inside – even though the temperature is not extremely low, especially if you are wearing technical trekking clothes, which are recommended for the preliminary trail to the entrance. The jackets are dirty, so it’s better to bring one of your own, as they almost force you to have something to cover in!

The tour is offered in Czech, with explanations in English provided on all panels and on a leaflet you can borrow inside. There is a fee for taking pictures, but both this and the entry ticket are rather cheap. Further info on their official website.

Hurka

The Hurka fortress is an installation pretty similar to the Bouda site, at least considering the inside part. After some years of closure following WWII, the Hurka site was converted into an ammunition depot in the 1960s. The modifications inside include some demolition work on the soft walls and frames, so the structure is mainly composed of large vaults.

The tunnels can be visited only with a guide. The visit starts from the original gate of the underground facility, where all supplies could be placed on a narrow-gauge convoy. An external loading platform can be spotted, together with specimens of anti-tank devices and of the reinforced observation turrets.

Inside, an incline leads to the initial part of a long straight tunnel. The exhibitions provide an impressions of an ammo storage, and there are also weapons and armored embrasures from the fort.

An interesting exhibition prepared in one of the halls is about the activities of the agents of the Czechoslovakian government in exile during WWII. This included launching paratroopers over the territory of the former Republic, tasked with establishing contact with dissident anti-Nazi movements, and carrying out high-risk, top-priority missions. A pretty famous mission they were tasked with was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a top-ranking SS, since 1941 responsible for the administration of the annexed territory of todays Czech Republic. A bloodthirsty, feared and hated figure, he died in hospital soon after having being shot in June 1942 in an operation codenamed ‘Anthropoid’. All the spies involved in the operation were later killed, and terrible retaliation actions were taken by the Nazis on the local population. An international movie was produced on this subject in 2016.

You don’t get access to the firing positions from inside, but you can visit them from the outside on your own and with no restrictions.

A pretty rare feature is a ‘top of the line’ artillery bunker, with three shooting embrasures on one side. This bunker is today standing severely damaged from German fire, inflicted during weapon testing. The bunker was actually de-interred by the Nazis to expose its walls, and perforation cannons were tested on it. Among them, the so-called Röchling shells, with a high perforation potential, adopted operationally but used very rarely in action by the Germans.

The other artillery positions are scattered on a grassy area on the side of a hill dominating a local valley. You can see the damages inflicted by fire testing, and the empty boxes of the metal turrets salvaged by the Germans.

Getting there and moving around

The tour of the underground starts from the original access bunker, which can be reached just north of Kraliky on road N.312. Convenient parking outside. The underground can be accessed only with a guide. The ticked office offers also food and beverages. More info on their official website.

The firing positions can be toured on your own. They can be accessed driving about 0.3 miles north along the same N.312 road to the top of the hill, and turning left on an unpaved road. You will soon see a bar with a prohibition sign for cars. You can park nearby on the grass and proceed by foot, you will meet the fortification with an almost flat walk of 0.15 miles. There are signs with multi-language explanations close to each of the bunkers. The place is really nice, and the walk is highly recommended.

The Estonian Aviation Museum

A nice and lively university town in the heart of the Estonian countryside, Tartu has really something for every kind of tourist – including those interested in aviation history. The Estonian Aviation Museum, or ‘Eeesti Lennundusmuuseum’ as they write it in the tricky local idiom, boasts a substantial and heterogenous collection of aircraft preserved in exceptionally good condition, which will not leave indifferent even the most knowledgeable aviation expert.

Having being for long a socialist republic in the realm of the Soviet Union – and today sharing a border with Russia – Estonia had access to massive surplus reserves after the end of the Cold War, so it is no surprise that Soviet aircraft are well represented in an Estonian museum. This already might appeal to western tourists, for the exotic, menacing silhouettes of MiGs and Sukhois are not often to be found except in less accessible spots in the former Eastern Bloc. Yet some more unexpected and rare models have been added over the years, including some SAAB aircraft from Sweden which are authentic collectibles.

The following photographs cover almost every plane that was there in summer 2017.

