War Museums in Western Poland

Similar to other Countries around the Baltic Sea, Poland has a positive attitude towards its military past. Beside castles, barracks and traces of war from older ages, remarkably also some war material from the 20th century, and especially from WWII and the Cold War, has been in the focus of conservation activities.

The mystery bunkers in the southwest of the Country dating from the years of the Third Reich (see here), or the Soviet Monolith-type bunker in Podborsko (see here) and the impressive fallout monitoring center in Kalisz (see here), stand out as major remains from WWII and the Cold War for everybody to check out – and they are just examples.

Along those sites with a history of their own, Poland has many war museums, thematic collections and exhibitions to offer, retracing the evolution of its rich and extremely complex military history.

Looking at the 20th century, it is apparent that Poland has been swept violently and insistently by the winds of war. At the start of WWII, it was surrounded by the Third Reich on two sides, something that contributed to its quick invasion and defeat at the beginning of the conflict. A special relationship with the British meant some from the Polish military ended up directly in the British ranks in exile, whereas others were incorporated in a pro-German Army. However, in the closing stage of the war, when the unfriendly Soviets invaded from the East on their run to Berlin, some from Poland entered the ranks of a pro-Soviet, anti-German army.

Following WWII, Poland was re-founded with new borders, basically those we know today, and due to the presence of the Soviet Army on their territory, they quickly fell under communist control. The relationship between the USSR and Poland military was strong during the Cold War, and the military assets of the Polish Army were massive. The Red Army was also physically stationed in the Western part of the Country, in preparation to a much planned full-scale ‘atomic-supported blitz’ to the Atlantic coast, which luckily never materialized.

The many collections to check out in Poland these days are especially rich in Cold War era supply, and therefore they are tremendous resources for finding many examples of Soviet technology from the Cold War era. However, in most cases also highly valuable material from WWII and from the fierce battles fought on Polish territory mainly between the Germans and the Soviets can be checked out.

This post presents a quick, mainly pictorial description with excerpts from several collections open for a visit in Western Poland. Photographs were taken in the summer of 2020.

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The sites presented in this chapter are all in the Western part of Poland, i.e. west of Gdynia and Poznan. They are listed here below, basically from south to north on a map.

Sights

Museum of Military History, Jelenia Gora

The collection of the Museum of Military History in Jelenia Gora is arranged on an open-air apron. Here you can find several items mainly from the Soviet inventory – albeit in several instances physically manufactured in Poland – and once adopted by the Polish Armed Forces.

In the area closer to the ticket office, possibly the most exotic – or harder to find – items include transportable radar antennas. Items like these are still today the backbone of anti-aircraft defense, and are employed to either detect enemy aircraft or to guide surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) against this type of target. Differences among antennas reflect their actual purpose, as well as different range, intended target level (close to the ground, higher layers of the atmosphere, …) and ease of deployment. The latter is clearly inversely proportional to the bulkiness and weight of the antenna.

Truck-mounted antennas on display include an RW-31 and JAWOR-M2, both from the 1970s, respectively with a vertically- and horizontally-mounted antenna on top.

Exemplars of more modern RT-17 (on top of a taller tower) and PRW-17 models from the 1980s, the latter manufactured in the USSR, feature a somewhat larger size. Despite movable, these antennas are mounted on more articulated trailers.

Many more trailers and trucks are on display as well.

Further on, a few tanks and armored vehicles can be found. These include a well preserved Soviet T34-85, a modernized version from the early 1950s of the original homonym design, which gained fame with the Red Army in the closing stages of WWII against Hitler’s Wehrmacht.

Similarly interesting are a BTR-152, a troop transportation armored truck of Soviet make, and a launcher for a triplet of SA-6 Gainful SAM. The latter, namely a 2K12M, is an interesting and pretty widespread Soviet-made item from the early 1970s, with very good tactical deployment capability granted by its tracks. Also on display is a classical BM-13 Katyuscha rocket launcher, again a workhorse of the Red Army in Stalin’s era.

The latter part of the museum hosts a number of artillery pieces of various size, ranging from ship-mounted anti-aircraft machine guns, to field cannons, anti-tank cannons, etc. These are mostly from WWII, but reaching to the early Cold War period, and invariably share a Soviet design.

An especially interesting design is a recoilless B-11 cannon, designed against light armored vehicles. Of lighter design with respect to other guns of the same bore, it was pretty widespread as a tactical weapon in the early Cold War stage in countries of the Warsaw Pact.

A Mil helicopter, warship guns and some water mines complete this compact yet rich and well-maintained collection.

Getting there & Visiting

The museum is called ‘Muzeum Historii i Militariów’ in Polish. It can be found less than 1 mile southeast of the city center, to the east of the road 367 going south to the border with the Czech Republic. It can be reached easily with a walk from the city center, or by car. Free parking on site (limited capacity, but properly sized for the place). The exact address is Sudecka 83, 58-500 Jelenia Góra.

The museum is made of an open-air exhibition only (no inside display), where all artifacts can be checked out on a self-guided basis once past the ticket office. Plates with basic data and information in double language Polish-English are available ahead of most of the items on display.

The site is rich in material, yet not too big or extensive in size, hence easily digestible even for those without a special interest in military technology. Very convenient to reach and walk. Most artifacts are in a good to very good general condition. A visit taking many good pictures may take up to 1 hour for an interested subject, 15 minutes may be enough for a quick walk. Website with many detailed information, including an inventory of the weapons on display (also in English) here.

Lubuskie Museum of Military History, Zielona Gora

The prominent collection of the Lubuskie Museum of Military History is composed of an inside exhibition, hosted in a converted villa from the 19th century, and a major open-air display in the garden, where some of the items are protected under light structures.

Inside the museum building, a few rooms witness the involvement of Poland in several wars over the centuries. Beautifully crafted weapons from the 17th century, including both firearms and edged weapons, can be found in a number.

Several display cases are related to the involvement of Poland in WWII. The articulated history of the Polish Armed Forces in WWII is witnessed by the number of uniforms, medals and papers resulting from actions of Polish corps within the ranks of foreign Armed Forces – especially British.

Light weapons and technical gear from the time is abundant, including genuine material from the Armed Forces of the Third Reich, which occupied substantial parts of the Polish territory for almost the entire duration of WWII.

A historically interesting item is the headdress of a Polish officer killed in the Soviet town of Katyn, in the homonym massacre ordered by Stalin against the the ranks of the the Polish Armed Forces, soon after portions of the Country had been taken over by the Soviets upon agreement with Hitler. This was an unprecedented move to devitalize the Polish military structure by killing all key-figures in it. A pistol employed for executions and a few more memorabilia items from this awful chapter of Polish history are similarly on display.

Other rooms cover the technological evolution of military gear during the Cold War. Here, items on display range from air-to-air missiles – partly dismounted to allow looking at the electronics inside – tactical weapons, aircraft-mounted guns (always with impressively sized cartridges!), as well as anti-radiation suits with protection masks, flight suits, helmets, visors, and much more. Most of the material from those years obviously comes from the Soviet inventory.

In the outside exhibition a few thematic areas can be found. Possibly the richest among them is that of armored vehicles and artillery pieces. A major highlight is a couple of exemplars of the Soviet SU-152 self-propelled gun from WWII, made of an impressive 152 mm gun on a tracked vehicle. One of the exemplars has been recently refurbished and looks mint.

More Soviet tanks include some versions of the T-34 – a classic combatant of WWII – a T-55, and a more recent fully-working T-72, an icon of the Cold War in the 1970s. This is sometimes moved around in the apron.

A long array of guns, mostly field cannons, can be found on the border of the museum garden.

An impressive sight is the gigantic 2S7, a 207 mm self-propelled cannon manufactured in the Soviet Union from the 1970s, and still employed today by both Russia and Ukraine. Side by side with its ‘little cousins’, the monster size of this asset from the Eastern Bloc is readily apparent.

A second thematic area is centered around SAM missiles and their launchers, as well as theater missiles. Also radar antennas for aerial target tracking or missile guidance are on display.

Some major SAM Soviet systems are on the list, including the SA-2 Guideline, the SA-3 Goa and the SA-4 Ganef. The latter is present with the corresponding deployable radar (model code SNR 1S32M1), together composing the 2K11M1 SAM system, codenamed ‘Krug’ in Russian.

Theater missiles include the so-called Luna-M system (model code 9K52), composed of a wheeled transport truck and a missile (9M21), as well as an original transport trailer with a Scud missile! (See this and this chapter for dedicated information on Soviet-designed theater missiles)

Aircraft on display range from the early Cold War period – end of the 1940s – to the more hi-tech stage of the 1980s. Early jets include MiG-15 and MiG-17, and a pretty rare Jak-23, all in the colors of the Polish Air Force. Propeller aircraft include an Il-14 transport and a license-built Douglas C-47, aka. Lisunov Li-2 in the USSR.

Notably, the first defection to the West of a pilot from the Eastern Bloc on a Soviet-made jet fighter happened from Poland. A Polish pilot flew a MiG-15 to the Danish island of Bornholm, having departed from the Baltic coast of Poland. This was immediately after the death of Stalin, in March 1953. The controversial diplomatic case that ensued from this action was settled returning the aircraft to Poland, obviously after a secret and thorough inspection. The pilot moved to Britain and the US. His flight suit is in the Smithsonian collection in Washington, DC.

More recent aircraft include two MiG-21, a Su-20 and a Su-22. The latter is still operated by the Polish Air Force, and is presented in the museum with an underwing cannon pod for strafing. Also on display is a larger Il-28 light bomber.

Massive technical trucks, like movable pontoons, amphibious vehicles, etc. can be found in yet another thematic area, together with a small WWII diorama. The latter features a possibly original Third Reich emblem.

Finally, a small hangar to the far end of the exhibition area has on display a range of restored items of special interest. A didactically disassembled SA-4 Ganef missile allows to see the inner structure of this modern machine, still in use today.

Several field rocket launchers, including a Katyuscha, as well as field cannons and shells, make for a comparative display.

Interestingly, also a full array of air-to-air missiles, and aircraft components including almost complete engines can be checked out in this display.

Getting there & Visiting

The Polish name of the museum is Lubuskie Muzeum Wojskowe. It is located southeast of the small village of Drzonow, just west of Zielona Gora. The exact address is  Drzonów 54, 66-008 Świdnica. Easy parking possible along the little-trafficked road ahead of the entrance.

Rather unapparent until you get very close to it, the museum hosts a very rich collection, with a long list of artifacts to check out in an open-air exhibition, as well as really interesting and well-presented thematic rooms in the classical building – once a private residence – employed as ticket office and museum.

Despite the understated appearance, the museum is really worth visiting for everybody with an interest in weapons, especially field artillery and air defense. The physical extension of the site is relatively small especially for the content, hence the display is very dense and easy to tour. A complete visit may easily take 2 hours or more for an interested subject, and when visiting with kids or uninterested subjects the site offers plenty of intriguing sights as well, so it may take at least 1 hour.

The organization is really active, with a very rich website and many temporary war-themed exhibitions and events. Unfortunately, all plates and descriptions are in Polish only. Yet the collection is in a generally very good state of conservation (with the exception of some of the aircraft exposed to the elements in the courtyard), and offers a very rich insight in the past assets of the Polish Armed Forces, including literally tons of Soviet-made gear.

Armored Weaponry Museum, Poznan

For those visiting Europe with a specific interest to armored vehicles and tanks, the Armored Weaponry Museum of Poznan is a must-see. Besides an extensive collection with some tens of tanks and vehicles mainly from WWII onward, all preserved in mint condition (many of them still running!), the museum has been carefully and modernly designed, making for a very enjoyable visiting experience.

The exhibition is hosted in a few adjoining hangars, where vehicles are grouped based on technology, provenience, intended role, etc. The following pictures provide only an excerpt from this great collection. Tanks from different Countries are well represented. Starting from WWII, a British Centaur tank and an Achilles anti-tank self-propelled gun are displayed side by side with lighter vehicles.

A very rare Sturmgeschütz-IV, a self-propelled assault cannon from the Third Reich Wehrmacht, has been carefully restored and colored in an impressive camouflage. A SU-76 and ISU-152 self-propelled cannons of Soviet make are also on display.

Battle tanks include an ubiquitous Soviet T-34, and comparatively less common IS-2 and IS-3 Soviet designs. Both conceived amidst the battles of WWII based on experience against the technologically impressive German armored machines, the IS-3 entered production too late for WWII, and was instead rather widespread among the Countries falling in the Soviet orbit during the Cold War, to see action in the Cold War era.

Tracked missile launchers as well as cut-out engines are on display.

Among the most iconic tanks from the early Cold War period are the Soviet T-54 and T-55. The exemplars on display are movie stars, having been featured in ‘The bridge of spies’ by Steven Spielberg, who also left an autograph signature on the huge turret of one. From the same period is a PT-76 Soviet amphibious tank.

NATO counterparts from the early 1950s include the US-made M47 and M60 Patton.

Many more vehicles are on display from the Cold War, mostly from the Soviet galaxy, and covering several functions from carrying troops to vehicle recovery and repair. Also modern self-propelled guns like the 2S1, another Soviet model, are on display.

A small collection of parade cars, once employed by high-ranking military or governmental staff from the USSR, is on display.

An interesting addition is a couple of PT-91, which is a Polish-designed development of the highly-successful Soviet T-72 design, currently manufactured and employed by Poland, and exported to several Armies in the world.

Outside, a WWI scene is reproduced with a steam railway engine carrying a WWI fighter replica on a trailer!

Getting there & Visiting

The Polish name of this world-class museum is ‘Muzeum Broni Pancernej’, and it is located in the western outskirts of Poznan, one of the largest cities in Poland. The exact address is 3 Pułku Lotniczego 4, 60-421 Poznań. Large parking inside, flat access, totally easy to tour.

The collection has been transferred to its current purpose-built location in 2019-20, therefore it is totally modern and exceptionally well presented. The collection is completely indoor and away from the elements, with a suggestive low-light atmosphere, and tons of information for every single tank or vehicle on display, in double language – Polish and English.

A primary destination in Europe for everybody with an interest in tanks and armored vehicles, visiting may easily take more than 2 hours for an interested subject. Due to the number and attractive good condition of the items on display, not less than 1 hour is advised also for those with a less specialized interest.

Museum of Armaments, Poznan

Conveniently located in a nice park, which lies in the area formerly belonging to a Prussian fortress from the 19th century, this museum is a branch of a larger entity, which manages several war-themed exhibitions in town. The museum is composed of an inside display and an open-air area, where larger items like tanks, cannons and aircraft have been placed for display.

Due to an unforeseen closure on the day of my visit (2020) I could only access the outside part of the exhibition.

The most prominent asset is an Il-28 twin-jet light bomber. This is flanked by a Su-22 fighter-bomber, as well as a MiG-21 and a MiG-17 fighters, all Soviet designs adopted by the Polish Air Force over the years of the Cold War.

A beautifully restored An-2 biplane, an ubiquitous workhorse in the USSR, the Eastern Bloc and exported to many clients around the world still operating it today, can be found to complement this heterogeneous collection.

A display of transport vehicles include both vans and transports from the Eastern Bloc, and a US-made 4×4 vehicle.

An SA-2 Guideline SAM is presented on its launcher in a ready-for-launch attitude.

A big collection of field cannons, anti-tank guns and lighter pieces of artillery from various ages starting from WWII is aligned on a side of the exhibition, where you can spot also a MiG-15 fighter from the late 1940s.

Armored vehicles include some armored transports for tactical deployment, self-propelled cannons and tanks.

Getting there & Visiting

The museum in Polish bears the name ‘Muzeum Uzbrojenia’. Among the many war-related museum in Poznan, which also cover conflicts from various ages in history, this can be found easily in the middle of the Citadel, north of downtown Poznan. Access to the old Citadel fortress – now a park – is not possible by car, but parking for accessing the park by walk is abundant all around. I would suggest parking on the southern side of the citadel, for instance in the public parking area located at Al. Niepodległości, 61-001 Poznań, for easily accessing also other monuments of interest, like the war cemetery and the Soviet commemoration monument from the Great Patriotic War (described here).

The exhibition is convenient to reach, and located in a very nice and relaxing park, ideal also for taking a breath from the crowded historical city center of popular Poznan.

As noted above, I could not visit the inside exhibition on the underground level, due to an unforeseen closure. The outside part can be walked in 20-30 minutes, since it is arranged on a relatively compact apron. Most exhibits feature a modern explanatory panel in double language, including English. An institutional website with visiting info (in Polish) is here.

Land Forces Museum, Bydgoszcz

The collection of the Land Force Museum branch in Bydgoszcz is displayed in two parts. A large purpose-built – and recently renovated – building hosts temporary exhibitions, as well as a number of thematic rooms, with high-quality dioramas flanked by display cases with material ranging from weapons and technical gear to uniforms and memorabilia.

The thematic rooms cover the history of land armed forces in Poland over the ages. Among the most striking war material from before the 20th century are authentic pieces of armories, swords and edged weapons from the 16th and 17th centuries. In those years, the Polish Army was pivotal in helping the Empire to fight against the invading Islamic Ottomans, who had conquered the eastern-European territories up north to today’s Hungary, and had reached the gates of Vienna. Some material, including uniforms, maps and firearms, dates back to the 19th century, including the Napoleonic Wars and the German Second Reich period.

Of course, most of the items on display date from the 20th century. Especially nice dioramas include a setting in WWI and the inter-war period.

The evolution of the war material, including the appearance of automatic firearms, is readily apparent following the display cases, which of course include much gear from WWII.

Looking at the uniforms on display, you can note the number of unusual affiliations of the Polish ranks, who due to the complex evolution of the occupation of their national territory, had to deal with several allies and invading forces, who were enemies to one another. Thus the original Polish Army survived a kind of incorporation within the British Army in exile, but also within the Third Reich, the Red Army, and tried also to act independently at home. It is hard not to get confused, and possibly the best way to get the hang of this fascinating plot is by following the display in a museum like this one!

Dioramas from the Cold War are particularly interesting, and perfectly recognizable by the distinctive anti-radiation or chemical warfare suits worn by the models. Also the firearms and the technical gear on display is in line with the evolution of the tactical hazards faced on the front.

Much of the material on display from this age is clearly of Soviet make. The inside exhibition ends with the most modern engagements of the Polish Army in recent conflicts.

Outside, a nice array of perfectly preserved field guns, anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns can be found on the platform ahead of the front entrance.

Also mortars and tactical rocket launchers are on display.

Possibly even more captivating for the eye are a T-34 tank in a rampant position, and a the sheer beauty of a T-72 tank. Both iconic Soviet-designed models, these tanks were supplied to most Countries in the Soviet orbit over various stages of the Cold War.

Another massive tracked object is a 2S1 self-propelled cannon, looking mint like the T-72!

Finally, also two missiles can be found, an SA-2 Guideline SAM, and the Scud, a tactical nuclear-capable missile which became a widespread asset in Eastern Europe over the years of the Cold War (see this post).

Getting there & Visiting

The Polish name of this very nice museum is ‘Muzeum Wojsk Ladowych’, which includes also other branches in Torun (see here) and Wroclaw. The location of this major branch is in the northern outskirts of the town of Bydgoszcz, at the address Czerkaska 2, 85-641 Bydgoszcz.

The museum does not feature a private parking, but good parking opportunities can be found for free on most of the quiet residential streets around (for instance, I found a number of free lots on Świerkowa, 85-632 Bydgoszcz).

The collection is interesting and generally attractive both inside and outside, with high-quality dioramas with much original material, as well as ‘big items’ like guns, tanks and missiles outside. Its size and level of detail are well balanced for both the more committed technically-minded subjects and those with only a general interest in the topic, especially kids. Visiting may require 1 hour for the permanent exhibition, more including the always interesting temporary exhibitions.

Some paneling with double language explanations including English can be found along the visit. The official website with access information in English is here.

Museum of Coastal Defense – Fort Gerharda, Swinoujscie

The collection of the Museum of Coastal Defense is reportedly one of the largest private military collections in Poland. It is hosted in the evocative frame of an original Prussian fort from the 19th century, Fort Gerharda. Originally designed to guarantee free access to trade ships entering the Szczecin Lagoon and going to the major inner port of Szczecin, the fort was potentiated in more instances, but basically never saw war action. It was later employed as a reserve fort by the German Kriegsmarine, and by the Soviets as a depot for a while after WWII (similar to Komarom in Hungary, see here). Over the last two decades the fort was substantially restored, and opened to the public as a major attraction.

Access to the fort, rather compact in size, is through a drawbridge. The inner courtyards are the setting for bulkier collection items, including original cannons from the 19th century, as well as anti-tank cannons from WWII!

Range-finding gear, half-dismantled torpedoes, machine gun turrets and more can be found in the recesses of the articulated geometry of the low-rise constructions inside the fort.

Some of the ammo storage bunkers in the fort can be seen inside.

The core of the collection of the Museum is inside the central building in the fort, an interesting multi-level construction. Older items date from the 19th century or earlier. Reconstructed scenes from the life in the fort at the time include men working around a heavy piece of artillery, a communication office with a telegraph and the nicely reconstructed kitchen of the fort.

Other scenes are from WWI and WWII, including men around a howitzer and a German soldier hiding in an apartment!

Interesting memorabilia items range from larger ones, like original flags from warships, to smaller personal items for everyday use, like canned food or table games employed by the troops.

The collection of weapons and technical gear is really rich and interesting, and mostly centered on material from the inter-war period onward. Racks of rifles an light arms of various makes are on display.

A part of the collection is especially focused on weapons by the marvelous Soviet/Russian weapons designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.

Of major interest are also special military suits, against poisonous agents, gas, etc. dating from the Third Reich and Soviet era.

Some of the displays of foreign origin are really unique – and unexpected on the northern boundary of Poland! Others bear Cyrillic-written tags, witnessing their Soviet origin.

Many artillery range finders are on display, of different make and level of complexity. They include a rare Cold War computer-assisted model.

Getting there & Visiting

Fort Gerharda is right in the northwestern corner of Poland, on the Baltic Coast less than 1.5 miles from the German border. The reference town of Swinoujscie (Swinemünde in Prussian times) is located on the western bank of the water access from the Baltic to the Szczecin Lagoon. The fort is instead on the eastern bank. The waterway can be crossed via a quick ferry. Access from mainland Poland is seamless along the E65.

Fort Gerharda is a bit hidden in the trees, despite in a rather urbanized area, and therefore not easy to spot even from close apart. However, a fence with a small parking clearly mark the entrance. The address is Ku Morzu 5, 72-602 Świnoujście. More parking spots can be found along the same road.

The ensemble of the fort plus the collections in the museum make for a very interesting and rich visit for everybody, including families. For the more technically-minded subjects, the military collection, despite compactly presented, is rich of very interesting items. A visit of 1-1.5 hours to the complex is likely, depending on the level of interest.

A website with many updated information is here (in Polish, with a rich downloadable leaflet in English).

This area is rich of interesting sights for those with an interest in military history, including the ‘Vineta Battery’ WWII/Cold War fort (see here), and a prototype of Hitler’s V-3 multi-stage cannon, actually built in northern France (see here).

Polish Arms Museum & Navy Museum, Kolobrzeg

Kolobrzeg is the Polish name for Kolberg, a town belonging to Prussia (then Germany) at the times of the two World Wars of the 20th century. The place was a theater of war, in the focus of a fierce battle in the March of 1945. The Polish Army and the Soviet Red Army, along their march to Berlin, isolated the town from the south, triggering a massive evacuation of German military forces and civilian population by sea, to further west along the Baltic coast in Germany. It is estimated that more than 100’000 people were evacuated in less than a week. In the attack, the town was almost completely destroyed. As a matter of fact, most residential housing today clearly dates from the communist era.

The Polish Arms Museum is the ideal location to see memories from this great battle, as well as for retracing the military history of the Polish Armed Forces more at large. The collection on display is composed of an inside display and an outdoor exhibition.

Inside, the items on display, mainly preserved weapons, armories, but also parts of ships, date to as far back as the 16th century. The role of the Poles in countering the Ottoman Islamic domination in Europe is retraced through precious weapons from the time. Clearly more abundant are the items from the interwar and WWII period. An organic display of uniforms is featured, witnessing the many affiliations of the Polish troops during WWII.

Uniforms and light weapons belonging to the Western Allies, the USSR and of course the Third Reich are on display in this nice collection.

A small diorama with a painting related to the conquer of Kolobrzeg in WWII is clearly part of the show.

In a hall immediately ahead of the open air exhibition, some restored light transport vehicles are on display, including jeeps and trucks, as well as a light plane.

The outdoor exhibition features an array of heavy armored vehicles. These range from Soviet-made tanks – including a T-34 and IS-2 – and self-propelled cannons – for instance a massive ISU-122 – and armored vehicles, to a tracked Scud missile launcher, in very good general conditions.

A well-stocked array of field guns, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns is aligned along a side of the exhibition court.

Aircraft on display include Soviet-made material which saw service with the Polish Air Force, in particular an Il-28 Beagle, as well as a Su-22.

A rather unusual item on display is a railway carriage, in the colors of the USSR railway service, the same model employed for the deportation of people from Europe to the gulag system in the USSR at the time of Stalin, and later – in some cases – to return them to their home Countries. A vivid exhibition on this terrible part of WWII and early Cold War history is narrated inside the carriage, through maps, photographs and other memorabilia items (unfortunately only in Polish, but many of the artifacts are almost self-explanatory).

A Soviet SAM, an SA-2 Guideline, is on display on its pivoting launch platform.

The Navy Museum in the same town is an outdoor-only exhibition, mostly made of two well-preserved warships, namely the anti-submarine patrol ‘Fala’, from 1965, and the missile launcher ‘Wladyslawowo’ (NATO class Osa-I) from 1975. The former was laid down in Poland (Gdynia), and withdrawn from service in the 1990s, whereas the latter was manufactured in the USSR and saw service until the 2000s.

Both are interesting examples of Cold War warships. The armament of the ‘Fala’ was mainly composed of depth charges. Many of the original rooms are preserved in good conditions, showing some of the most interesting technical gear installed on this type of warship.

This includes the navigation room and the deck, with the helm and engine controls on top. The canteen, cabins and official quarters are on display, with a depressing – likely original – Soviet-style upholstery and furniture. Interestingly, despite being a Polish warship, most of the labels, including explanatory ones intended for use by the hands on board, is in Russian.

Technical gear include an inertial system, and acoustic sensors to find and track enemy submarines.

The engine compartment hosts two big 2.500 hp Diesel engines, plus three Diesel generators for electric energy supply. The control room for the electric and propulsion system is inside a dedicated cabin. Again, writing is almost invariably in Cyrillic only.

The Osa-I class ‘Wladyslawowo’ was designed around four P-15 (SS-N-2 Styx) surface-to-surface passive-active homing anti-shipping missiles. The mission of this very fast warship, capable of a peak speed of 40 knots, was that of hitting surface shipping. For self-defense, the ship was equipped with two AK-230 turrets, served by an automatic aiming system, as well as a rack of four Strela-2 light surface-to-air missiles. The overstructure of the ship is very limited, the upper deck being mostly taken by the Styx missile hangars. Inside, the technical rooms – still in very good condition – include sensors, inertial navigation gear, as well as compartments for the troops.

Also visible are the engine rooms. Three bulky 4.000 hp Diesel engines provided power to as many propellers, producing the power needed for the high speed of the warship.

The deck (GSD) is stocked with yellow cabinets, allowing to monitor virtually all plants on board. As expected on a Soviet-made warship all writing is in Cyrillic.

All in all, a visit to the Navy Museum is really evocative especially for those with a fascination for the Cold War. The Osa-I class saw extensive service in the cold waters of the Baltic, including with the GDR, and this exemplar represents an easy-to-reach specimen offering a rare glimpse in Soviet marine technology from the time (similar to the K-24 Juliet-class submarine in Usedom, not too far from this location, see here).

Getting there & Visiting

The Polish Arms Museum, named ‘Muzeum Oręża Polskiego w Kołobrzegu’ in Polish, is located in the city center of the coastal town of Kolobrzeg. The exact address is Gierczak 5, 78-100 Kołobrzeg. The open-air part can be clearly spotted from outside – like a fenced city park – when walking the (really) crowded pedestrian area. Due to the totally central location of the museum, right in the most touristic area of this small town, parking in the vicinity may be not the easiest task, but many parking lots are theoretically available in this district. Another option is parking out of the city center at all, and enjoy a pleasant walk to the museum and other attractions in its vicinity.

The Museum is rather compact in size, and a popular destination. It offers many interesting items, including less obvious ones for more technically-minded visitors, as well as well as heavier armored vehicles, artillery pieces and planes which will appeal to everybody. A visit of about 45 minutes to 1 hour may be fine for a complete tour.

The open-air Navy Museum, aka. ‘Kołobrzeski Skansen Morski’ in Polish, is located beside the marina. A convenient public parking just 150 ft from the museum entrance is here, 54.175972, 15.559315. The two warships can be boarded and visited thoroughly on your own, making for an interesting and rewarding visit for everybody. A time of 45 minutes to 1.25 hours may be adequate depending on your level of interest.

Walking between the two destinations in town is an easy stretch of about 20 minutes one way.

The two locations are brilliantly administrated by the same subject, the ‘Muzeum Oreza Polskiego’, which also has under its umbrella other sites of great interest in the vicinity of Kolobrzeg, including the world-class exhibition of one of only two preserved and accessible Monolith-type Soviet bunkers for nuclear warheads in Europe (Podborsko, see here). The website – unfortunately only in Polish – covering all the sites managed by this association, with many details on the exhibits beside logistical information, is here.

Museum of Air Defense, Koszalin

The Museum of the Air Defense in Koszalin offers an exceptional insight in the capacity and evolution of the anti-aircraft defense systems deployed in Poland. The collection in this hidden gem, relatively far from the tourist path (especially from abroad), is based on the heritage of a similar initiative from the Cold War years, when Poland was a satellite of the USSR especially in terms of weapons supply. As a result, the display allows to get a detailed overview of the Cold War anti-aircraft technology of the Soviet Union, with examples of material (especially surface-to-air missiles) still in use today in many Countries.

The collection is located close to an active military academy, in a quiet and secluded neighborhood of the town. The exhibits are partly inside, partly outside on a small apron around the museum building.

Some initial dioramas are focused on range-finding gear, with material dating from WWII and the Cold War era. Anti-aircraft machine gun  batteries are also on display.

A centerpiece of the exhibition is a didactic cutout of an SA-2 Guideline (aka. S-75 Dvina) SAM, an early anti-aircraft missile from the 1950s, which was however rather effective. The propulsion system, guidance mechanisms and warhead are on display. The latter appears relatively small compared to the overall size of the missile, but it is actually rather powerful. This system was not intended to physically touch the target, but an explosion of the warhead in proximity to the target could be enough to irrecoverably damage an aircraft.

A super-interesting sight is the array of cabinets employed for the launch of the SA-3 Goa (or S-125 Neva). An example of the corresponding battery of missiles is located outside. This suite, was called Karat-2 in Soviet standard, allowed for TV-guidance of the SAM system. This incredible piece of technology from the time of the Iron Curtain – and from the early age of miniaturized electronics – is presented partly lit-up, revealing the colors of the buttons, and making it even more captivating – you would like to try all its functions like in a new video game! Needless to mention, all writing on the labels is in Russian.

Another unusual sight in the collection is a static example of the still widespread SA-6 Gainful (or 2K12 Kub). Further material on display include instrumentation and cabinets for launch control and guidance of other missiles, or for managing radar-gathered information.

Smaller anti-aircraft weapons are also represented, like the Strela-2 shoulder launched missiles.

On display in the outside exhibition are very interesting items, starting from a battery of two SA-3 Goa, side by side with their corresponding target tracking antenna. The latter, pretty rare to see in museums, is actually composed of a suite of antennas, and is designed to track smaller and low-flying targets, against which the relatively small SA-3 missile is particularly effective.

Close by are an SA-2 Guideline in an upright ready-for-launch attitude, as well as a SA-4 Ganef, sitting horizontally.

Another radar antenna is the truck-mounted PRW-9 altitude finder, complementing the guidance suites of the SA-2 and SA-3 as well.

Armored anti-aircraft vehicles are also on display, similar to anti-aircraft guns, trailers, SAM missile canisters and field range finders. An interesting item is a searchlight (model APM-90), which unexpectedly does not come from WWII, but was instead put in production in the early 1950s, well in the turbojet era and atomic age. It was a handy item mostly for helping aircraft in homing on obscured airbases in case of war. It was truck-mounted, and could employ the same engine of the truck for power production – ingesting up to 17.5 kW, thus remaining visible from a distance of 80 miles!

As a bonus, two aircraft are on display in the museum, a PZL TS-11 Iskra trainer, and a Yakovlev Yak-40 three-jet small transport, employed for state flights. The latter, a Soviet aircraft from deep in the Cold War era, was withdrawn from service apparently in the 2000s. Manufactured in more than 1.000 exemplars, this type was rather widespread in the USSR and its satellites.

The aircraft can be accessed – through the unusual back door! – revealing a neat interior, and a captivating purely analog cockpit. The typically Soviet black rubber ventilation fan for the pilot is prominently hanging from the ceiling!

Getting there & Visiting

The name of this exhibition in Polish is ‘Muzeum Obrony Przeciwlotniczej’, and its location is in the southeastern suburbs of the northern town of Koszalin, itself less than 5 miles from the Baltic coast. The exact address is Wojska Polskiego 70, 75-903 Koszalin. The place is surrounded by neat, active military facilities (academy). The museum is easily noticed from the road, thanks to the bulky and unusual items on display in the outdoor exhibition! A small parking area can be found cross the road with respect to the gate.

The display is gathered in a single building, surrounded by a small yard. Visiting is totally easy, and the collection is not too big, yet extremely interesting and well preserved. A visit of at least 1 hour will be needed for technically-minded subjects, whereas for the general public 30 minutes may suffice for a quick look at everything. The place is managed and frequented by former men from the military, who will likely offer you further insight if you ask. Some information is in double language (Polish and English) in any case.

The museum is currently a branch of the bigger Museum of the Air Force located southeast of Warsaw (Deblin). The website of the latter provides information also on the Koszalin site (see here).

Naval Museum, Gdynia

The port town of Gdynia, since long the major industrial port of Poland, is also home to the collection of the Naval Museum, an eminently military collection, with some unique items on display from various ages, making it a primary addition to the panorama of naval museums in Europe.

This museum is composed of two parts, namely an exhibition building, located right ahead of the nice touristic waterside and featuring an indoor and outdoor exhibition, as well as nothing less than an original destroyer from the 1930s, the venerable ORP ‘Blyskawica’, a true WWII veteran!

The indoor exhibition has been refurbished recently, making the visit light and enjoyable. Among the artifacts on display are original anti-aircraft guns, previously installed on warships, of diverse size and provenience.

Torpedoes, including old German designs from before WWI, are on display together with rare examples of sea mines. Some of them are cut to ease looking inside.

The Soviet anti-shipping missile P-15 (SS-N-2 Styx) and its evolution P-21/22 are on display as well, with photographs witnessing their deployment on board Polish warships.

Interestingly, also aircraft-carried missiles and rocket pods, of Soviet make, are on display. Everything comes with a technical description in double language, allowing to obtain many information on the exhibits on site.

A rare artifact is an experimental weapon from the Third Reich, a rocket-torpedo. Valuable memorabilia items include many documents and papers, as well as uniforms, from ages before the 20th century. A fragment of the flag of the ill-fated ORP ‘Gryf’, a massive mine-layer from WWII sunk by the German forces at the beginning of WWII, is prominently on display.

The outdoor exhibition is hosted in a small yard to the side of the museum building. Bulkier artifacts have been put here, including cannons from the ORP ‘Gryf’, several torpedoes and torpedo-launching tubes, depth-charge launchers, older cannons from the age of sailing ships, weapons, propellers (of downed aircraft and ships) and even a helicopter!

Perfectly visible for everybody passing by, a major focal point of the museum is the ORP ‘Blyskawica’. This destroyer was laid down in Britain, together with a twin ship, for the Polish Navy in the mid-1930s. Unfortunately, Poland was among the first Countries to fall under the attack of Hitler’s Third Reich. The Polish Government and a good part of the Armed Forces were evacuated to Britain. In particular, the troops and much of the savaged war material was incorporated in the ranks of the British, with a special agreement which kept the two formally independent, and defined a scheme of mutual anti-German cooperation.

A very modern ship for the time, well armed and propelled by steam turbines granting a speed nearing 40 kn, the ‘Blyskawica’ fought for the entire duration of the war, with key roles in several war actions. After the war, the ship was reclaimed by communist Poland. Following an accident to the propulsion system, it was never fully repaired, and it was converted to a marginal role before retirement and re-opening as a museum ship in the 1970s.

Today, this perfectly preserved warship makes for a really captivating sight. The naval guns and much of the machinery on board clearly bear British markings.

The engine room can be visited, and offers an exciting view of the mighty boilers an steam turbines allowing the destroyer to reach its incredible top speed.

Beside this warship, even though not part of the museum, chance is to see the ‘Dar Pomorza’, a splendid sailing ship from 1909, employed as a training ship between the 1930s and the 1980s.

Getting there & Visiting

The museum, called ‘Muzeum Marynarki Vojennej w Gdyni’ in the local idiom, is located in a prominent location in the most touristic part of the port town of Gdynia. The building of the museum is separated from the destroyer ORP ‘Blyskawica’, which can be reached with a 3 minutes walk from the museum. The address of the museum building (hard to miss) is ul. Zawiszy Czarnego 1B, 81-374 Gdynia. Parking lots are available around the building and in public parking. However, please note that this totally central area may be very crowded in the high season, so be prepared to some traffic congestion.

The inside collection is very interesting and valuable, yet not disproportionately big. Therefore visiting can be enjoyable for the committed military minded subjects and for the general public as well. A visit to the building may take 30-45 minutes. A visit to the glorious destroyer Blyskawica may take as much, depending on what parts of the ship are actually visible – thanks to the prominent position and historical value, ceremonies and cultural events or visit sometimes take place, therefore the ship is at times only partially open.

The museum is very modern, boasting a well-designed, up-to-date website in double language (here). A smartphone app can be employed to take you along the museum historical path.

Museum of Military Technology ‘Gryf’, Dabrowka

This impressive collection was created through a private initiative after 2010. It bolsters two equally interesting and fascinating sections, one devoted to shells and bombs, the other to vehicles – either armored, transport or civilian. The collection is very rich and exceptionally well presented.