Sights

Most part of the collection has been preserved in a cleverly designed structure, made of small open-walled hangars with translucent canopies. The aircraft are illuminated by natural light, helping much when taking pictures, but they are not exposed to direct sunlight, rain or snow, which tend to damage both metal and plexiglas on the long run. Furthermore, the lack of doors and frames allows you to move around freely, and the place is not suffocating nor excessively warm.

The aircraft are basically all from the Cold War era, but some of them have outlived the end of the USSR and were retired more recently. The portraits are grouped here roughly based on the nationality of the manufacturers or aircraft mission.

Designs from the US

The American production is represented in this museum firstly by a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, operated by the West-German Luftwaffe. The General Electric J79 turbojets have been taken out of the airframe, so you can see them separately.

A pretty unusual sight, also the antenna and electronic group in the nose cone have been taken out and are on display. This Phantom is a F-4F, a version specifically developed for West Germany from the basic F-4E. The former inventory number was 99+91.

Another iconic model on the menu is a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, formerly from the Italian Air Force. This exemplar is actually an Italian-built ‘S’ version, and among the latest to be retired by the Aeronautica Militare. The engine, again a J79, is on display elsewhere in the museum. An unusual crowd of instruction and warning stencils populate the external surface of the aircraft.

Soviet Military Models

The majority of the aircraft on display were designed in the Soviet Union or other countries of the Warsaw Pact.

Two aggressive aircraft include a MiG-21 and a MiG-23. The first, present here in the colors of the Polish Air Force, is a MiG-21bis Fishbed, the latest development of this fast delta-wing fighter/light-interceptor.

Possibly one of the most ubiquitous fighters of the jet age, the MiG-23 Flogger is part also of this collection. The aircraft you see in the pictures is a MLD variant, representing the last upgrade of this iconic fighter, which was also the basis for the very successful MiG-27 design.

It bears the markings of the Ukrainian Air Force, therefore it is likely an ex-USSR aircraft. The engine is sitting besides the aircraft, and two rocket canisters are placed beneath the fuselage, close to the ventral GSh-23 twin-barreled cannon.

A less usual sight is a MiG-25 Foxbat, a super fast interceptor/recce aircraft. Conceived in the late Fifties when the race for speed was in full swing, it was developed into a high performance platform to counteract the threat of the SR-71 Blackbird. It was built around two massive Tumansky R-15 afterburning turbojets, rated at a pretty high wet thrust of 110 kN, resulting in an incredible top speed around Mach 3.2! The aircraft is pretty sizable, and you can appreciate that looking at the picture of the main landing gear – search for the cover of my Canon wide lens close to the ground and compare sizes!

The menacing silhouette of this huge bird, with red stars on the vertical fins and a bare metal fuselage, will likely make relive in you an ‘Iron Curtain feeling’!

One which will not go unnoticed is a Polish Air Force Sukhoi Su-22M4 Fitter in a flamboyant, very colored livery. This massive fighter-bomber represents the export version of the Su-17M4 built by the USSR for domestic orders.

Despite the shape, roughly similar to that of the MiG-21 also on display, the size of this aircraft is much bigger – you might think of Su-22 as a case for a MiG-21…

Soviet bombers are represented by a pretty rare Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer, which is today still in service in Russia. The example on display bears the markings of the Ukrainian Air Force, meaning it was once a Soviet aircraft.

This massive twin-engined beast outsizes all other military aircraft on display. The aircraft is on display with three support tanks under the fuselage and the inner wing pylons.

A less common sight is a Yakovlev Ya-28P Firebar, a long-range intercept version of this multi-role platform from the early Sixties. This design is very interesting, with a four-points undercarriage and a very long nose cone, where a radar system for a target-tracking and missile guidance system was located. The two turbojet engines are mounted in cigar-shaped underwing pods. The relevant sweep of the wing suggests a significant speed capability, yet many variants of this aircraft were developed to exploit also its good range performance. The antenna originally placed in the nose cone is on display besides the aircraft, which bears original Soviet markings.

Soviet Transport Aircraft

Two aircraft which could not find their way in covered shelters mainly due to their bigger size, are a Tupolev Tu-134A-3 and a Yakovlev Ya-40. Both can be accessed, so you can get a view of the inside, including the cockpits.