The shells and bombs display is one of the largest collections of shells, cartridges, shoulder-launched rockets, air-dropped bombs, land mines, etc. to be seen in Europe. The presentation follows a thematic-chronological order, therefore you will start with cannon balls, walk through shells from field cannons from the 19th century and WWI, and end up with a plethora of WWII and Cold War items.

To the inexpert eye, a cannon or mortar shell may look like a dull piece of metal. Looking closer, you notice that most of the shells are actually rather complex pieces of machinery, with mechanisms inside them to regulate the behavior of the shell after fire.

Furthermore, many types of shells exist, engineered to maximize the damage against some type of target or another – armored vehicles, buildings, ships, troops, deposits of explosives, wooden constructions, metal constructions, etc.

Extremely interesting is the collection of WWII air-dropped bombs. As known, the accuracy of bombing raids left much to be desired during WWII. Furthermore, as you can clearly see here, bombs from the time were relatively small, with a limited yield. These factors in turn forced bombing groups to carry out massive attacks, with many aircraft involved, to maximize the effectiveness of the mission.

Mortar shells take several dedicated display cases. Represented are many and diverse models from different provenience.

A similar impression as with shells you get looking at land mines – so many different designs, corresponding to different targets, and of course resulting from engineering efforts carried out in different Countries, and over several ages. These include material from WWII, like explosives put on railway tracks, glass mines or air-launched land-mines.

Original explosives from the Third Reich are on display, with clear swastika and eagle insignia on them!

An incredible and unique display is related to triggered explosive devices. This includes several original triggers, from the US, Soviet Union or Third Reich, and from various ages.

Shoulder-launched rockets include the pretty famous RPG from the Soviet Union – displayed together with original instructional panels! But also more technically evolved rockets are on display – or parts of them, like what appears to be the homing system of a SAM missile!

Demining gear follows suit – a rich collection also in this respect – together with grenades, both hand-launched or rifle-mounted.

A collection of purely Cold War gear is that of anti-radiation suits, measurement gear, and instructions for emergency in case of a nuclear bombing raid. These are very similar to their Western counterparts (see this post).

A few dioramas are build including original material from WWII, including Third Reich uniforms, and the Cold War.

This really impressive collection is just a part of this great museum. The second part is composed of a series of vehicles, ranging from cars and buses, to military trucks and, of course, armored vehicles and tanks. Similar to the previous part, the appearance of this component of the museum is exceptional. It is no surprise that all the vehicles here are working, or undergoing restoration to a working condition!

A first display is related to civilian vehicles from the communist era, some from the Soviet union – like a GAZ car – or from Poland – like interesting license-built Italian cars, labeled as ‘Polish-FIAT’!

A second hangar has on display a set of wonderful trucks, including German Mercedes-Benz trucks from WWII – similar to the one featured in the Indiana Jones movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’! – and massive Soviet designs, like ZIL and more modern KRAZ.

A separated hangar hosts a number of US-made trucks and jeeps, and a nice collection of rare OPEL light trucks from Germany. Also on display are a glider and a few side-cars.

A focus of the visit is of course the hangar dedicated to armored vehicles. These include Soviet designs, like the iconic T-34 and T-54, and  working replicas of German vehicles – in particular a Panther. Even an original Gepard moving light artillery battery from West Germany is part of this collection!

Even on standard days when non special events are planned, it is likely you will see some of this massive vehicles moving around, on the apron and along a small circuit to the back of the museum!

Also field cannons and other artillery pieces – including anti-aircraft guns – are on display.

Leaving the museum, you may notice a Guideline and a Ganef SAM from the USSR, as well as a static T-54 in a desert camo.

Getting there & Visiting

The location of this impressive collection (‘Muzeum Techniki Wojskowej ‘Gryf” in Polish) is somewhat secluded in the trees, close to the small village of Dabrowka. The address is ul. Ppłk. Ryszarda Lubowiedzkiego 2, 84-242 Dąbrówka, and the coordinates to the entrance are 54.55185, 18.17217. The place is in the countryside, some 20 miles west of the major port town of Gdynia.

The museum is compact to tour, but the exhibits are many, extremely interesting and nice to check out, especially thanks to the exceptional state of preservation. This is true for both the many vehicles and for the exhibition on artillery inside, one of the most impressive of the kind to be seen in Europe – and one of the most neatly presented!

The collection may require 1.5-2 hours at least for a technically minded person. A 1 hour visit is advised for the general public. Time may vary, however, in case live exhibitions are taking place – usually involving tanks performing some acrobatic maneuver!

A small restaurant is open inside for lunch around midday.

Their very good website, with full information for a visit and also about the collection, in both Polish and English, is here.

Preserved Cold War Bunkers in Northern England

The central role taken by Britain in WWII, firstly containing and then countering the expansion of the Third Reich, is duly and proudly celebrated all around the Country, with memorials and thematic exhibitions, often hosted in historical locations, regularly open for a visit.

The United Kingdom joined NATO as a founding member in 1949, and had already been at the forefront of a European anti-Soviet alliance with France since 1947. The strategic political and military ties with the US, pivotal in putting and end to WWII in Europe, were kept over the following decades, against the menace constituted by the Eastern Bloc. Thanks to its geographical position, and bolstering a nuclear arsenal, strategic bombers and submarines of its own, Britain was a major player of the Cold War.

Despite that, the Cold War left behind comparatively less memories than WWII, with only a handful installations open to the public, and somewhat out of the spotlight. In this regard, this reflects an attitude generally widespread in Europe towards the traces of the second half of the 20th century.

However, for people with an interest in the Cold War age, and more in general for those with a thing for (especially nuclear) warfare technology, there are two really unmissable sights in Northern England, which make for a vivid hands-on experience of the ‘era of Soviet threat’.

One is the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, with a fascinating history starting in WWII and spanning the entire duration of the Cold War. Here one of the finest collections of nuclear-war-related material in Europe can be found, together with much additional material from the era, in a largely preserved historical site.

Another is the York Cold War Bunker, built in the Cold War age to provide protection to the staff of the Royal Observation Corps (ROC) in case of a nuclear attack, as well as the ability to help coordinating fundamental public functions – health, transportation, food and energy supply, etc. – in a post-attack nuclear fallout scenario.

Both sites are regularly open for a visit, and provide a vivid testimony of civil and military plans and facilities seriously prepared in England for a nuclear apocalypse scenario.

Sights

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Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker

The Hack Green site is located deep in the Cheshire countryside, about one hour driving south of Manchester. Actually, it is in a really secluded location, far from any sizable urban center, and away from major roads. Even today, when this facility is working as a top-level museum, some attention to the signs is needed to reach the site.

Once by the gate, you are immediately driven back in time by the appearance of the tall military-style external fence with official government signs, and by the blunt and in impenetrable appearance of the big concrete bunker – what you see is only the part above ground level! – with a big antenna protruding from the top. Nearby, you can see an apparently still off-limits area, with a now-dead radar antenna and an old Jet Provost trainer in RAF colors.

History

The history of the Hack Green site dates to as back as WWII, when it was established as one of the 12 most developed Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) centers, out of 21 total nodes in Britain. Essentially based on the airspace scanning radar plants available at the time, the so-constituted ‘Chain Home’ surveillance system was operated by the RAF, and intended to track intruding German aircraft, thus directing air force planes against them. Radar aerials appeared on site at the time, suitable against relatively slow moving propeller-driven aircraft of those years.

With the start of the Cold War, and the need to reconfigure the defense against the USSR and Warsaw Pact forces operating with jet-powered aircraft of increasing speed, several modernization plans were started in Britain, aimed at implementing more effective detection and threat-countering radar technology, like ‘Green Garlic’, and later ROTOR. The latter called for the institution of a chain of detection nodes, not much dissimilar in concept from the older ‘Chain Home’ of WWII, but much more articulated, efficient and technologically advanced. At the time one of the most expensive government-funded operations ever, 66 installations were implemented all over Britain within ROTOR before the mid 1950s, with different roles in the network. The bunker you see today on the Hack Green site was one of them.

Keeping up with the fast-developing offensive technology of the 1950s and 1960s required a continuous update of the defensive network, in particular asking for the addition of intercontinental missiles to the enemy arsenal to counter. The US-led ‘Ballistic Missile Early Warning System’ (BMEWS) included 12 early-warning radar stations around the Atlantic, including a single station in the UK (RAF Fylingdales, Yorkshire, still in operation today). Before BMEWS went operational (early 1960s), triggering a re-organization of all other defense radar systems by the time obsolete, Hack Green took an interim role as one of only 4 radar stations operated by the RAF monitoring all military and civilian traffic through the British airspace, coping with new fast jetliners. The name of the Hack Green radar site in that stage was ‘Mersey Radar North’. Finally, in 1966 the RAF released the site to the government, which put it in mothballed status.

It was in 1976 that a new life began for Hack Green. Starting in 1958, the Home Office invested much in the preparation of an emergency structure, capable of keeping of managing a post-nuclear attack scenario, and keeping the basic public functions active. In the event of a total nuclear war, a failure of the national hierarchy and military chain of command was forecast, as a result of an extensive damage to the infrastructures and communication systems. In order to recover as fast as possible in such an emergency, the UK would split in 11 regions, each with a regional seat of government (RSG). In the region, a civil Regional Commissioner would take a leading administrative role, and would be responsible for coordinating disaster recovery operations, like supplying medical resources, food, water, and reconstructing infrastructures, while waiting for the national government to reactivate its functions. The Commissioner would be aided by the UK Warning and Monitoring Organization (UKWMO), which took over the function and organization of the older Royal Observation Corps (ROC) established during WWII. This structure was further potentiated in the 1960s and 1970s, also introducing a similar regional scheme for the military in case of a nuclear attack.

The seat of the RSG was in the Regional Government Head Quarters (RGHQ). Following some years when it was hosted in Preston, then in Southport, north of Liverpool, the RGHQ for the 10th region (then 10:2, following a split in two halves of this large region) found its home in Hack Green. The former radar facility was potentiated enormously, and set up with the ability to host 160 civil and military staff for 3 months without resupply in case of a nuclear attack on the UK.

Within the framework of the emergency plan for a nuclear attack, the RGHQs all over the UK went on operating until the demise of the USSR in December 1991, to be soon deactivated over the following years. Hack Green was scrapped of all content, and put up for sale in 1993. It was privately acquired in the mid-1990s, and carefully restored in some parts, or being stocked with interesting material from the Cold War era in some of the many rooms.

A tour of the bunker

Access to the bunker is via a concrete slide, and through a metal gate. Originally the male civil servants dorm, the first room you meet is now a kind of storage for items recently incorporated in the collection. These include a jeep, a model of an Avro Shackleton, and interestingly a nuclear warhead. The original system to activate the rooftop antenna is in a cabinet along a sidewall.

The ticket office and canteen are now in the original canteen area of the Hack Green site. Restored to a 1960s appearance, parts of the kitchen furniture are original from the site. Along the sidewalls are several memorabilia items, including some original Soviet emblems, not unusual today in museums on the other side of the Iron Curtain (see for instance here), but hard to find in the UK.

An adjoining room reproduces the environment where the ROC would have worked in case of a drill or real nuclear attack. Among their function was the pinpointing of nuclear explosions. The forecast and monitoring of the fallout is strongly bound to the local weather and winds. This was kept under surveillance through reporting stations scattered on the UK territory (more than 1 thousand), which transmitted information to Hack Green and other RGHQ and UKWMO bunkers (see the York bunker later in this post). They could then coordinate recovery operations, avoiding extreme exposure to radiation of the emergency staff.

Monitoring was through dedicated sensors, and communication through specific transmission gear. Two display cases in the same room feature interesting instruments, training documents, and memorabilia items from the rich history of the ROC, documenting also their activities in WWII.

Ground floor

The Hack Green bunker largely retains its original arrangement. It is composed of a ground and an underground floor. Along the main corridors are interesting examples of the papers produced by the UKWMO, and by the civil defense service during the Cold War. Among them, are leaflets for the population, with best practices in case of a nuclear attack.

Also interesting are more technical posters from the era, either outlining the role of the public organizations monitoring a potential nuclear apocalypse scenario, or providing technical details on the effects of nuclear weapons – what to expect in terms of damage or health issues, depending on the type and local condition of a nuclear explosion.

For sure a focal point in the exhibition of Hack Green today is the display of nuclear warheads, and nuclear-related material. Hosted in a room previously employed by emergency staff, the exhibition retraces with original material, mock-ups, rare pictures and videos, the history of the British nuclear arsenal, managed by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).

The WE177 was designed to constitute the backbone of the air-dropped nuclear deterrent of the UK. Examples of this bomb are on display together with technical material employed to monitor their status and manage launch or drills. In service between the 1960s and the 1990s in association with larger strategic bombers like the Vulcan, or smaller fighter-bombers like some versions of the Harrier or Jaguar, it could be assembled in some different versions, sharing the same baseline construction, but with nominal yields ranging between 10 to 450 kilotons.

Also on display are pictures and mock-ups of the old Polaris warhead, together with the original casing employed to transport this 200 kilotons item! A US design, the Polaris was acquired by the UK in 1963, to supply the Royal Navy and constitute the UK underwater deterrent. The Polaris missile featured a three-warheads fuse, bearing a total yield of 600 kilotons.

A very rare artifact is the warhead of project Chevaline, a British design to improve the potential of the Polaris, which saw limited service with the Royal Navy in the 1980s. The Polaris/Chevaline was replaced by the Trident missile system, still employed today in the nuclear deterrent role.

Besides the central exhibition of nuclear warheads, the display cases in the same room offer a wealth of super-interesting technical gear and memorabilia related to nuclear weapons. These include components and cabinets of radio and radar systems, to be transported on board aircraft or to be employed on the ground. These parts come from different ages, and from several Countries, including the Eastern Bloc – for instance, a very rare Soviet suit to work on high-power radar antennas for maintenance. Powerful radars actually emit rays with a high power-over-volume (power density) ratio especially in the vicinity of the emitting apparatus. This may even turn deadly for humans (roughly like being in a microwave oven would be!), and precautions are needed when working in such environment.

A really unique collection on display is related to Geiger counters and dosimeters. These include environmental and personal use devices, from various ages and nationality.

Two display cases are dedicated to material coming from beyond the Iron Curtain, most notably from the USSR and the GDR! It is really hard to imagine how this material could manage to come to Hack Green.

Part of the display is dedicated to the civil defense corps of different Countries, with helmets, emblems, papers and uniforms, showing how similar actions in preparations for a nuclear war were carried out in many Nations of continental Europe, also in the Eastern Bloc. Actually, a very close relative of the UKWMO RGHQ control center, with a totally similar function, can be found in a perfectly preserved condition in Poland (see this post).

More memorabilia items come from the history of civil defense in the UK. Among the most rare artifacts are the only surviving example of the ‘Queen’s telephone’, which was employed for enforcing the Emergency Power Act, which among other things may have transferred power to the Regional Commissioner. There used to be one such phone in each of the RGHQ, but all were destroyed for security reasons following the shut-off of the bunkers, except this one, and the one at the other end of the line – in the Royal residence.

An adjoining room hosts a reconstruction of the radar screen room from the age Hack Green was employed as a radar station managed by the RAF. All panels are lit, providing a vivid, pure Cold War experience!

To the end of the main corridor, you can reach another entrance to the bunker, which is nowadays normally shut. However, this used to be the main entrance, and close to it are the control room of the bunker and the decontamination area.

The control room is not accessible, but the large windows allow to take a glance to its original appearance. It is still employed to control electric power and air conditioning. Manned nuclear-proof bunkers are customarily pressurized, sucking contaminated air from the outside, which is carefully filtered for poisons and radioactive particles, and pumping unfiltered bunker air to the outside (see this post for another example in a Soviet bunker).

People entering after work out in the fallout-polluted environment were decontaminated through showers, and used anti-radiation suits were left in an isolated sink still on display.

Before leaving the ground floor, you can find on the ground level the female dorm for the staff of the RGHQ bunker. In the same room, an original system for communicating on the very low frequency bandwidth has been put on display. This Cold War relic could be employed to issue orders to the strategic submarine force. This very cabinet was employed by Prime Minister Thatcher for ordering the attack against the Argentinian ship General Belgrano.

A final room on this floor is the sick bay, sized for the staff of Hack Green only, but equipped to manage health issues resulting from the exposition to a nuclear attack.

Underground floor

Descending to the underground floor is possible via the original stairs. The first room you meet features an exhibition of original Soviet uniforms, belonging to some high-ranking officials from various branches of the Red Army. Really hard to see in this part of the world, their origin is well documented.

Close by, is a small display of military material from the Soviet bloc, ranging from original weapons, to communication systems, emblems and instructional posters for the troops (similar to what you can find in dedicated museums in former Warsaw Pact Countries, like here or here).

Nearby is a communication room originally employed by the military staff of the bunker, working in parallel with civil servants in the management of the nuclear emergency. Original radio transmission gear of military standard is still in place.

Before entering the core preserved area of the bunker, i.e. the rooms of the RGHQ, you can find the original water and air supply systems, and the corresponding technical cabinets, in a big room on the underground level.

The rooms of the RGHQ are all interconnected, and located to the side of the corridor on the underground floor. The way they look is from the days of activity of Hack Green as a RGHQ, i.e. the 1980s. Typical Cold War technology from the time is featured in this area.

Firstly, you enter the warning room, which used to be the contact point of the RGHQ with the national surveillance system. By design, the BMEWS at Fylingdales should have picked up an incoming ICBM within 30 seconds from launch, spreading an alert signal at all levels. This would have been received here and by the entire civil defense system within 90 seconds. This would leave roughly 4 minutes (out of a total of around 6 minutes for the missile to come to Britain from the Eastern Bloc) to tell the population of the incoming missile, which would happen through some thousands sirens scattered around the UK. The physical alarm signal management system was called HANDEL, and was employed from the 1960s to 1992. The apparatus on display at Hack Green, a node of HANDEL, is notably still working, albeit disconnected.

The warning room can be accessed directly from the Commissioner’s room, both an office and private room. Original maps and furniture can be found in this room, the only private one in the bunker. Immediately next to it is the cipher office, a communication office connecting – at least in non-emergency conditions – the center with the external world. Ciphered language was employed for safe communication with governmental offices, both domestic and abroad.

Next are a conference room, for meeting within the staff of the RGHQ, and a broadcast studio. The latter was focused on radio broadcast instead of TV, since the latter would not work in case of a nuclear attack. The idea was for the Commissioner to communicate directly with the administrative region, possibly repeating messages of national significance, or instructing about local disaster recovery actions, evacuation operations, etc.

The tour goes on with a very interesting area, stuffed with original electronic and communication material. Communication from the bunker to the other similar bunkers withing the UKWMO was possible through a dedicated system called Emergency Communication Network (ECN). The main function was that of constantly updating the map of the fallout and of the operations taking place at all levels, including all surviving infrastructures. Many maps and teletypewriters, original components of the system, are part of the display.

The ‘brain’ of the system was the Message Switch Exchange (MSX). A top-tier system elaborated by British Telecom in the 1980s, it looks exceptionally complex. The lit cabinets and modules provide a really vivid impression of how it should have looked like back in the Cold War years. The electronic cabinets and wiring driving to the rooftop antenna are still lit as well.

A rare, incredible portable satellite communication antenna is on display. This was employed in peacetime condition, and stored inside the bunker when under attack.

The screens where the meteorologists and nuclear scientists displayed all the information gathered and prepared forecasts are another unusual Cold War sight.

Perhaps unexpectedly in a 1980s hi-tech environment, a purely analog, wired telephone exchange system is on display. This is original as well, and was kept in service as a ‘last line’ backup system within the ECN until 1992, should the futuristic MSX system fail under an attack.

A complement to the exhibition of the RGHQ is the fire control room, where a big screen and several communication consoles were employed for directing firefighting actions at a regional level. Following the experience of Nagasaki and the extensive nuclear tests of the 1950s, it is known that fires resulting from the extreme temperature and radiation intensity associated with a nuclear explosion are possibly even more dangerous to buildings and infrastructures than the shock-wave itself.

A display which is not original from Hack Green, but found an ideal home in this bunker, is made of a reconstructed room from the Regional Air Operation Center (UKRAOC), which would gather information from the BMEWS. The material on display used to be at RAF High Wycombe, where the UKRAOC facility was located in the Cold War years.

Fed by the BMEWS early warning station at Fylingdales, the apparatus in this room was constantly updated on the defense situation. A Soviet ICBM attack would be detected here, and from here the alarm signal to the entire national civil and military defense system would be triggered. This really one-of-a-kind reconstruction is really evoking, with the original panels all lit, and a dim light background!

A final room on the underground floor hosts a reconstruction of a Soviet missile launch room. Perhaps not accurate as a reconstruction, it is however centered on original material and memorabilia items from the Soviet bloc. This area has been employed as a set for movies.

At the base of a second stair well ascending to the ground floor you can find a reconstruction of one of the more than 1 thousand peripheral posts of the ROC. Such posts, scattered on the UK territory, gathered information for the RGHQ, and constituted the ‘sensors’ of the nuclear attack detection network. The technical gear includes over-pressure and radiation intensity transducers.

Getting there and visiting

The bunker is in a very secluded location, about 25 miles west of Stoke-on-Trent, and roughly 60 miles from Liverpool and Manchester. Very little advertised in the area, and not much known to the general public even in the UK, this hidden gem can be reached very conveniently by car, not much conveniently with public transport. The exact address is French Ln, Nantwich CW5 8BL, United Kingdom.

The bunker was built far from the crowds. Do not be worried as you see the road getting narrower and you feel like your NAV is taking you to nowhere – you are probably on the right path! Once there, you will find a large inside parking, and a top-level management of the entire facility.

Visiting is on a self-guided basis, with tons of explanatory panels and illustrations allowing to make the most out of your visit even if you have just a normal interest and preliminary knowledge of the topic. For a specialist, this super-interesting, one-of-a-kind site may require at least 2 hours for capturing the details, and possibly take pictures. Website with visiting information here.

York Cold War Bunker

Besides the impressive Minster and the beautiful historic town, York has the distinction of being the seat of one of the few Cold War bunkers preserved in the UK. Differently from Hack Green (see above), the bunker in York was installed relatively late in 1961, in the middle of the Cold War. Since then and until the collapse of the USSR, it acted as a node in the UK Warning and Monitoring Organization (UKWMO), collecting information and coordinating emergency actions around York in the event of a nuclear attack. A cluster of reporting points was linked to the bunker in York, which took the name of Headquarters of the N.20 Group within the UKWMO.

An eminently intelligence collection and information relay facility, the bunker was manned by the Royal Observation Corps (ROC), who provided voluntary civilian staff to support the monitoring and communication functions of the bunker in the UKWMO network. The bunker ceased operations and was basically sealed in 1991. Until that time, the ROC ran the facility, carrying out regularly scheduled drills and simulations. The bunker was designed and sized to offer its staff a self-support ability of a few weeks in a nuclear fallout scenario. Besides all supporting facilities, including water tanks, pumps and power generators, the facility was centered on a set of sensors for nuclear blast detection, as well as provision for fallout forecast and monitoring.

The bunker has been taken over by the English Heritage, a structured nationwide historical conservation association, which restored the site and opened it to the public.

The York Cold War Bunker is not far from the historical center, yet in a quiet residential area. Access is from a small parking area among low-rise buildings. The greenish paint of the concrete walls and the tall metal antenna on top cannot be spotted from much farther away than the parking itself. Curiously, the pedestrian door of the bunker stands some feet above the ground, and can be reached via a concrete stairway. Then once on top and inside, you need to descend some flights of stairs to get underground.

Compared to the Hack Green bunker, the York group headquarter is more cramped, with smaller rooms, lower ceilings and narrower corridors.

The first part of the visit covers the supporting facilities. These include a ventilation system, which as customary for nuclear-proof bunkers (but the same is true for older bunkers dating from WWII) filtered the incoming air and ejected the inside air, basically pressurizing the bunker environment with respect to the outside atmospheric pressure. This avoided passive ingestion of contaminated air from the outside.

A power generator and a water pumping system are also visible. A control panel for all the plants has been preserved, similar to the machinery in this area, dating from the time of construction.

The centerpiece of the visit is of course the reporting room. The reason for putting a headquarters in relatively low-sized York was the presence in the area of significant food production industries, as well as of a major railway node in Northern England. Furthermore, military facilities like the only BMEWS station in the UK happened to be in Fylingdales, northern Yorkshire. These features would make York a valuable strategic target for an attacking enemy. The main function of the bunker within the UKWMO was that of ascertaining the position and intensity of a nuclear explosion on the territory covered by its jurisdiction.

Anticipated by the early warning ballistic missile detection system protecting the UK, the hit could be recorded by the sensors available in the bunker or in other reporting points scattered around in the country. The bunker would then try to predict and follow the evolution of the fallout. This would allow coordinating emergency and recovery actions including fire suppression, medical evacuation, water and food transport and supply, etc.

The central reporting room looks mostly like an operations room in a military headquarter. It is structured on two levels, with large maps and boards for visually updating the situation and writing information. Batteries of telephones and teletypewriters allowed obtaining communications and sending updated information to allow emergency services as well as decision centers to carry out post-attack operations. This system was not dissimilar from the counterpart beyond the Iron Curtain (see for instance this center in Poland).

Nearby the reporting room, the components of the sensor suite allowing to detect the position and intensity of a nuclear explosion are on display.

The first is the bomb-power indicator (BPI). The working principle is that of reading the over-pressure caused by the shock-wave invariably produced by an explosion, and particularly intense for a nuclear explosion, releasing an immense amount of energy in a small volume and within a very short time. The supersonic traveling shock-wave is responsible for the mechanical breaking of building and superstructures, like antennas, suspended power lines, bridges, piers, etc. Being a wave of pressure, its intensity can be measured by pressure transducers, which for the BPI show the reading on a simple analog dial.

The transducer, seen handing from the ceiling in the exhibition, would stand on the rooftop of the bunker, exposed to the explosion. This type of sensor was also installed in smaller reporting points scattered over the territory of the UK.

A second sensor was the ground zero indicator (GZI). Here the working principle was also very simple. The main element in the GZI is a metal drum with a small hole in the side, and a piece of photographic paper covering the inside surface of the cylinder. An explosion would send a high-energy light beam through the hole, producing an impression on a precise point on the paper. By positioning in a very accurate way the drum on its pedestal on top of the bunker, according to a precise fine-tuning, it was possible to retrieve the direction of the incoming beam. By composing the reading of more than one precisely-located drum, it was possible to pinpoint the position of the explosion by triangulation, both in terms of geographical position and altitude. The latter is a very relevant practical information, since for instance the quality and hazard of the fallout are strongly related to the proximity of the explosion to the ground.

The GZI, a purely analog sensor, had the odd feature of requiring collection of the photographic paper by venturing outside of the bunker after and explosion, i.e. facing the fallout.

The third and most evolved system on display is an AWDREY computer. The name stands for Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield. This artifact is very rare to see, and a quite refined piece of engineering for the time. It was supplied to 12 headquarter bunkers of the UKWMO, including York, and was operative from the early 1970s. The computer is the computational part of the system, whereas the detection system was based on a sophisticated transducer put outside, on top of the bunker. The working principle was much more sophisticated here, and related to the evolution of the intensity of the radiation coming from the core of the explosions in the first instants of the detonation process. Several stages of a nuclear explosions happen in a row on a scale of a few millionths of a second. These include a predictable oscillation of the intensity of radiation. The exact features of this oscillation are correlated to the yield of the explosion. The ability of AWDREY to collect and interpret data from the early stage of the explosion would allow it to reconstruct the position and yield of the explosion at once.

Tuned on experimental data from nuclear testing in the field, this system delivered good general performance, with some inaccuracy in case of intense atmospheric phenomena taking place – or during fireworks, when the York system was apparently misled in one occasion, interpreting it as a Soviet attack!

The tour is completed with a view of the dorm for the civil servants of the ROC, and with a short exhibition on some historical and political aspects of the Cold War.

Getting there and visiting

The York Cold War Bunker is professionally managed by the English Heritage. Visiting is only possible with a guide. Please note that as of 2022, pre-booking is strictly necessary, since there is no ticket office on site. The guided tour lasts about 45 minutes, including a well-crafted introductory video. At the time of writing, only the first underground floor is open for a visit, but plans for an expansion of the visible part of the facility are being drafted.

The tour is very interesting and detailed, with some educated humor to make it more enjoyable! For specialists, it will be too quick, especially if you like to take pictures. However, the site indeed deserves a careful look also for the more technically-minded people, especially considering the little number of similar facilities open in Europe – and of course in the UK, where it is a one-of-a-kind destination, and a true must for Cold War historians.

The location is about two miles west of York Minster. Convenient to reach by car, several public parking lots are available in front of the gate or in the neighborhood. The exact address is Monument Cl, Holgate, York YO24 4HT, United Kingdom. Website with full information here.

Soviet Nuclear Bunkers in the Czech Republic

History – In brief

After the end of WWII and the collapse of the Third Reich, the territory now belonging to the Czech Republic fell on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain. Together with today’s Slovakia, it formed the now disappeared unitary state of Czechoslovakia. Despite laying right on the border with the West – including Bavaria, which was part of West Germany and NATO – communist Czechoslovakia enjoyed a relative autonomy from the USSR, until the announced liberally-oriented reforms of the local communist leader Dubcek in the spring of 1968 triggered a violent reaction by the Soviet leader of the time, Leonid Brezhnev (see here). About 250’000 troops from the Warsaw Pact, including the USSR, landed in the Country. As a result, the Soviets established a more hardcore and USSR-compliant local communist regime, and largely increased their military presence.

Similar to the German Democratic Republic (see here for instance), Hungary (see here) or Poland (see here), since then also in Czechoslovakia the local national Army was flanked by a significant contingent of Soviet troops, who left only after the entire Soviet-fueled communist empire started to crumble, at the beginning of the 1990s.

Consequently, for the last two decades of the Cold War, Czechoslovakia was a highly militarized country similar to other ones in the Warsaw Pact (see here). Its geographical position on the border with the West meant it received supply for a high-technology anti-aircraft barrier (see here). Two major airbases in Czechoslovakia were taken over for use by the Soviets and strongly potentiated (see here).

Soviet Nuclear Depots in Czechoslovakia

Beside conventional forces, also nuclear warheads were part of the arsenal deployed in this Country. Where in the late 1960s Soviet strategic nuclear forces were already mostly based on submarine-launched missiles and ICBMs ground-launched from within the USSR’s borders, tactical forces were forward-deployed to satellite countries, to be readily operative in case of war in Europe. Missile systems like the SCUD, Luna (NATO: Frog) and Tochka (NATO: Scarab) were deployed to the Warsaw Pact, supplying either the local Armies or the Soviet forces on site. Typically armed with conventional warheads, these systems were compatible with nuclear warheads too, making them more versatile, and of great use in case of a war against NATO forces in central and western Europe (see here).

Irrespective of their employment by a local national Army or a Soviet missile force, nuclear warheads were kept separated from the rest of the missile system for security, and invariably under strict and exclusive Soviet control. Bunker sites were purpose built in all components of the Warsaw Pact for storing nuclear warheads – see page 46 of this CIA document, showing with some accuracy the location of the corresponding bases.

Granit– and Basalt-type bunkers were typically prepared on airfields or artillery bases, for short-term storage of soon-to-be-launched nuclear weapons. Instead, top-security Monolith-type bunkers (the triangles on the map in the CIA document) were intended for long-term storage of nuclear ordnance.

Monolith-type bunkers were built by local companies on a standard design in the Soviet military inventory, and were implemented in satellite Countries in the late 1960s. Czechoslovakia received three such sites, which took the names Javor 50, by the town of Bílina, Javor 51, close to Míšov, and Javor 52, close to the town of Bělá pod Bezdězem. All three locations are in the north-western regions of today’s Czech Republic.

The Soviet military started withdrawing the nuclear warheads from satellite Countries in 1989, months before the collapse of the wall in Berlin. As for Czechoslovakia, by 1990 all nuclear forces had been moved back to the USSR. Following the end of the Cold War, Monolith-bunkers – similar to most of the colossal inventory of forward-deployed military installations formerly set up by the Soviet Union – were declared surplus by the Countries where they had been implemented.

These primary relics of the Cold War have known since then different destinies. Some of them have been hastily demolished, and together with their associated fragments of recent history, they have almost completely disappeared into oblivion. Luckily, a few are currently still in private hands, and still in existence (see here and here) – specimens of recent military technology, and a vivid memento from recent history, when the map of Europe looked very different from now. Two can be visited, of which one is Javor 51, in the Czech Republic, the main topic of this post. This has been turned into the ‘Atom Museum’, which has the distinction of being the only Monolith-type site in the world offering visits on a regular schedule (the other open site is Podborsko, in Poland, covered here, which is open by appointment).

Also displayed in the following are some pictures of the now inaccessible site Javor 52 in former Czechoslovakia. Photographs were taken in 2020 (Javor 52) and 2022 (Javor 51).

Sights

Javor 51 – The Atom Museum, Míšov

An exceptionally well preserved and high-profile witness of the Cold War, the nuclear depot Javor 51 is a good example of a Monolith-type installation. These bases were centered around two identical semi-interred bunkers for nuclear warheads.

When starting a visit, you will soon make your way to the unloading platform of bunker Nr.1. The shape of the metal canopy, and the small control booth with glass windows overlooking the platform are pretty unique to this site. The metal wall fencing the unloading area is still in its camo coat outside, and greenish paint inside. Caution writings in Russian are still clearly visible. Concrete slabs clearly bear the date of manufacture – 1968. This site was reportedly activated on the 26th of December, 1968.

Even the lamps look original. Some of the – likely – tons of material left by the Soviets on the premises of this site has been put on display ahead of the massive bunker door.

The opening mechanism of the latter is a nice work of mechanics. Four plugs actually lock or unlock the door. They can be moved by means of a manual crank, or likely in the past via an electric mechanism (some wiring is still visible). The thickness of the doors is really impressive (look for the cap of my wide lens on the ground in a picture below for comparison!).

Each bunker had two ground-level entrances to the opposite ends, each with two blast-proof doors in a sequence. Warheads were transported by truck, unloaded beside the entrance of one of the two bunkers, and carried inside through the two doors, which constituted an air-tight airlock.

Today, you can see the inside main hall of the bunkers from the outside during a visit. This was likely not the case in the days of operation. The opening procedure required a request signal to travel all the way to Moscow, and a trigger signal traveling in the opposite direction. Once past the first (external) door with the warhead trolley, that door was shut, and the procedure was repeated for the second door, giving access to the inside of the bunker.

A security trigger told Moscow when the door was open. It can still be seen hanging from top of the door frame.

Once inside, you find yourself on a suspended concrete platform. The warhead trolley had to be lowered via a crane – still in place – to the bottom of the cellar ahead, i.e. to the underground level. The stairs now greatly facilitating visitor’s motion around the bunker were not in place back then, and descending to the underground level for the technicians was via a hatch in the floor of the suspended platform, and a ladder close to the side wall.

On the platform, an original Soviet-made air conditioning system can be seen – with original labeling – and signs in Russian are on display on the walls.

The platform is also a vantage point to see the extensive array of heat-exchangers put along a sidewall of the central hall – atmosphere control was of primary importance for the relatively delicate nuclear warheads. Each of them traveled and was kept in a pressurized canister. However, also the storage site was under careful atmospheric control.

To the opposite end of the bunker, the inner tight door of the second entrance can be clearly seen, ahead of another suspended platform. The warheads left the bunker for maintenance (they might have left also for use, but this never happened, except possibly on drills) from that entrance, which had a loading platform outside for putting the warheads on trucks (this can be better seen in other Monolith sites, like Urkut in Hungary, or Stolzenhain in Germany).

Down on the lower level, the main bunker hall gives access to one side to four big cellars, where the warheads spent their time in storage, and to the other sides to technical rooms. The pavement in the storage cellars features the original metal strongpoints, used to anchor the trolleys for the warheads to the ground. This was in case of a shockwave investing the site in an attack, to avoid the trolleys moving and crashing against one another. The original hooks with spherical joints to link the trolley to the strongpoints are also on display.

The storage cellars today have been used to display informative panels, with many interesting pictures and schemes. These include some from major sites connected with the history of nuclear weaponry in the Soviet Union (like from the test site of Semipalatinsk) and the US (like the Titan Museum near Tucson, AZ, covered in this post).

A few former technical rooms are used to store much original technical gear. This ranges from spare parts, tools and personal gear like working suits left by the Soviets (most with signs in Russian), to items ‘Made in Czechoslovakia’ or even radiation detectors from Britain and the West, gathered here for display and comparison.

Some of these spare parts are wrapped and sealed in Russian, looking like they were cataloged back in the time of operations.

In the main hall, many rare vintage pictures retrace the presence of Soviet military forces on this site as well as others in Czechoslovakia. Magnified copies of rare pictures portray the trucks, canisters and the very warheads likely involved in transport and storage in Javor 51. Actually, much mystery exists around the deployment of nuclear ordnance by the USSR outside its borders (not only to Czechoslovakia). Historical and technical information today made available, even to a dedicated public, is very limited, making this chapter of Cold War history even more intriguing.

Again in the central hall, cabinets for monitoring the nuclear warheads can be seen hanging from the walls, painted in blue. Each warhead used to be stored in a canister, which was periodically linked to these cabinets to check the inner atmosphere, temperature, etc., in order to monitor the health of its very sensitive content.

A large part of the technical/living rooms has been preserved in its original appearance. You can see parts of an air conditioning system, a big water tank, a toilet, a now empty bedroom for the troops. The bunker was constantly manned inside by typically six people, who operated in shifts. They did not sleep there, nor used the toilet much due to poor drainage. However, these facilities were used in drills, and were intended for the case of real war operations, when the bunker might have been sealed from the outside.

The electric cabinets take a dedicated room, like the huge air filters and pumps (Soviet made), installed to grant survival of the people inside the bunker in case of an attack with nuclear weapons or other special warfare. Clearly, the level of safety in the design of the bunker stemmed from the fact that it was considered by the Soviet as a a strategic target for NATO forces.

The last technical rooms host a big Diesel generator, supplied with air from the outside, and a big fuel tank in an adjoining room. Many labels bear writings in Russian, but the generator appears to be made in Czechoslovakia. The bunker was linked to the usual electric power grid of the region, and the generator was intended for emergency operations, in case the grid was lost or the bunker was isolated.

From the technical area, it was possible to access or exit the bunker, via a human-size airlock. The innermost tight door can be seen painted in yellow, with a locking mechanism resembling that of the major tight doors for the missile warheads. Outside the airlock, climbing three levels of ladders was required to get to the surface. This was the normal access to the bunker for the military technical staff, except when warheads arrived or left the storage (this was made via the major entrances, as explained).