The Tu-134 twin jet, with its distinctive glass bulge in the nose ahead of the cockpit, has been for long a ubiquitous aircraft in the USSR and in many countries of the Eastern Bloc. The exemplar on display was taken over by the Estonian company Elk Airways, created after Estonia left the USSR.

Notwithstanding this, the aircraft betrays its Soviet ancestry and ownership in every particular, from the all-Cyrillic writings to the hammers and sickles here and there, from the design of interiors to the exotic cockpit, painted in a typical lurid Soviet green and with prominent unframed black rubber fans for ventilation.

The Yak-40 is an interesting three-jet executive/small transport aircraft. The one on display went on flying for at least some good 15 years after the collapse of the wall in Berlin.

The internal configuration features an executive room ahead of a more usual passenger section and tail galley. The style of the cabin and of the pure analog cockpit is really outdated for todays standards!

A rugged workhorse still flying today in many countries is the Antonov An-2, a single propeller, radial-engined, biplane tail-dragger transport. There are two of them in the collection. One is under a shelter and can be boarded. The interiors are very basic, but the visibility from the cockpit is very good especially for a tail-dragger with an engine on the nose.

Swedish Aircraft

An unusual chapter in air museums except in Sweden is that of SAAB aircraft, which are represented in this collection by two iconic models, a Draken and a Viggen, and an extremely rare, very elegant Lansen. All are in the colors of the Royal Swedish Air Force.

The Saab 35 Draken features a very distinctive double-delta wing, and was developed in the Fifties for reaching a high supersonic speed. The design turned out to be pretty successful, and was operationally adopted primarily as a fighter by Sweden and other European countries as well.

The one in the collection is painted in a bright yellow livery. The infra-red pod under the nose cone of this aggressive attack aircraft looks like the lidless eye of an alien!

The Viggen is a an attack aircraft from the late Sixties, developed for the domestic military needs into some sub-variants. With the JA 37 version displayed here, the Viggen went on to constitute the backbone of the intercept fleet of neutral Sweden, and was retired only in the early 2000s. The aerodynamic configuration features a prominent canard wing, and the Viggen was notably the first in such configuration produced in significant numbers.

The most unusual of all three SAAB designs on display is surely the SAAB 32 Lansen. A very neat design from the Fifties, loosely recalling the Lockheed P-80 and the Hawker Hunter, the Lansen was a jet fighter of the early Cold War developed specifically for Sweden and gaining a good success. The ‘E’ version on display was converted from the original fighter variant (‘B’) for the ECM role, and kept flying almost until the end of the 20th century. The green painting of the Royal Swedish Air Force is really stylish, definitely adding to an already elegant design.

Soviet Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAM)

Curiously enough, an extensive collection of SAMs is part of this rich collection. All major missiles from SA-2 to SA-6 are represented, some of them in multiple exemplars. The size of these missiles, especially the oldest, is really striking. They are stored outside, besides some cases for missile transportation, deployable radar antennas, and what appears to be a flak cannon from Hitler’s Germany – a bit of an outsider…

Jet Engines

Many of the engines of the aircraft on display have been taken out of the corresponding airframes and put on display besides the plane where they used to belong, or in a dedicated part of the museum together with others. The J79 belonging to the Italian-built F-104 can be recognized from the Italian plaques on many components.

Many soviet engines bear markings in Cyrillic, and one of them, a larger turbofan which does not fit in any bird on display, has been cut to show all components.

More…

More aircraft in the collection include some Mil and Kamov utility helicopters, a BAe Hawk of the Finnish Air Force and other trainers mainly from countries of the Warsaw Pact, some of them now on the civilian register.

A further notable aircraft is a Dassault Mirage IIIRS from the Swiss Air Force – with multi-language French and German stencils all over.

There are also some anti-aircraft guns, armored vehicles, tanks, and other curios items to whet your appetite!

Getting There and Moving Around

The museum can be reached 10 miles south of central Tartu on road 141, about 15 minutes by car from there. There is a free parking area nearby the entrance. As remarked, the collection is well-kept and somewhat publicized locally. There is a website with all information in English. The time required for visiting may vary from 45 minutes for a quick tour to 2.5 hours for photographers and those with a specific interest in the matter.