Back outside, the second bunker, Nr.2, can be found at a short distance from the former. Nr.2 is being prepared for an exhibition on technology. At the time of writing, it can be toured except for the technical/living rooms. It is in a very good condition, and allows to get similar details as the previous Nr.1 on the construction of this type of facility – including the heating/air conditioning system.

The blue cabinets for plugging the canister for routine status checking and maintenance can be found also in Nr.2 in good shape.

Clearly visible here are the doors closing the technical areas and the warhead cellars. The latter were monitored for security just like the external airtight doors of the bunker, each with a sensor telling controllers whether the cellar was locked or not.

The airlock is covered in soot, possibly the result of a fire. Ahead of the entrance, the unloading platform is very interesting, having a unique set of light doors which had to be opened to allow trucks to come in. The concrete part of the platform appears slightly off-standard, with a short lateral concrete ramp, giving access to the main platform from one side. Parts of missiles – original – are being gathered in this area for display.

Monolith sites include two bunkers, which are the core of a strongly defended fenced area. In Javor 51, fences except the external one have been removed for the safety of visitors (rusty barbed wire can be very dangerous). These can still be found in other similar installations (see here). Similarly, the troops and technicians working on site lived in purpose-built housing, segregated from local communities. In Javor 51, this housing still exists, but cannot be visited.

Leaving the place, you can visit the nice visitor/gathering center, and even find some interesting souvenirs!

Getting there and visiting

All in all, the Atom Museum prepared at Javor 51 is a top destination for everybody interested in the history of the Cold War, nuclear warfare, Soviet history, military history, etc.

Credit goes to the owner of the place, Dr. Vaclav Vitovec, who is leading this remarkable preservation effort, and is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide to the site for those visiting. Dr. Vitovec is also the owner of the border museum in Rozvadov, covered in this post.

The Javor 51 site is actually fairly well known at least to a dedicated public, having been visited by historians, scientists and notable figures – including Francis Gary Powers, Jr., who is very active in preserving the history of the Cold War.

The commitment of the museum’s managers is witnessed also by the nice website (also in English), where you can sign-up for a visit on pre-arranged days – as of 2022, all Saturdays in the warm season – or contact the staff for setting up a personalized visit. It is nice to see a good involvement by the local population (the great majority of visitors on regular visits are Czech), including many from younger generations. The exhibits tell much on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and this is a major topic in the guided tour in Czech. Actually, the Czech Republic has a strong nuclear tradition, with many power plants in use, and a commitment for the development of nuclear energy in the future.

The location is around 25 miles southeast of Plzen, or 60 miles southwest of Prague. Easy to reach by car. The exact address is Míšov 51, 33563 Míšov, Czechia. Full info on their website. Visiting on a normal scheduled visit is on a partly-guided basis, meaning that you will get an intro (in Czech) of around 40 minutes, than you will be allowed to access the bunkers and visit on your own, for all the time you like. You might end up spending more than 2 hours checking out the site and everything is in it, if you have a special interest for the topic. Dr. Vitovec is fluent in English, and can provide much information upon request.

Javor 52 – Bělá pod Bezdězem

The Monolith-type site Javor 52 has been willingly demolished, likely by the Government of the Czech Republic, as it was the case for most other similar (or more in general, Soviet-related) sites in Poland and Germany.

However, it was hard to get completely rid of any trace of an installation so bulky and reinforced. Therefore, some remains can still be found and explored.

Some technical buildings still in use close to the bunkers may have been there from the days of operation.

Getting close to the bunker area, traces of the multiple fences originally around the site can be found, either in the trees or in the vicinity of unmaintained roads. Wooden or concrete posts with fragments of barbed wire are clearly visible. Also reinforced concrete shooting points can be spotted in the wild vegetation.

As typical, two bunkers were erected on site, and similarly to Javor 51 (see above), in Javor 52 they are aligned, with the entrances all along the same ideal orientation.

The bunkers in Javor 52 have been interred, so that they are now hardly noticeable from the outside, except to a careful eye. Looking inside the eastern one, it is possible to get a view of the open doors of the main airlock, providing a distant view of the inner main hall.

Descending through the lateral human-sized airlock is not possible except for a short length, from a concrete manhole on top of the bunker.

The western bunker is in a better general condition, and the main hall still retains a pretty unique writing in Russian. The ladder descending from the suspended platform has been substituted with a posthumous, regular ladder. Much metalwork has disappeared though, including the heat exchangers, the crane, and the tight doors.

Between the bunkers, a concrete pool can be found – still watertight! – with a function which is hard to guess. A pool for civil use was installed in Stolzenhain (and reportedly also in Javor 52, but I had not the time to watch out for it), but this was in the low-security of the site, far from the bunkers.

Getting there and moving around

Access to this place is possible without violating any property sign, but is clearly not encouraged. Going unnoticed is made tricky by the presence of a public facility nearby – a shelter for foreigners and some education activity. Parking out of sight is possible along the road 27235, north of the complex and to the west of the road – trailheads and corresponding parking areas can be found there. Check out some satellite map to find a way to the exact location of the bunkers – their respective entrances are approximately here (eastern bunker) and here (western bunker).

I visited the site in 2020, and the entrances appeared very dangerous and easy to seal in a permanent way. I do not have any further update, but would suggest to go prepared to find definitively interred and totally inaccessible bunkers.

Javor 50 – Bílina – Quick note

As of 2020, the site of Javor 50 is in a peculiar state of ‘conservation’. The place is closed to the public, but entering would be basically unimpeded, since the external fence to the former military base is mostly collapsed and interrupted. The Soviet quarters insider still have much to offer – including writing in Russian, a scheme of the base, and much more. Likely, the bunkers are also still in a relatively good shape.

Much surprisingly though, somebody is living there with watchdogs, in miserable conditions, keeping visitors out. It is likely that an official visit may be booked by getting in touch with the municipality, since it appears that the site is not used for anything. However I was not successful in connecting with anybody there, therefore I have no suggestion on this point. The of the main entrance is here.

German and Soviet Military Traces in Jüterbog

The area around Jüterbog, about 1 hour and 15 minutes south of Berlin by car, has enjoyed a long military tradition, dating from the years of the Kaiser and WWI, through the Third Reich and all the more than four decades of the Cold War, until the departure of the Soviet Army in the early 1990s.

Almost for the entire duration of the 20th century, the area has been scattered with barracks, immense training grounds, shooting ranges, officer’s houses, army administration buildings, technical depots, airports and military academies.

The town of Jüterbog is actually much older than the 20th century, but the Soviets, who grew to a much greater population than the Germans in town after 1945, did not pay much attention to this nice medieval town. Following their withdrawal and the end of all military operations around, the town center received substantial money for restoration from the Government of reunified Germany, and the result is really remarkable – Jüterbog is today possibly one of the most lively and nice-looking centers in the region, with medieval towers, gates and churches, hotels, restaurants and bright-painted houses all around.

However, one hundred years of military activities in this province could not be wiped out at once, and despite nature is now invading the old army premises after operations ceased, to a careful eye the heritage of the German and Soviet Armies stationed there can be spotted quite easily, immediately out the lovely historical town.

Perhaps the most prominent witnesses of the past activities are the old flight academy, installed in the Third Reich years and later employed also by the Soviets, who got control of the area after they arrived in 1945, and kept it even after the foundation of the GDR and the corresponding Armed Forces (i.e. the Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA). The flight academy is today a listed building, despite in a state of partial disrepair. Another example is the big airbase of Jüterbog/Altes Lager, which went on operating as an NVA and Soviet airbase until the very end of the Cold War, and is now being used as a sport airfield, a kart circuit track, an event venue and a solar power plant.

Both these two items are covered in another chapter.

In the following report, more locations in and around Jüterbog are pinpointed, photographed during two visits, partly guided by the knowledgeable Dr. Reiner Helling, in the Summer seasons of 2021 and 2022.

Heading to Berlin or the former GDR? Looking for traces of the Cold War open for a visit?

A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY

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Sights

The material in this post covers ‘Shelter Albrecht’, a one-of-a-kind private collection of items from WWII and especially from Soviet times, more views of the former airfield of Altes Lager, with a Granit bunker still in very good conditions, an abandoned military hospital with evident traces of Soviet operations, a Soviet cemetery, and a few more items, silent and overlooked witnesses of a recently bygone era.

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Shelter Albrecht

The airbase of Jüterbog/Altes Lager was selected by the Soviets for further development with the arrival of jets in the late 1940s-early 1950s, and grew to be a prominent attack aircraft and helicopter base in the territory of the GDR. Now reduced in size to the point that some taxiways have been turned into public roads, some of the incredibly many aircraft shelters originally in place in the peripheral parts of the base – mostly AU-16 – have been wiped out. However, a set of two to the east of the runway have been spared this fate, and have been redeemed by a private business. One has been turned into a venue for events, whereas the other has been employed to showcase a great collection of WWII and Cold War memorabilia. Actually, the two hangars are located inside a somewhat larger perimeter, with an original technical building and room for even more exhibits.

A first impressive sight is the original Soviet scheme of the base. Similar signs were typically put close to the gate of any Soviet base (as seen for instance here in Ribnitz/Damgarten), and with their Russian writings today they witness the Soviet tenancy of the base.

On the apron, an original military version of the ubiquitous Trabant, in army green color, is on display together with a field kitchen and a gigantic roadwork machine. The latter is Russian made, with tank tracks, and powered by a 12-cylinder Diesel engine.

A Mil Mi-2 helicopter, which for some hard-to-imagine reason had ended up on the Adriatic coast of Italy in a private collection, where it sat almost derelict, has been brought back to the other side of the Iron Curtain, and restored in a camo coat and placed in a prominent position. Not far, a wing from an old Lavochin La-5 Soviet aircraft can be found.

Still on the open air exhibition are a decorated panel once gracing a Soviet hospital – possibly the one described later (here) – and another celebrating the Warsaw Pact. But the exhibits are really countless, and include propaganda posters, and canisters for ordnance.

To the side of the main exhibition hangar, in the area of an interred fuel tank once serving the base, is an incredible set of Soviet panels, originally from this or other Soviet bases around. These panels are partly decoration/celebration signs, with portraits of Soviet soldiers and emblems.

Other are technically-themed, with explanations concerning driving habits and rules, hand-to-hand combat, and more. Similar items, including fake targets for assault training, can be found for instance in Forst Zinna, an abandoned Soviet base not far from Jüterbog (covered here).

Also part of the collection is a rare mural, apparently retracing the push to the west of a Soviet division (?) during the Great Patriotic War.

Inside, the aircraft shelter is stuffed with interesting memorabilia. From WWII, exhibits include remains of downed aircraft, including damaged engines, propellers and canopies. Among them are remains of an Avro Lancaster, a Focke-Wulf 190, a Junkers Ju-87 and the canopy of a pretty rare training (two-seats) version of the Messerschmitt Bf-109.

Four large scale models cover as many interesting sights around. The first is the former flight academy of the Third Reich (mentioned above and covered here), north of the Altes Lager airbase premises. Also on display are books and furniture originally from the library of the academy.

A second model portrays the entire area between the academy (north) and the airfield (south), including the latter. This area, now largely shrouded in the trees and partially in private hands, used to host technical installations and even factories connected with warfare business – all linked by an extensive network of roads and railways.

Another model is that of two airship hangars from the years of German tenancy. These had to be really huge, but are today completely gone. Among the factories in place in the area, were those for supplying gas for the airships.

Finally, a fourth scale model represents the older airfield of Jüterbog/Damm. The latter is not far from Altes Lager, and is today in private hands for some cattle breeding business. It features very peculiar concrete hangars, an interesting specimen of Third Reich construction engineering. Some aerial pictures can be found here. That airfield was not selected for further development by the Soviets, due to the limited potential for runway lengthening, in turn due to the proximity with Jüterbog town.

Soviet-related items on display range from painted tables, originally gracing the walls of the base, to technical signs in Russian, to a full array of personal and military items, all belonging to the Soviet staff stationed in Jüterbog. These include an interesting overall map of the Soviet airfields on GDR territory, with basic technical data.

Among the highlights, an official printed portrait of Stalin, and one of Brezhnev in a military uniform, parachutes and parts from attack aircraft, many direction signs and instructional panels for low-ranking military staff. Also very interesting is a radar scope with the three air corridors to West-Berlin and the position of Altes Lager printed on it!

Of special interest for aircraft enthusiasts are many pictures from the days of operation of the airbase, with many exotic Soviet aircraft seen landing, departing or taxiing around.

Other panels tells about the presence of rocket forces in the area of Jüterbog – in particular the 27th R.Br. of the NVA. They operated the SCUD-B system.

Back outside, the exhibition is completed by an original monument from Altes Lager, often employed as a background for official ceremonies, and more personal memorabilia of the owner of the museum, formerly serving within a tank division of the NVA.

Reconstructed shops and schools are on display, with much original furniture and everyday items of Soviet make.

Getting there and Visiting

The place is really worth a visit for everybody interested in memorabilia items from Soviet times, or for those looking for tangible traces of the military past of Jüterbog. The location is easy to reach by car, with a convenient internal parking. The address is Niedergörsdorfer Allee 4, 14913 Niedergörsdorf, Germany.

An updated official website with opening times is apparently not available. However, Mr. Helmut Stark, the owner of the place, may be contacted beforehand (in German only) to inquire about opening times and plan a visit – try Googling his name and that of the site for updated contacts. The place is regularly open at least in the weekends in the warm season. A visit to this site will be likely with Mr. Stark following you and giving explanations in German. This will take about 45 minutes.

Granit Bunker and Hangars in Jüterbog/Altes Lager

Some views of the Altes Lager airbase are provided in this chapter, and some aerial views can be seen here. The huge, flat-top hangars date from the Third Reich era, and similarly the control tower with its annexes. Some of the hangars were reportedly dismounted by the Soviets and taken to the Soviet Union soon after the end of WWII.

Besides all the aircraft shelters scattered all around the runway, a relevant and pretty secluded Soviet addition north of the airfield is a Soviet Granit-type bunker. This type of bunker was among the lightest in Soviet inventory, and could serve multiple purposes, e.g. storing movable radar trucks, tanks, other machinery, or weapons. Actually, its presence on an airfield may suggest the purpose of storing special air-dropped weapons, maybe tactical nuclear, high-explosive or chemical ordnance.

Bunkers of Granit-type are possibly the most frequent special constructions in former Soviet bases (see for instance here or here), but the one in Jüterbog is interesting since it is very well conserved, and its massive metal doors are still perfectly in place, providing a nice impression of how this technical item should have looked like in the days of operation.

Getting there and Visiting

The airport of Altes Lager is today pretty busy, with several companies having taken over much of its original premises now open for business. Multiple access points are available, and chances of looking inside the original installations are many. Given the still exceptional state of conservation of the Granit bunker, in order to protect this rare historical artifact from the impressive hordes of catatonic idiot spoilers and writers out there, no indication is provided on its exact location.

Military Hospital

Among the buildings now shrouded by the overgrown vegetation in the area between Jüterbog/Altes Lager airfield and the town of Jüterbog is a sizable military hospital. Totally invisible from the road, the hospital is basically made of a single, building featuring three long interconnected rows.

It is made of the typical German dark-red brick, a design which is way too elegant for Soviet occupants. The arrangement of the facade and the nice railings suggest a construction date from the years of the Kaiser and the German Empire, maybe early 20th century.

However, the years of Soviet use are witnessed by a big mural, portraying Lenin with some Soviet soldiers in the background, with a black and yellow striped ribbon and a red star, emblems of the Red Army.

To the more careful eye, a few graffiti in Russian can be found here and there, with a date as usual.

The aura is very silent and mysterious, and as such, this location is a mecca for urban explorers. Actually, the only noise came from a fast spinning ventilation fan in a window frame! This was pushed by an air stream however, not likely by a motor…

Some more buildings complete this complex, and original GDR-style lamps can still be seen around – the tall trees now surrounding the building were likely not in place when the hospital was closed, presumably in the early 1990s.

Getting there and Moving around

Not difficult to find in the trees between Jüterbog and the airfield of Altes Lager, there is no clear interdiction sign to access this complex from behind, yet vibration sensors planted in the ground can be spotted around, and some security cars can be seen sometimes parked on the main road. A walk around the hospital is not especially dangerous nor difficult, and may take about 25 minutes taking all the pictures. The building is architecturally nice and possibly listed. Yet it is in partial disrepair and largely sealed, and getting in is obviously not advisable.

Soviet Cemetery

The only relic of the years of Soviet occupation which is immediately visible to the general public in Jüterbog is the Soviet military cemetery. This is located to the back of the Liebfrauenkirche, in the historical center of Jüterbog.

Actually, a monumental part, with railings embellished with hammer and sickle emblems and a monument with writings in German and Russian to the back, is detached from the church yard.

However, possibly in later times, the limited space available in the lot originally planned for the monument meant some graves were dug right in the church graveyard, side by side – but not mixed – with German graves.

Getting there and Visiting

The exact address is Am Dammtor, 14913 Jüterbog, Germany. The place is well-kept, being part of the historical city center of Jüterbog. Parking opportunities all around on the street. A visit may take 10 minutes.

Railway Yard, School and Command Building

The town of Jüterbog acted as a ‘local capital’ for the many Soviet troops and their families scattered in the corresponding district. The hospital (see above) was not the only large installation in place. A district school was also installed, which served not only the very town of Jüterbog – with a Russian-speaking population of more than 70.000, greater than the German nationals – but also the residing Soviet population of smaller technical installations in the area. A notable example is the impressive nuclear depot in Stolzenhain (see here), where a dedicated staff and their families occupied four residential blocks now gone. Their children reportedly attended school in Jüterbog.

The school is today largely abandoned, and a quick tour around reveals typical Soviet decorations in the large sporting hall.

The school building is geographically close to the railway station. The latter had a passenger terminal dedicated to the Soviet population, which was completely segregated from the German one.

Furthermore, the railway in Jüterbog had also a primary logistic function, connected with the military activities going on in the area. Besides transporting tanks, vehicles and other material, also nuclear warheads arrived by rail from Belarus or Ukraine (both in the USSR at the time), for storage in the Stolzenhain Monolith-type bunkers (see here). A special railway track with a dead end in the trees featured a special interchange platform, allowing to move the sensitive warheads in their controlled canisters to trucks, and by road to Stolzenhain – usually at night. Since warheads were also sent back for maintenance or overhaul, the transport operated also in the opposite direction.

Very close to the railway station and the school is also a large grassy area, surrounded by a nice, old-style metal fence. This area is that of an older training ground, dating to the years of the Kaiser. A command building, now in disrepair, betrays the same origin, featuring decorations in a typical old-German style.

Getting there and Moving around

The school can be found in Jüterbog here. Cross the street from the school, the old training grounds and command building are immediately spotted. Walking north past the command building, you get access to a pedestrian bridge over the railway tracks, with a nice view of the station. An exploration of the railway tracks has to be considered extremely dangerous, since the railway line there is today a high-speed one, with bullet-fast trains appearing in just seconds. A walk around this spot in Jüterbog may take 15 minutes. Parking opportunities ahead of the command building.

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Bunker Kossa – A Preserved Cold War Military Bunker in the GDR

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The history of the underground installation in Kossa-Söllichau begins in the 1930s under Hitler’s rule.