Soviet War Memorials in Berlin

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After WWII the Red Army erected monuments in many places reached during its westwards march, well into the heart of defeated Nazi Germany.

A part of these monuments, small and with no particular architectural significance, were erected in villages and small towns, as well as in less visited locations in capital cities. However, the latter received much more attention, with grand monuments and memorials, much bigger in size and pomp than their more basic counterparts, and sometimes designed with an eye for architectural value. Among the most notable, those in Budapest, Vienna and, obviously, Berlin.

The former capital city of the Third Reich was the arena of a fierce battle, which took place around and in town for the last two months before the final capitulation of Nazi Germany in May 1945. Soviet soldiers died by the thousands in the last act of WWII in Europe. This fact, and the significance of the conquest – which also gained the Soviet Union a first level role on the world stage it had never enjoyed since its origin with the October Revolution in 1917 – were two elements that had to be remembered and celebrated properly.

For this reason, three areas were selected for the construction of as many monuments, with slightly different functions, in the urban region of Berlin. From the viewpoint of art, all of them are interesting examples of late Stalinist architecture, and they are still in place and accessible to visitors.

As said, more monuments indeed exist, scattered in more intimate locations in Berlin. An example can be found in Berlin Hohenschönhausen, not distant from the former STASI prison (see here).

The following photographs were taken on several occasions between 2015 and 2021.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Treptower Park

Getting there and moving around

Being located in one of the many green areas of Berlin, this place is popular among the locals, so it is also easy to reach and sometimes even crowded. There is a S-Bahn stop on the northern side of the park (‘Treptower Park’), and several bus lines have a stop along ‘Am Treptower Park’, an alley on the western side of the area.

Free parking for cars can be found on the same road, even in front of the lateral arches giving access to the monument – you can immediately spot one about halfway along the western side of the park, an imposing grey arch with writings in Cyrillic alphabet.

Access is from the lateral arches. Once on the centerline of the perspective, the approximate distance to the other end of the memorial is .35 miles.

Sights

The design of the monument is based on a simple perspective, beginning on one end with a sculpture representing Mother Russia, whose sons have been sacrified for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi invasion. An intermediate viewpoint is constituted by a couple of stylized gigantic Soviet flags, made of the marble from Hitler’s Chancellery of the Reich.

Then a long basin with twelve sarcophagi aligned along the sides, representing the twelfe republics of the Soviet Union at the time of WWII, extends up to the focal point of the monumental complex, a colossal statue of a Soviet soldier, with a child representing Europe in his arms, fiercely standing over a destroyed swastika.

The monument was built before 1949, and some 5000 Soviet soldiers are buried here. Due to the time of construction, quotations from Joseph Stalin – later to be condemned as a tyrant by the Soviet governments of the Fifties – can still be found on the sarcophagi.

The design of the site is not very elaborated, similarly to many other Soviet monuments of the time, but the effect of the grand perspective at a first look is undeniable.

A crypt with a mosaic can be found beneath the statue of the Soviet soldier. A nice view of the whole complex can be obtained while standing on top of the stairs by the entrance of the crypt.

The condition of the monument and of the garden makes this a pleasant detour from more central and touristic areas of Berlin. A walk around in the monumental complex may take 20 to 45 minutes. The place is not fenced, hence is open h24.

Tiergarten

Getting there and moving around

This is the oldest and most modest of the three Soviet memorials in Berlin, except for the position, which is very close to the Brandenburg Gate. Leaving towards the Tiergarten park from the Gate pointing west in the direction of the Monument to Victory – the boulevard is named ‘Strasse des 17 Juni’ -, you reach the Soviet memorial about .2 miles on your right.

If you are moving by car, you can park on ‘Strasse des 17 Juni’ not more than .2 miles from the monument.

Sights

Differently from the other two sites on this page, this monument, built soon after the war in 1945, is mostly a celebration of the conquest, and not a burial site.

The monument is very simple, and designed to be observed from the street, so walking around, albeit possible, doesn’t add much to the perception of the place.

The focal points of the perspective are a tall marble column with a golden seal of the Soviet Union on the front, and a tall statue of a Soviet soldier on top of it. To the sides of the monumental court, two tanks and two cannons are placed on balconies.

Curiously, the monument would turn out to be placed in a zone attributed to the Western Allies, later to become West Berlin. Moreover, the Wall was to be erected in front of the Brandenburg Gate, just about .25 miles from this site – which remained the only monument to the Soviets in West Berlin, and was a neighbor to one of their most brutal emblems…

This is probably the most banal of the three monuments. It is also the most seen, due to its position in the heart of town. Visiting can be completed in 10 minutes. Similarly to the monument in Treptower Park, this place is unfenced and open h24.

Schönholzer Heide

Getting there and moving around

The place is in the northern part of Berlin, in the nice district of Pankow. When moving with the public transport system, the easiest way is going to the S-Bahn railway stop ‘Schoenzholz’ or ‘S Schoenzolz’. From there, take to the north on ‘Provinz-Strasse’, and at the end of it after about .15 miles go left on ‘Strasse von Schoenholz’, which later changes its name and takes slightly to the right into ‘Germanenstrasse’, entering the park where the monument is located. You reach the gate to your left after about .1 miles after entering the green area of the park. The total distance from the S-Bahn to the site is about .65 miles.

Going by car, you can reach to the entrance on ‘Germanenstrasse’ and park close to the gate.

Sights

This burial site was built on the site of a Nazi urban forced labor camp, and more than 12’000 Soviet soldiers, including prisoners of war and high-ranking officers, are buried here. The memorial was built about at the same time as the monument in Treptower Park, before 1949.

Compared to the monument in Treptower Park, this site is more modest in size, and the theme is more that of a war cemetery than a celebration of the liberation from Nazi dictatorship. Proportions are more moderate, and the elements make for a less bombastic ensemble than the other monumental sites listed on this page.

Before entering the main basin with several placards with the names of the identified soldiers buried here, two low and bulky marble constructions force you on the axis of the perspective. The small chambers in these low constructions are covered with stained glass ceilings with hammer and sickle emblems. The focal point is on a sculpture of Mother Russia with a dead son, and behind it a tall obelisk.

The sculpture of the dead son is resting on a Soviet flag. Many particulars add to the picture, like the small stained glass windows in the crypt beneath the obelisk and the lamps and handles with hammer and sickle marks. Quotations from Joseph Stalin can be found on the walls of some elements in the complex.

All in all, this monument is more proportionate and interesting than the others of the kind in Berlin. The monument is more dramatic and in some sense more serious and more like a temple than the other two. Furthermore, being not primarily a touristic attraction, it is less likely you will find any crowds. Please note that this place is fenced and has opening times (see this website in German, to the bottom of the page opening times are indicated), plus there are guards around probably to avoid vandalism. The size is not large, so visiting may take 15 to 30 minutes at most.

Hohenschönhausen

Getting there and moving around

The location is on the crossing between Küstriner Str. and Strausberger Str., in the nice residential neighborhood of Lichtenberg, in the eastern part of Berlin. The area is well served by public transport. Free parking is available on Strausberger Str. or elsewhere around. Nicely located in a park, not fenced and unguarded – however close to a children’s playground and a frequented park, so totally safe. Very compact in size, a visit may take 15 minutes at most.

Sights

The monument in Hohenschönhausen is an example of the many small-scale Soviet memorials in Berlin. Actually, the history behind this one is made of two stages. A monument was originally erected around the same years of the bigger ones, between 1945 and 1950, in Stalin’s era. It also served as a cemetery.

About two decades later, in the mid-1970s, a new monument was designed and erected, and that is basically what is seen today. The centerpiece is made of a mural with a Soviet soldiers, united by a banner with smaller figures on it.

To the sides of the mural, today somewhat hidden by in the overgrown vegetation, are two inscriptions celebrating Soviet heroes – in German and Russian respectively on the two sides.

The monument is completed by an interesting red star on the ground, placed ahead of the mural, in a small square. The star is made of metal, an might be a base for an eternal flame.

However, despite not vandalized, the monument (as of 2021) is not much looked after, and of course there is no flame.