In 1935, an affiliated company of the German chemicals giant WASAG, named Deutsche Sprengchemie Moschwig and devoted to the mass production of explosives for warfare use, had a new plant built in the rather uninhabited forest area between Leipzig and Wittenberg.

The plant, codenamed ‘Beech’ (or ‘Buche’ in German), was updated over the years and turned into a major production center for several models of shells and high-explosive charges. A primary contractor of the German Army, the company also held relevant patents, including one for hollow charge grenades.

By the end of WWII in April 1945, when the area fell under Soviet control and production was halted, the plant counted 3.600 employees, and had a production capacity of around 600.000 ammunitions per month. It had been provided with a dedicated road and railway connection, and built mostly underground, with several concrete bunkers surfacing from the grassy terrain around.

Following the Potsdam agreement (July 1945), the area was completely flattened by the hand of the Soviets, similar to some other production facilities in Germany. Demolition had been completed by the end of 1947. Following that, the area remained silent for more than a decade.

By the early 1960s, with the Cold War and rearmament in full swing, the the Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA – the short name of the Armed Forces of the GDR – had been long established as an ally of the Red Army. The latter was physically present in Germany with a huge number of troops and war material, having taken over many of the former German bases from WWII (see here or here for instance). However, the GDR clearly had its own Armed Forces, which actually could count on high-quality war material, typically either manufactured in Germany or supplied by the USSR. More and more locations – especially the most secluded and easy to hide – got surrounded by fences, and ended under the control of the NVA for many different purposes.

Deployed on the border with the West, and considered a reliable and well-trained partner by the Red Army, the NVA was included in the war plans conceived in Moscow, intended to unfold in the event of an open war with the neighbor NATO Countries. The NVA had two larger military districts, south of Berlin (III) and north of Berlin (V). In case of war, district III would give birth to a 3rd Army of mixed GDR/USSR forces, to quickly push towards the south-west into Federal Germany (heading to Koblenz), and from there to the Atlantic coast, to be reached in a matter of a few days.

The headquarter of the 3rd Army was in the so-called ‘Mosel’ bunker, an underground command facility near the town of Zwickau, today converted for an alternate use and not visible at all.

An alternate control site, which was also primarily involved in drills and training, was built in the area of the former ‘Beech’ installation, and took the name of ‘Bunkeranlage’ (i.e. bunker installation) Kossa-Söllichau. This site was prepared in the years 1976-79, and consisted mainly of 5 large interred bunkers on the same premises, capable of resisting to tactical nuclear blasts, with up-to-date systems for communication, and an ability to replicate war situations, so as to carry out realistic and complicated tactical simulations and drills. The staff was typically of 400.

Similar to the majority of military assets in Germany – and especially within the super-militarized ex-GDR – Kossa was incorporated in the Armed Forces of reunified Germany (1990), but was soon declared surplus, deactivated and handed over for civilian use.

A society of enthusiasts is today running this former facility, keeping it open for visitors on a regular basis. What makes Kossa an exceptional destination for both the general public and the most committed war tourist as well is the great state of conservation of the entire facility. As it can be seen in the following photographs, taken in Summer 2022, inside the bunkers it is possible to see not only the original structure, but most of the original communication systems, paneling, signs, furniture, lamps, toilets, lighting, wallpaper, etc. making the place a very vivid testimony of the Cold War years.

All in all, this is one of the best surviving specimens of bunkerized NVA sites, and definitely worth a visit for a rich in detail full immersion in the military technology and history of the Cold War years.

Sights

A visit to the Kossa site will start walking past the original inner gateway to the bunkerized part of the complex. The original wall going all around the entire military area has been partly removed, allowing to get direct access to the ‘core’ of the installation by car. Traces of the electrified fence running all around this inner part of the complex are still standing. The entrance to a bunker for the guards can be seen in this area, but this cannot be visited.

The core of the complex with the military bunkers is aligned along a single, mostly straight technical road, built with large concrete slabs. The road track today is the same as in the original pre-WWII complex, and for this reason, it was not camouflaged. Other buildings in the complex, an even the connection roads departing from the main one, are painted in camo coat, for deception in case of overflight by plane or satellite.

The ticket office today is hosted in a large technical building by the entrance. In this area there used to be canteens and other services.

Past the entrance to the bunker area, it is possible to visit five bunkers, which will be listed next.

Computer Bunker

Four out of five bunkers (the exception being the intelligence bunker, see later) are built around the same blueprint. They have a single entrance door, deceived under a small wooden hut. Access to the bunker is via a security and decontamination path. At first you see a big camera at the level of your face, and an intercom panel, all for identification. Next follows a sequence of tight doors, at a close distance from one another, producing three small tight compartments.

In case of nuclear/chemical contamination, faced in wartime, in the first compartment you could take an anti-poison kit, EP-68. Exemplars of this are still in place. In the next compartment you had to throw away all your clothes and belongings, which were put through a hatch to the side. In a third small compartment, you found a shower – a central passage in the decontamination process, even in case of exposition to nuclear events.

Through a last tight door, you could finally enter the clean area of the bunker. Here regular toilets and showers can be found, before going down one level, to the technical part.

Back then, there used to be three levels of air sealing. No air sealing, in regular, no-war/no-drill conditions, meant the decontamination procedure was not activated, and the bunker was ventilated with fresh air. In sealing conditions, typically at war but not under direct attack, the bunker was tight closed, and air was pumped from the outside through huge filtering canisters, purpose designed to stop both smoke and other gases, or poisonous chemicals. On the third level of air sealing, corresponding to an emergency condition (e.g. a direct attack), no air was pumped from the outside, and special filters capturing carbon dioxide allowed to carry on for a limited amount of time – reportedly a shorter time than granted by food or water storage.

Filters for the air conditioning system (sealing level 2) and for adsorbing carbon dioxide (sealing level 3) were made in the USSR. Those for carbon dioxide are scattered around the bunkers, and feature a rather vintage Soviet look, with a prominent five pointed star on top. The label carry the assembly year, in most cases the early 1970s.

Once downstairs, you can appreciate the construction of the bunker lower level, based on prefabricated concrete frames. The bunkers in Kossa were capable of resisting blasts typically from smaller tactical devices, and were ranked at the fifth strength level (level ‘E’), the first level being the strongest.

Here a few rooms are still perfectly preserved with computers, of which the most impressive is a mainframe AP-3, working with magnetic tape. The GDR could boast a top-notch electronic industry within the Eastern Bloc, and all consoles and electronics in Kossa bear local labels.

The purpose of the computers, deemed so relevant to create a bunker specifically for them, was the fast elaboration of all information from the war theater. The latter was both local and global, since thanks to the links reaching the site through the intelligence bunker (see later), information of any kind could be elaborated, allowing the constant updating of operation maps, and the monitoring of all war assets. In drills, the computation capacity of the the system allowed to simulate events, thus forming the core of war-game operations.

A small part of the same bunker, a kind of mezzanine, was designed as a small hospital – all exhibits are original here as well.

More items on display in this area include original dosimeters and gear for checking radiation levels – either GDR- or USSR-made. In the connecting corridors are an intercom and an alarm horn – just examples of the perfectly preserved material on display.

Command Bunker

The command bunker shares the general arrangement with the computer bunker. A full anti-chemical/biological warfare suit is displayed by the entrance, ahead of the decontamination facilities. This type of suit should be worn over regular garments, and made for a very uncomfortable, ultra-warm and suffocating top layer, which reportedly caused extreme sweating.

The focus here is a control room, with a large table and an operation map, as well as connections through several lines to the relevant information networks. On one side of the control room are desks for telephone operators. On another, watches and chronographs. Also interesting are two TV-scopes, which allowed to plot useful information especially in case of drills.

Examples of maps for military drills are scattered all around. Since war plans were all variations on the same theme – a quick attack pushing to the west – all corresponding maps feature this type of planned motion, from within the borders of the GDR to the FRG. The name of the drills can be seen clearly stated on the maps – for instance ‘Grenzschicht – 81’ from 1981.

Other rooms on the underground level feature very interesting examples of machinery for translating information to/from paper maps, even physical 3D maps with elevation!

Satellite or spy-plane images of the site are on display as well. The site of Kossa was reportedly not far from the southernmost of the three air corridors reaching West-Berlin from the FRG. However, even though the site was not unknown in the West, its purpose remained largely a guess for the duration of the Cold War – and likely so also for the local civilian population.

Technical Bunker

A major concern in the Cold War was that of the survival of the chain of command in the event of a total nuclear war. This led to the implementation of additional on-site plants, for self-sustained operations in case a nuclear explosion nearby made the area unsuitable for human life, or when links with the surroundings were lost. These plants included primarily power generators, typically large Diesel engines with their fuel tanks, and drinkable water tanks. As seen in the computer bunker, also breathable air was a major concern.

In the technical bunker in Kossa, similar in shape to the previous two, at least two large power generators can still be seen – and smelt… – on the underground level. Several electric parts for replacement are also there. Another room hosts large drinkable water tanks.

An interesting preserved office for a commanding officer still retains its original GDR wallpaper, and additional comfort is provided by a fake wood pavement.

Large electric cabinets take a big room, where instrumentation for radiation measurement is on display nearby.

Other particulars include a dial telephone with a reminder of the quick reaction numbers, including the Volkspolizei – the name of the People’s Police of the GDR, which can be seen on a label!

Intelligence Bunker

The intelligence bunker is way larger than the others in Kossa, and is also more articulated. Access was possible via two bulky metal gates, located at an underground level on the far ends of the bunker, and reached through truck-sized ramps from ground level.

Behind the door, a tunnel of prefabricated concrete allowed to store many vehicles – typically trucks, jeeps and trailers, including vehicles with communication functions.

To the interred back of the tunnel, a human sized hatch gave access to the pressurized, tight area of the bunker. This inner area, completely interred, is surrounded by a concrete case, built by a single pouring to avoid the creation of weak junctions, and such to withstand intense blasts.

Following a tight compartment, with an array of original air-filtering canisters on display, you get access to a long corridor, providing access to some rooms with technical gears for communication. Here communication with different levels of secrecy were managed, accessing all the existing links implemented in the years of construction within the GDR, and between all Countries of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR.

A first room is centered on a large console, with an original teleprinting device still in place – top-notch for the time. Still in use today in some businesses, teleprinting is a very reliable way of communicating, which is also less prone to interception than telephone.

An adjoining room managed contact with three wired systems of communication, working at increasing levels of encryption security, and used for transmitting routine or less-standard orders. These systems included S1 and SAS communication protocols. The corresponding transmitters/receivers – now very rare pieces of machinery – can be seen on display.

Encrypted incoming messages were sent to a special room, where they were translated in human language, before being internally forwarded to the command bunker. Similarly, encryption facilities were all in another room, where outbound communications were made ready for transmission.

An impressive technical room is stacked with communication electronics. The number of components is really high, and reflects a very high performance, achieved by means of top level, but relatively bulky, components from the 1970s.

A room in this bunker is dedicated to the ‘BARS’ system (‘БАРС’ in Russian), a troposphere (i.e. not wired) transmission system within all States in the Warsaw Pact and with the USSR. Beside an indigenous transmission protocol, the system made use of purpose-designed antennas, with easily deployable nodes put on wheeled trucks. An evoking, very interesting map of the fixed nodes of the system, in Russian, can still be seen on a wall. The desks for the operators of the system are just besides.

Another interesting item is the control panel of a micro-wave antenna, installed in Kossa at a shallow underground level, in an area which can still be located, corresponding to an inexplicable grassy lot along the main road in the site. This antenna system was apparently never used, on grounds of energy consumption and potential damages to other systems in the Kossa site.

Back outside, close to the intelligence bunker are an original weather station, placed nearby a radiation detection system – looking like a bell bolted to the ground. Examples of connection roads covered in camo paint can be seen in this area. Along the main road of the site, many ramps give access to semi-interred lots, where technical trucks used to be placed for operations.

An example of these trucks is a Soviet trailer for enemy signal jamming. This is well preserved both inside and outside. The label tells the construction year – 1986.

Museum Bunker

The last visitable bunker is similar in shape to the former three, and has been converted into a collection of items from the history of the old WASAG site, the NVA bunker and the Cold War.

Propaganda items from the GDR enrich this interesting collection, as well as rare photographs from the totally gone ‘Beech’ site originally developed in the Third Reich years. Also on display are detailed designs of the weapons produced here in WWII.

Getting there and Visiting

The Kossa installation can be easily reached by car, roughly 20 miles south of Wittenberg and 30 miles northeast of Leipzig. Exact location here.

The Kossa bunker is professionally managed by a dedicated Society. Their website is here. They speak only German, and the website is in German accordingly. Opening times are published for the season, and are basically in all weekends in the warm season. A synthetic leaflet in English can be obtained. However, the basic notions on this page may also help in getting much of the visit.

Two separate tickets can be purchased, one for a self-guided visit of the computer, technical and museum bunkers, and another for a guided visit of the command and intelligence bunkers. The guided tour is offered only once per day in German, in the early afternoon as of 2022.

A good strategy for a complete visit may be checking in during the morning, visiting the self-guided part, having a packed lunch, and taking the guided tour.

I followed that plan. This meant a stay of roughly five hours. The report on this page was obtained visiting the site together with Dr. Reiner Helling, who offered me a very detailed insight of the Kossa site, before we took the guided tour.

Photography is allowed everywhere. Flash/tripod generally not needed, at least with high-ISO sensors.

Possibly only cash accepted at the ticket counter.

The New Life of a Soviet Base in Germany – Ribnitz-Damgarten

Most Soviet bases in the former territory of the German Democratic Republic met with oblivion following the departure of their Red Army tenants back to mainland Russia, in the early 1990s.

Most locations – including full scale airbases (see here, here or here), infantry academies and shooting ranges (see here) and nuclear warhead bunkers (see here) – have been returned to nature, demolished or converted into something else. Much on this website documents this hidden part of the Cold War heritage in Germany.

However, there exist exceptions, like the airbase of Grossenhain with its preserved Granit-type bunker (see here), or the central Soviet headquarters of Wünsdorf (see here).

Another notable exception is that of the former Third Reich, and later Soviet, airbase of Ribnitz-Damgarten. Following an exploration in a day of closure in 2016 (documented here), the site was visited again legit, this time accessing the unique Museum of Technology of Pütnitz. The museum collection is very nice in itself, covering both civil and military vehicles from the DDR age, as well as heavy Soviet military vehicles, and even a few boats and aircraft from the Eastern bloc.

The museum is hosted in a complex of hangars dating from the years of the Third Reich, when the airbase of Ribnitz was active for experimenting with seaplanes, and busy with a facility of the Heinkel aircraft manufacturing company. These concrete hangars are still standing today, undoubtedly an example of German engineering excellence.

The Soviets made good use of this facility, and Ribnitz-Damgarten became a very active base on the Baltic coast for the full span of the Cold War – until the withdrawal of the then-Russian troops, who used this airport as the springboard for their final hop to their new home in Russia.

A further reason to pay a visit to Ribnitz-Damgarten is the chance to assist to the one-of-a-kind reunion and live exhibition of preserved vehicles from the Soviet bloc. Held in the summer, this ‘Treffen’ (i.e. reunion) is really worth the effort of setting up a trip, even when visiting from abroad. It is a multi-day event, and possibly the largest meeting of aficionados of cars, motorcycles and trucks from the communist world, with the chance to see all this good old technology at work, i.e. spitting and thick-smoking, all around the base. Chance is that you will drive on the original Soviet runway to reach the event parking!

Besides this yearly event, the museum offers live demonstrations of military vehicles on a more regular schedule.

The present post and photographs cover a visit to the Technology Museum of Pütnitz in occasion of the reunion of Eastern Europe vehicles held in late August 2021.

Sights

Museum of Technology of Pütnitz

The museum of Pütnitz has taken over the hangars of the old Third Reich base to the west of the airfield of Ribnitz-Damgarten. These hangars are pretty interesting from an architectural standpoint. By using large and curved concrete frames, the inside volume is extremely big for the time. As a matter of fact, they were kept in use for decades, since they could match the size of larger aircraft and vehicles of the Cold War.

These hangars are just a handful, but complemented by smaller (regular size…) hangars they provide for a very large display area, wisely adopted by the museum for its exhibits.

One of the hangars is dedicated to the NVA, i.e. of the Armed Forces of the former GDR. Among the many artifacts on display, are a MiG-21 fighter, the skeleton of an Antonov An-2 transport, and a Mil-8 helicopter. The latter has been placed in a suspended position, with a mechanism to rotate its rotors!

In the same hangar you can find a pretty extensive collection of light armored vehicles, technical amphibious vehicles as well as full-scale tanks formerly in use with the NVA in different stages of the Cold War.

A smaller area is dedicated to a display of NVA uniforms, GDR emblems and medals, uniforms of youth organizations within the GDR, as well as detailed scale models of war material in the arsenal of the USSR or the GDR over the years.

A second smaller hangar hosts trucks of Soviet make, formerly used by – presumably – the NVA. Some are especially interesting, since they were used as missile transports, and are on display with their original trailers and… payload! Also trucks transporting Soviet-made radar antennas, for air target capture or anti-aircraft missile guidance, are on display.

To the back of the same hangar, a super-interesting collection of material connected with nuclear warfare is on display. In particular, field instrumentation for measuring radiation levels, dosimeters, anti-radiation suits and masks, specific medical kits are part of this rich and uncommon exhibition.

Some of the measurement equipment is still working, with old-fashioned, low-light electronic displays still lit – really an evoking sight from the Cold War era!

Yet in another hangar, a huge collection of GDR cars and motorcycles is on display. Most of these now vintage cars and vehicles used to be a rather common sight in the GDR. The now iconic Trabant was a product of the GDR. However, many other car manufacturers existed in the Eastern Bloc, and in the USSR as well, and their products were often exported to other Countries in the bloc.

Stately cars for the top-ranking communist leadership were usually Soviet-made. You can find a small gallery of these Cold War icons in a corner of the same hangar, ahead of giant portraits of the SED (the ruling party of the GDR) leaders – Ulbricht, Honecker, Krenz.

To the back of the hangar, classic motorcycles from the Eastern Bloc are on display. They include MZ motorcycles in use with the Völkspolizei, the police of the GDR. A sizable collection of cameras is also on display.

In the same hangar are a reconstruction of a gas station, as well as a crop-dusting propeller aircraft.

Notably, you can spot fading writings in Russian on the walls of this hangar, an heritage of the Soviet tenancy of the airbase.

Some museum items are on display outside. Some of the military vehicles in the collection are still in working conditions. Live demonstrations of tanks and armored transports are regularly planned, and make for a nice sight and a thrilling experience!

Soviet Relics

Despite having being taken over by the museum and other commercial activities, the premises of the old Soviet airbase of Ribnitz-Damgarten betray the long decades of Soviet use. Besides the relics you can find scattered around in the airfield (see here for a previous exploration), very close to the museum hangars you can spot several technical buildings belonging to the base, and now basically abandoned.

On the side facade of one of those, a colossal Soviet emblem can still be seen, albeit now fading.

Signs written in Russian can be spotted here and there, as well as an original, very interesting full scheme of the base (in Russian too), a typical sight in any Soviet base.

Now-rotting buildings for the base staff can be found emerging from the overgrown vegetation to the north of the hangars.

Finally, the runway is still in a good shape, albeit cut to the east to make room to yet another solar power plant – with a really questionable function, considering the rainy weather physiologically insisting on the region most of the year. The original centerline and other markings can be clearly seen still today.

The airport is closed, but since the runway has not been taken away, perhaps some hope remains for a future with at least general aviation activities, like in Rechlin or Finow.

International Reunion of Vehicles of the Eastern Bloc

Perhaps among the busiest days of the museum in Pütnitz, those of the ‘Internationales Ostblock-Fahrzeugtreffen’ (which translates into the title of this paragraph) make for one of the most exciting occasions for a visit. Usually taking three days, this colossal reunion hosts roughly 2.000 vehicles, from cars to trucks, from farm tractors to motorcycles, from side-cars to firefighting vehicles, and from 4×4 military transports to camping trailers – all made on the communist side of the Iron Curtain!

The reunion is international, and many come from beyond the near border with Poland. In 2021 the reunion hit its 20th edition.

All vehicles are parked in virtually any lot of flat land between and around the hangars of the museum, including the original taxiways and any grassy areas around.

Furthermore, besides some official movements and parade, you will see vehicles moving around at any time, with their very characteristic good old piston engine crackling sound, as well as much spitting and thick-smoking!

Besides the countless Trabants, built in several different versions you will come to discover, chance is to see massive Soviet GAZ military trucks, or even Hungary-built Ikarus buses!

The ‘Treffen’ of 2021 was especially unlucky with the weather, which on the plus side allowed many vehicles to show their all-weather capability!

To better appreciate the noise and smoke, have a look to these three videos!

Visiting

The Museum of Technology in Pütnitz allows you to access the otherwise inaccessible base of Ribnitz-Damgarten. Access is recommended by car. The entrance is to the northeast of the airfield, through the original gate of the airbase. The museum has a website here.

Visiting in normal conditions, i.e. out of any special event, may take about 1 hour, more for a piston-power-minded subject, or for military/vehicles enthusiasts. In occasion of the vehicle reunion, planning a half-day visit at least is recommended, since the display of vehicles is really huge and worth a careful glance. A talk with many nice owners and enthusiasts may be a further plus in this occasion.

Missiles in Germany – The Live Exhibition of the Society of Military History in Demen

Heading to Berlin or the former GDR? Looking for traces of the Cold War open for a visit?

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The armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), named NVA (‘Nationalen Volksarmee’, or National People’s Army), and the Western Group of Forces of the USSR coexisted on the territory of the communist-led GDR for the entire duration of the Cold War. They were basically independent from one another at least in terms of organization. The NVA was sized according to the interests of a highly militarized, but relatively small country in the core of Europe, and its vocation was mainly tactical. Nonetheless, the NVA boasted several branches, and in particular a land army, an air force and a navy.

Actually, the attack plan of the USSR in Europe – constantly updated over the years – foresaw a total, ‘one-shot’ massive attack aimed at reaching the North Sea coast in the shortest time possible, starting from the border with the West, thus primarily from the GDR, and making use of tactical nuclear weapons on key-targets in Western Europe. An involvement of all Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact – beside the Soviet Red Army – was part of the plan, and as a result especially the good level of the military supply of the GDR was always a concern in the eyes of war planners in the Eastern Bloc.

When thinking of missiles and the Cold War, images of the parades on the Red Square in Moscow typically come to one’s mind. However, local national Armies of nations in the Warsaw Pact indeed had armed forces on their own, and usually also missile brigades incorporated in them.

This is the case of the NVA, which was fed by the USSR with the most advanced rocket technology, as soon as missiles grew in size and reliability to become significant warfare items. An excellence of Soviet rocket warfare has been the great care for the advanced deployment and ease of transportation of any assets, partly dictated by the infrastructural difficulties of a country so huge and so extreme in terms of terrain conditions and seasonal changes as the USSR. Actually, Soviet transport vehicles for missiles since the early 1960s matched missiles of virtually any sizes, of course including those for theater operations, which are intermediately compact and lightweight, especially when compared to larger, heavier and longer-range strategic missiles.

The arsenal of the NVA in terms of missiles was kept up to date between the early 1960s – as said, the beginning of serious rocket-based warfare and correspondingly war action plans, also in the West – and the end of the Cold War. Following bilateral Soviet-US disarmament treaties in the late 1980s, a transition period was started, obviously influenced by the 1989 anti-communist revolution and the starting of the German reunification process. The NVA was dissolved and its assets incorporated in the armed forces of Federal Germany in 1990. Due to the changed global relationships following the collapse of the USSR, most rocket forces in Europe, originally intended to fight a war on the continent, were significantly reduced or totally disbanded.

In its heyday, the missile forces of the NVA totaled two regular Brigades, incorporated in the land forces of the NVA, and eleven independent Brigades. They were supplied over the years with SCUD-A/B, Luna and Oka missile and corresponding transport/launch vehicles in various versions. The warheads supplied to the NVA were usually conventional. However provision was made for nuclear warheads, which were always kept under the direct control of the Soviets in two purpose-built nuclear depots (see this post).

An excerpt of the rich history of the rocket forces of the NVA can be reviewed visiting the nice exhibition of the ‘Militärhistorischer Verein Demen’, which translates into ‘Society of Military History of Demen’, located in the homonym village in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the northernmost district of the former GDR. It is easily reachable less than one hour driving inland from Lübeck or Rostock on the Baltic Coast. The display of this society of enthusiasts reaches even further, documenting the presence of missile forces of the US and within the Bundeswehr of Federal Germany, supplied with American material during the Cold War.

This post covers this very nice and lively collection, really special both in terms of items on display, and for the fact that most vehicles there are still in working order – when visiting, you will have good chances to see them moving around!

Photographs were taken in 2021.

Sights

The base in Demen became active between 1975 and 1977, when the 5th Mobile Rocket Technical Base (BRTB-5) and later the 5th Rocket Brigade (5. RBr) of the NVA moved in with all their assets. The 5. RBr had been originally formed in 1962 with another name (Autonomous Artillery Brigade sABr-2), and supplied with SCUD-A missiles. In 1964 it converted to SCUD-B theater missiles. It was re-founded as the 5. RBr only in 1967.

In 1985 it was resupplied with the SS-23 Spider (aka Oka, or 9M714 in Soviet coding). The INF treaty signed in 1987 by President Reagan and Secretary Gorbachev targeted that type of missile, which was therefore short-lived, and disposed of as soon as 1990 in the NVA (later Bundeswehr).

The exhibition in Demen offers an insight in the missile types in use by the NVA. They have been placed inside a building of the former NVA military base on site, which following disbandment of the NVA has been converted into a multi-functional facility, with local companies and diverse businesses taking over the hangars, warehouses and residential buildings.

A complete 9P113 Soviet-made launcher for the old Luna (NATO: Frog) missile is on display, with the missile on top of it.

Right besides is a cutaway exemplar of the highly-successful Soviet BTR-60 armored personnel transport vehicle. The twin-engined propulsion system is clearly visible.

The collection in Demen is unique in having some fully working vehicles on display.

The bulkiest and most impressive is surely the movable launcher 9P71 for the Oka missile. This eight-wheeled truck can be seen in the pictures sheltered in a hangar, or moving around the premises of the former NVA base!

In this video you can see the vehicle displaying the movable crane – still perfectly operative – for maneuvering the missile.

In this other video you can see the launcher carefully coming back into the hangar, following a live display.

Another vehicle from the Eastern Bloc and still in fully working condition is this technical van UAZ-452. Not only it can move on its wheels and engine, but it looks still perfectly equipped!

The collection in Demen is not exclusively devoted to the Eastern Bloc or the GDR either. Instead, you can find both static and ‘live’ items on display from the NATO side of the Iron Curtain. The latter include a M752 amphibious vehicle for transporting the Lance missile.

This vehicle with tracks was highly popular in the US and many NATO countries, including Federal Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Another unusual living exemplar is that of a Swedish Hägglunds Bandvagn BV-206, aka SUSV in the US Army. A very versatile tracked vehicle with a trailer made for the snowy terrains of Scandinavia and the Polar continents as well, today running around the former NVA base in Demen!

Three warheads from US missiles deployed on the territory of the FRG are on static display, allowing for a nice size and shape comparison. They are a Pershing, Honest John and Sergeant warheads, all theater missiles from different stages of the Cold War. On the outside, a fully assembled Honest John is similarly on display.

The Soviet-made missiles on display are a Luna, an Oka and a SCUD. The Luna, painted in gray, is partly cut to show the inside mechanisms and arrangement. Also the corresponding warhead has been cut to show the inside structure.

The pretty rare Oka missile has not been cut – a true icon from the Cold War in the mid-1980s!

The SCUD has been separated from its warhead, and partly cut and cleverly lighted to show the inside plants and arrangement.

Besides the SCUD also some original parts of the guidance system have been put on display, together with some technical testing/monitoring material of Soviet or East-German make – note the writing in Cyrillic.

Display cases all around host original technical material, many fantastic models mainly from the arsenal of the NVA and Red Army during the Cold War, as well as exceptionally detailed and informative panels concerning the history of the missile forces of the NVA (as well as specifically on some of the missile systems on display).

Many evocative photographs and videos from the days of operation complete the display in the hangar.

Some very rare artifacts are from the early stage of rocketry, and include components of von Braun’s first works – most notably the V2 – from the Third Reich era.

A second branch of the exhibition, physically hosted in another building of the complex, is composed of the two rooms packed with memorabilia items mainly from the history of the 5. RBr

These include books, photographs, and beautiful memorial crests, especially from joint exercises carried out with the Red Army with live firing of the missiles in a dedicated polygon in Kapustin Yar. People taking part to these exercises – held back in the 1980s – are now volunteering in the Society, and you may be so lucky to meet them for a nice talk and for getting a more lively insight on the history of the NVA rocket Brigades. Staff from the 5. RBr deployed to the polygon by land, and the original map retracing their movements across the USSR is on display.

Also on display are original technical boards displaying some operating concepts for the Oka missile – in Russian, a one-of-a-kind relic of the Cold War years!

Getting there & Visiting

The small village of Demen is located in the northeastern quarter of Germany, about 25 miles from the Baltic shoreline, 45 miles from Rostock and 55 miles from Lübeck, both port towns on the Baltic sea. You can reach the display by car here. Access to the former NVA complex, now called Evita complex, is via the road L091, to the west of Demen.

One of the many hangars in the Evita complex hosts the collection, and the memorabilia rooms are in an adjoining building. Opening times are very limited (basically in the weekends), but this is due to the fact that they coincide with volunteers’ gatherings. On the plus side, you are likely to see at some vehicles running.

For interested subjects a time of 1 hour may be the minimum for a visit to the static display, if no vehicles are moving around. If there are live displays, or volunteers to interview, you may spend there 2 hours or more.

German is obviously the main language spoken (and often times the only option in this part of Germany), but English is nonetheless understood and spoken by some of the volunteers. Website here.

The Cold War in Hungary – Military Collections, Leftovers & More

Many traces of the communist dictatorship can be found in today’s modern and thriving Hungary. The most visited ones, like Memento Park or Terror Haza in capital city Budapest, tell about the inhumane and pervasive aspect of propaganda and political repression. However, the history of this country in the second half of the 20th century is closely bound to the Soviet-backed communist seizure of power, and this has left traces also elsewhere, especially in terms of military leftovers. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Red Army was directly present in Hungary, to keep the status quo and to to be closer to the border with the West in case of an attack – and this of course left traces.

You can find a significant deal of material concerning more urbex-connected destinations in Hungary in another post.

In this one, you will find a mainly pictorial portrait of some of the best known attractions related to the Cold War period in Hungary, as well as some well accessible but less known ones, especially considering the general public visiting from abroad. As usual on this website, a good share of these sites is aviation-themed!

Photographs were taken in August 2020.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Sights

Iron Curtain Museum, Felsocsatar

The Iron Curtain Museum has been created soon after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989 on the sight of a former small sector of the state border between communist Hungary and free Austria.

The site is mainly the result of the effort of a man, Sandor Gojak, a former border guard in the 1960s, who dedicated this permanent exhibition to those who attempted escaping the repressive communist regime in Hungary towards Austria and the West – both those who succeeded and those who did not, hence facing arrest or losing their lives due to the minefields prepared along the border line.

The site features three examples of the border line placed in the area over the years. They are look less impenetrable than those created between Eastern and Western Germany (see this post), yet they were similarly deadly in scope and facts.

The first is basically a simple line of barbed wire with wooden poles, and it was put in place soon after WWII. Mines were placed in close vicinity to the line. After wooden poles started to rot around the mid-1950s, mines were removed, a dangerous job which cost the health of some border guards, who were severely injured due to accidental explosions.

For a short while at that time, the border was free of mines, and about 300’000 people managed to leave the ‘paradise of workers’!

Soon after the anti-communist uprising in 1956, suffocated with violence by the Soviets, the border was further fortified with concrete poles, and the mine strip was increased in width.

Only at the end of the 1960s the mines were removed, after multiple accidents involving Austrian citizens, when the mines slipped into a creek near the border due to a flood, injuring many who touched them incautiously. This time the border security system was strongly potentiated, with the adoption of an electrified system for the immediate detection of proximity, linked to signal collection centers dislocated along the line. This system had been implemented by the USSR on the Pakistani border. Something similar can be found also on the border between Czechoslovakia and West Germany (see here).

The exhibition is completed by an example of a wooden turret, as well as a more modern fence – a specimen of the one put in place in 2015 between today’s Hungary and neighbor Serbia and Croatia, when a wave of migrants from the Middle East swept the Balkans.

The museum is full of vivid testimonies, thanks to the many historical pictures and artifacts on display, and to the fact that the founder is actually the man who runs the museum! – he is totally available to answer your questions.

Getting there and visiting

The museum can be reached here: 47.20376801287036, 16.429799972912328, on the border between Hungary and Austria, not far from Szombathely. The coordinates point to a convenient parking. The site is operated as an open-air museum, with opening times and an entrance fee. Moderate climbing is required, as the museum area is on the slope of a nice hill. Only cash accepted. Visiting may take about 45 minutes. Website here.

Military Park, Zanka

This small military park is a nice and cared for exhibition of Soviet-made weapons, located ahead of a resort which used to be an exclusive destination for vacation on the coast of Lake Balaton.

You can find here a couple of Mil helicopters – including the legendary Mil-24 in all its ‘beauty’! – in the colors of the Hungarian Air Force.

There is a MiG-21, also formerly of the Hungarian Air Force, a T-64 tank, a howitzer, a military snow blower, an amphibious truck and more light trailers.

Perhaps the most striking sight in this collection is the surface-to-air missile (SAM) SA-2, aka S-75 Dvina in the Soviet codification. A rather basic but powerful – and successful – missile from the 1950s, sold by the Soviets to many satellite Countries and clients over the world.

A revolving antenna can be seen on top of a truck. This is an example of the target acquisition antenna for the SA-2 system, code-named Spoon Rest by NATO, and known as P18 in Soviet codification. This radar system had a range of approximately 170 miles, and was an improvement of the previous P12 design. The launch site of SA-2 SAMs was always complemented by a set of antennas, including a Spoon Rest system. Actually, P18 could be coupled with the launch system of more advanced SAMs too.

All items in the collection here are pretty well preserved, making the visit an enjoyable stop along the exploration of the Balaton coastline.

Getting there and moving around

The park can be found here: 46.881838498667996, 17.7098619193198. The site can be visited in 10-30 minutes depending on your level of interest. This is an open-air museum, with ticket and opening times. Website (referral) with some information here.

Komarom Monostor Fort & Soviet Weapons Collection

An incredible, perfectly preserved military fort from the years of the Austrian Empire, Monostor Fort in Komarom can be found on the Danube, marking the border with Slovakia. At the time of construction, the two nations were united in the Austrian Empire, and the fort was erected between 1850-71 as a part of a defense line extending also north in today’s Slovakia.

Despite being extremely interesting for its articulated and complex construction – a brilliant example of military engineering from the time – the fort saw no action in its intended purpose. It was used for training for most of its life, then briefly as a prisoner’s camp in the years of Hitler’s administration, and finally as an immense weapons storage during the Cold War years, when it saw tenancy by the Soviets.

Today, the fort is open as a museum, duly centered on the interesting original construction from the 19th century.

One cellar has been left as it was in Soviet times, when weapons of all sorts were stored here, moved by means of a dedicated short-gauge railway.

In a corner of the immense apron, you can find a small collection of Soviet weapons, mainly anti-tank and anti-aircraft cannons. There are also a couple of truck-transported antennas, including a very effective early warning Flat Face radar, aka P19 Danube according to the soviet classification, as well as a PRW-9 Thin Skin target altitude detection radar. Similar platforms are still in use today, and can be coupled with modern SAM launching systems.

Getting there and moving around

The fort is a major attraction in the area. It features a large parking ahead of the entrance, address: 2900 Komárom Duna-part 1. Visiting is on a self-guided basis, with a short paper guide in English distributed at the entrance, and the visit will be extremely interesting for anybody interested in history, military engineering, etc. – not only Cold-War-minded subjects.

Visiting may take 1.5 hours, due to the size of the fort. The place is also used as a venue for theater performances and concerts, so timetables may vary. Some info in English can be found on this website.

Papa Airbase

Papa is today an active base of the Air Force, hence it cannot be accessed. However, with a short adventure drive along an unpaved road, you may reach a part of the former premises of the base – from Soviet times – now lying outside the perimeter.

There you can find a pretty unique array of old abandoned aircraft of Soviet make, in the colors of the Hungarian Air Force.

They are MiG-21 of many types, and also massive Sukhoi Su-22.

The state of conservation is not so bad – you can find airframes in worse condition in some museums – but some aircraft are missing some parts, possibly due to spare recycling, or vandalism, even though the place is really secluded, and the proximity with privately owned land and a military base is not ideal for vandals and idiot spoilers.

Of course, a few more years without any attention to these birds and little will remain of this improvised fleet. Hopefully, at least a share of this mighty force will find a due place in some museum or collection over the next years.

By the way, the former military area where these planes are sitting was perhaps a place for SAMs, put for protection of the base in the Cold War years.

Getting there and moving around

This is the only item on this post which is not a museum. It’s hard to tell whether these aircraft are lying on private land or not. However, to reach this strange flock of aircraft, you can move with a standard city car to this crossroads: 47.33966571405878, 17.550239693088113.

From here, you need to take north, until you reach this other waypoint: 47.35812676567956, 17.530436267329513. At some point along this path, the road turns unpaved, but the condition is generally manageable. On the latter waypoint you need to turn sharp left. You may notice old concrete posts, from the original soviet fence of the base.

You will finally land here: 47.35812676567956, 17.530436267329513, where you find an asphalted road, in the middle of a former peripheral area of the base. Driving towards the base along this road, you will find the aircraft here: 47.3541655146187, 17.514827811942904.

Visiting is not a long business, cause you should not move around the aircraft, as they are likely on the border of a private lot (fenced). Totally recommended for Cold War aircraft enthusiasts however.

Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum, Dunavarsany

This wonderful military exhibition is the based on the collection of a Hungarian military pilot, Zoltán Néhai Komócsi, nicknamed ‘Komo’, from which came the name of the museum. Unfortunately, the man passed away years ago in a crash. The collection was publicly put on display only more recently.

Items on display include military aircraft and helicopters, military trucks, trucks from the firefighting squad, engines, and more! Some of the exhibit can be boarded, and reportedly some vehicles are still operative.

Most of the exhibits are in very good condition, a few are still awaiting light refurbishment. An old Mil-2 helicopter can be boarded, revealing an old-fashioned cockpit, made more exotic by the Russian inscriptions.

Also an attack Mil-8 helicopter in Hungarian colors can be checked inside. A Mil-24 is undergoing restoration (as of 2020).

The ‘MiG alley’ includes MiG-15, 21 – in various versions – and 23, all in very good condition, refurbished for display.

Also some trucks can be boarded, revealing once more the excellent state of preservation, as well as abundant Russian signs.

To the far end of the collection, an Antonov An-2 utility biplane, an ubiquitous workhorse of the Soviet empire, can be boarded up to the cockpit.

You can sit in the pilot’s seat, getting a nice view from the cockpit of this bird.

Three deployable radar antennas can be seen on their trailers – apparently a not complete P80 Back Net system from the 1960s is the largest one.

Finally, a MiG-21 in the colors of the Hungarian national flag can be boarded. This is extremely interesting, as it provides a look in the cockpit of this high-performance and successful fighter/interceptor from the Cold War years, when ‘high-performance’ implied ‘high-complexity’ analog cockpits!

Getting there and moving around

The museum can be found at these coordinates, 47.292057190313706, 19.029565655926707, corresponding to a convenient parking. The site is about 30 minutes driving south of central Budapest. It is an open-air museum, with timetables and ticket. Information on their website (in Hungarian). Time required for visiting may range between 30 minutes to 1.5 hours for an interested subject, taking all the pictures.

Komo-Sky Bunker, Dunavarsany

A recent addition by the current managers of the Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum is this fully refurbished Soviet bunker, once used for air traffic control. The place is actually in the vicinity of the former Soviet airbase of Tokol, one of the largest in Hungary in its heyday (see this post).

Today the bunker has been partly restored in look, with some rooms changed into ambiances for interactive experiences, including shooting!

Some rooms host interesting collections of artifacts from the everyday life of communist Hungary.

Military memorabilia from the Red Army, with conspicuous Russian writings, are scattered everywhere.

A room of special interest hosts a collection of militaria from the Eastern Bloc, with artifacts ranging from weapons to flight suits, military decorations to aircraft parts. Really something for everybody!

Getting there and moving around

The bunker is a recent (as of 2020) addition to the Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum. No dedicated website available at the time of writing. The place can be reached at the coordinates 47.297663350792774, 19.0351554512774, about 3 minutes driving north of the Air Museum. I visited by invitation of the owner, hence I don’t know about the actual timetable. A website of a hotel nearby – actually on the very same lot of the bunker – is here, with some information on the bunker in Hungarian.

Museum of Military History, House of Terror, Memento Park, Houses of Parliament – Budapest

Budapest is rightly famous for a history spanning many centuries, for its art collections, incredible architectures, thermal baths and many other enjoyable features. However, having been the capital of a communist country in the Eastern Bloc, it also hosted a ‘state security service’, i.e. an agency of the government attempting to control the minds of Hungarian citizens, and keeping everybody’s behavior under strict surveillance. The palace chosen as the seat for this service is named ‘House of Terror’ (‘Terror Haza’ in the local idiom). Here many were kept under arrest, interrogated, and in some instances secretly murdered in the basement.

The place is among the most visited museums in Hungary, and can be found right in the city center. Comprehensibly, no photo is allowed in the most sensitive areas of this sad building. Website here.

Another place of Cold War interest, making for a rather popular touristic attraction, is Memento Park. In this small park about 15 minutes driving south of the city center most of the statues and monuments once adorning the capital’s downtown have been collected and put on display.

Some from older times, celebrating the friendship of the Soviet and Hungarian peoples, are unbearably rhetoric.

Others are more artistically interesting, in the context of official artistic currents authorized by the Communist Party.

Lenin is of course a favorite subject.

By the entrance, Marx, Engels and Lenin are kind of ‘gate guardians’.

In front of the entrance, you can find a reproduction of the base of a statue of Stalin put in place at some point and surviving in pictures, and later dismantled after the death of Stalin. In the basement of the same construction, you can find a weird set of official busts of Lenin and Stalin, as well as a once popular image of Lenin as a child.

Close by, a small deposit of statues still waiting to be put on display can be found. Website here.

A less visited museum covering the military history of Hungary over the ages, but especially the 19th and 20th centuries, can be found right in the old district of Buda. The display is rather classical and didactic, but for more military-minded people, or those interested in the recent history of Hungary, it is for sure worth a stop when visiting uptown. Website here.

Finally, in the gorgeous building of the Houses of Parliament, you can find interesting info about the changes implemented to the architecture of the building during the communist period.

A unique artifact is the big red star once standing on top of the building, emulating the famous ruby stars placed on top of the towers of the Kremlin in Moscow. Website here.

Secrets of a Soviet Airbase, Berekfurdo

This museum is located in the small town of Berekfurdo, in the eastern region of Hungary, just a few minutes from the former airbase of Kunmadaras, which used to be operated by the Soviets in the Cold War era (see this post for the nuclear storage bunker to be found there).

Unfortunately, I could not visit the museum – it is open only rarely, on a very limited timetable. However, in the courtyard you can easily spot a Mil-24 attack helicopter, as well as a MiG-21. Both have been vividly and freshly refurbished – ready for take-off!

Getting there and moving around

The website of the museum provides good information, and the folks there appear pretty reactive in case you are writing to get more info. It is really a pity they have a timetable so limited. The place can be reached at these coordinates: 47.38366735314769, 20.84155882970934. The museum is made of a small hangar and an outside apron. Considering the size, I guess visiting might take about 1 hour.

RepTar Szolnok Aviation Museum, Szolnok

This is probably the ‘official’ aviation museum in Hungary, at least concerning the military field. It is clearly a well-financed endeavor, with a remarkable collection of aircraft from various ages, helicopters, engines and missiles. Most of the aircraft are preserved outside in an open-air exhibition, the oldest ones having found a place inside a modern and well-designed building. Everything on display has been recently refurbished, hence the collection looks fresh and well cared for.

Two aircraft will likely capture your attention in the main hall, namely a Spitfire in the colors of a Polish squadron fighting with the RAF, facing a Bf 109 in German Luftwaffe colors. The two opponents are displayed besides one another, allowing also for a configuration and size comparison.

Not far is the wreck of an Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, built in huge numbers by the USSR over the years of the Great Patriotic War.

Interesting specimens in the inside hangar include a Messerschmitt Me-108 trainer, some Soviet trainers, classic Kamov and Mil helicopters.

A Soviet H-29L semi-active laser homing air-to-ground missile for the Sukhoi Su-22, which the Hungarian Air Force owned and operated, is on display.

A very interesting old analog approach simulator is also presented. It is made of a cabin mock-up and a large model of an airport, with cameras mounted on moving trolleys, likely projecting a magnified image of the ‘terrain’ in the cabin.

You can board a MiG-21, and see the mysterious content of the noses of some fighter aircraft – typically radar antennas of various levels of sophistication.

An array of engines, from WWII up to our days, are on display on the first floor.

Outside you can find a sample list of virtually all popular MiG models, from MiG-15 to MiG-29.

A colorful example of a MiG-21 will sure capture your eye, similarly to a set of Mil-24 attack helicopters, wrapped in incredible liveries!

A MiG-21 has been placed in an enclave resembling an aircraft shelter, an example of the care adopted in designing this top-tier museum. An SA-2 Guideline is on display by the entrance, visible also from the parking.

To the far end of the external apron, you can find a ‘MiG alley’ with several fighters from that design bureau. Also there is a massive Sukhoi Su-22, and two Lockheed F-104 Starfighter – from Turkey and Germany respectively.

The SAM part is rather interesting. You can see at least two SA-2 (aka S-75 Dvina, according to Soviet nomenclature), on trolleys or on the launch pad, with a distinctive flame deflector.

A P37 Bar Lock early warning and target acquisition radar has been put on top of a mound. This type of radar constituted the first line of border defense of many countries of the Eastern Bloc, against intrusion from the West. It featured a range of approximately 250 miles.

Another radar antenna is the P15 Flat Face low-altitude target acquisition radar. With a range of about 75 miles, this scanner operated typically with the SA-3 Goa anti-aircraft system (aka S-125 Pechora in Soviet nomenclature).

The latter is on display on a movable launcher as well as on a four missile rack, prominently placed on top of a rampart, somehow resembling its typical launching position. A battery of more missiles on the same launching rack is typical of this highly successful missile, sold to many Countries, and easier to operate than its older cousin, the SA-2.

Inside another smaller hangar – apparently a former railway depot – you can find the console for the control of the SA-2 system, together with another example of this SAM.

Getting there and moving around

Really an unmissable sight for aviation enthusiasts, military-minded people or the whole family as well! This very nice collection can be found in Szolnok. Address: Szolnok, Indóház u. 4-6, 5000 Hungary. Large parking ahead, restaurant and gift shop. Website here. You may easily spend a whole morning here, but if you are in a hurry, you can have a quick look in about 1 hour.

Emlekpont, Hódmezővásárhely

A rather unusual collection of soviet ‘authorized’ art can be found in this recently renovated building, which also hosts temporary exhibitions. The central part of the display is basically a single room on two floors, with paintings from the Cold War era.

A huge statue of a Soviet soldier takes the full height of the room! Some paintings refer to the 1956 uprising, clearly on the side of the rebels, hence they might be from a post-1989 time.

Surely worth a stop for those with an interest in Soviet art, like you can find only in Tretjakowsky Gallery in Moscow!

Getting there and moving around

This little museum can be found in Hódmezővásárhely, Andrássy út 34, 6800 Hungary, a few minutes driving from university town Szeged, close to the border with Serbia and Romania. Visiting may take about 30 minutes, more if you know Hungarian. Website here.

Pinter Works Military Park, Kecel

A one-of-a-kind exhibition, this place is hidden deep in the countryside between Balaton and the Serbian border, but it is really worth a detour for anybody interested in Soviet weapons from the Cold War era. It is likely one of the largest displays of heavy military gear you may find in Europe!

The sample list covers anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, field artillery, self-propelled cannons and tanks.

But you also get special function trucks, moving bridges, transport, trailers, portable radar equipment.

Also SAMs are represented, including the SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina), SA-4 Ganef (2K11 Krug) and the more conspicuous SA-5 Gammon (S-200 Vega). Some of the SAMs feature also transport cartridges on purpose-assembled trucks – some of them on tracks! – which are displayed side by side with field rocket launchers.

The huge Square Pair radar, used in conjunction with the modern SA-5 Gammon, makes for a really rare and impressive sight – it is tall like a multi-storey building, but it is on a trailer, implying it can be moved. There are two on display!

Also rather rare is the ST-68U Tin Shield early warning border patrolling radar, still in use today, with its movable trailer.

Even SCUDs surface-to-surface theater missiles can be found. One is located on board its movable launch-pad, similar to what you can see in Bucharest (see here).

Some of the trailers are open, so you can get a view of the inside – with all equipment apparently in place, including radar scopes and huge consoles, resembling an old-fashioned science fiction!

Finally, a series of fighter aircraft, including several MiG and Sukhoi models, are on display.

Curiously enough, a SAAB 35 Draken from Sweden found its way to here, whereas a T-72 and a T-34 make for gate guardians, together with an Antonov An-24.

Finally, what looks like a monster-size ballistic missile encapsulated in a canister completes the show…

All in all, as said this is really an impressive collection, both as an ensemble, and for some of the pieces in it. The origin of the collection is rather mysterious – nobody spoke anything except Hungarian there, but if I got it right through much gesticulation, the place is owned by somebody residing in Dallas area, TX. The military park sits in the premises of a metal-recycling company, so maybe there is some connection between the two, even though it does not look like they are fueling recycling with the items on display. Actually, the military park is well maintained and presented as a very nice open-air museum.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is located at the address Kecel, Rákóczi Ferenc u. 177, 6237 Hungary. The website is here, with accurate visiting info. Please note they accept only cash. Visiting may easily take 2 hours for an interested subject, taking all the pictures. For a quick overview, you may spend 30-40 minutes on site.

Taszar Airbase Museum, Taszar

Another unique museum, somewhat far from the major touristic paths in Hungary, can be found on the premises of the currently (as of 2020) inactive military airbase of Taszar, in southwest Hungary. This airbase was operated by the Hungarian Air Force over the years of the Cold War, with training and fighter units flying MiGs of many sorts over the years. Curiously, the base was lent to the US in the 1990s, and was used for attacks over Serbia and more support functions during the Balkan crisis in the late 1990s, and up to the early 2000s. After the American troops left, the base was shut down, and is now waiting for a novel use.

The museum is located in the building of the US chapel, itself in the middle of the now deserted living area of the base.

This museum is the display of a collection of artifacts, put together over many years by a former officer of the Hungarian Air Force, Sandor Kontsagh, who is the owner and who personally runs the place – you are likely to meet him, if you are going to pay a visit! An extremely kind and knowledgeable person, more than available to spend his time showing his collection in detail.

The most massive items on display include several aircraft parts, ranging from canopies, to entire cockpit panels, to parts of the innermost plants onboard Soviet-made fighters, including their electronics. What multiplies the value of this assortment is the fact that every single piece has its own history, as you will be told by Mr. Kontsagh.

The original survival kit from an early MiG, similar to a soviet flight suit from the 1950s, are among the many invaluable collection items.

Also the machine guns and cannon of a MiG-15 can be found – compare the size to the cap of my wide lens!

The panel of a MiG-15 has been refurbished, linking it to electric power to light the electro-optical gunsight – hi-tec from the early Cold War.

Photography is of special relevance to the owner of the museum – he was tasked with technical photography functions during his career, and he has a real thing for this activity. Cameras usually mounted on the gunsight of fighter jets are part of the collection – for the first time, I could carefully look inside what always appears as a bulky black box impeding the pilot’s view on most aircraft from the Cold War period!

Some of the cameras are accompanied by the their original technical registry, showing annotations from the 1950s – incredible.

Of special interest are also the cathode ray tubes to be found for instance on MiG-21. You would not suspect they are so long, looking at their flat appearance, besides other goggles on the panel of that fighter.

Interesting historical pictures are many. Among them, some are from decoy aircraft – inflatables – to fool enemy analysts watching satellite pictures taken above military bases. Others are from visits of president Clinton and princess Diana to Taszar. You can also find an aerial view of the base from Cold War times.

In an adjoining room you can find a collection of radio equipment, with very interesting pieces made in the USSR. These include an original wire recorder.

Maps, trophies and models complete this room, together with a unique collection of cameras, from different countries and makes.

Another room hosts mainly uniforms – including the one belonging to Mr. Kontsagh – and flight suits. Also arresting parachute canister of a MiG-21 is on display.

A corner of the main hall is dedicated to memorabilia from the US tenancy period. These include original uniforms, pictures, papers and even meals, proudly prepared in SC for American troops. By comparison, Hungarian packed meals, also on display, are much heavier!

More memorabilia include training progress registries from pilot’s training – in Russian – as well as textbooks from the training group operating on the base.

All in all, I would say this museum alone is a good reason for a trip to this area!

On the outside, you find yourself in the setting of the old Taszar base, with some gate guardians of Soviet make, and an incredible mural on what was likely an academy building.

Access to the airport is interdicted, as the base is inactive but not abandoned.

Getting there and moving around

When I visited in August 2020, the place was not even pinpointed on Google Maps, but later things have rapidly changed, so you can spot this as an attraction on Google Maps to the west of the airport in Taszar (‘Katonai repulo muzeum’ is the name you find). However, here are the coordinates 46.377887110631455, 17.89899149846632, which take you to a former living area of Taszar airbase, where you can enter with your car. The place is not abandoned, even though most buildings are now unused. The aura is a bit strange, for you have the sensation of intruding into a governmental property – but soon you realize this part of the base is not any more off-limits.

When I visited there was no info about opening timetables whatsoever available in advance, so we just popped up there, finding a closed door with a telephone number. We called and the man – Mr. Kontsagh – told us to wait a few minutes, and came in by foot, opening the place just for us.

I attach the phone number, in case you want to call in advance.

There is no website as of 2020, but the place is totally worth the effort of planning a visit anyway! You might spend a time ranging from 30 minutes to some hours, especially if you are interested in the topic of the museum, or you are simply into military aviation with a technical mind, and also have questions for the knowledgeable owner, who will answer in detail. In case you don’t know Hungarian, understanding a little German and a technical preparation will allow you to take much out of your visit (little English spoken, unfortunately, but this is not strange in this part of the world).

Soviet ‘Monolith’ Nuclear Bunkers in Poland – Survivors & Ghosts

Since the beginning caught in the storm of WWII, Poland saw its border changed again in 1945 by the Western Allies and the USSR – the lack of natural borders meant that fate for this Country several times over the centuries. Furthermore, as a massive flow of Soviet forces had been pivotal in repelling Hitler’s forces, similar to other nations sharing a border with the USSR, Poland found itself deep in the sphere of influence of Stalin’s Soviet Union. A communist dictatorship was installed starting 1945, due to last until the end of communism in Europe in 1989.

As a matter of fact, Poland turned out to be by far the most populated and largest of Eastern Bloc countries. Strategically placed in the middle between the USSR and free Western Europe, with a wide section of the Baltic shoreline and a huge, mostly flat territory, similar to the German Democratic Republic nearby, Poland was the theater of a significant militarization effort by the Soviets. Not only the Polish army received Soviet war material in large stocks over the full span of the Cold War, but the Red Army also actually had significant assets scattered over Polish territory – its huge Northern Group of Forces being stationed there, with tanks, aircraft, dedicated bases, firing ranges, as well as several tens of thousand troops and their families, making for a kind of military colony of the USSR.

What is possibly less known is that also Soviet nuclear weapons were stationed in some satellites of the USSR, like the GDR (see this and this chapters, for instance), Hungary (see this chapter), and of course Poland.

Some elements of the global picture have been introduced in another chapter, dealing among other things with a Basalt-type bunker built for storing air-launched nuclear systems, on the premises of the Soviet airbase of Wiechlice (Szprotawa). Yet as can be argued from the general map of of nuclear depots known to Western intelligence, dating from 1979 (‘Warsaw Pact Forces Opposite NATO’, Vol.I-II, CREST record number 0005517771, declassified and released in 2010, here), there were also three major depots of the Monolith-type in Poland. Similar to Stolzenhain and Lychen in the former GDR (see this post), these depots were larger, multi-chamber storage facilities, intended to store primarily missile warheads for longer periods, for instance to complement the SCUD launch system for theater missiles.

The uniqueness of Poland in the panorama of Cold War archaeology lies in a generally positive attitude towards preserving some traces of this dramatic piece of recent history, when the map of Europe was markedly different from now, and the western world found itself multiple times on the verge of a nuclear confrontation, to be fought on the very territory of now wealthy Core Europe. As a result, an impressive number of war museums putting on display military stuff from all the 20th century can be found scattered over the broad territory of today’s Poland.

Even more important, a certain number of former Soviet military installations are being either actively preserved, or at least not condemned through demolition works or re-assignment to improbable new uses. This is despite a totally justified negative attitude towards the Soviet occupation forces and communist dictatorship. This attitude marks an unusual difference between the cultural attitude of the fierce Polish people towards recent military history and Soviet occupation, with respect for instance to Germany or Hungary, where the comprehensible dislike for the Soviets has taken a shape in leaving behind – i.e. more or less demolishing – every trace of a Soviet military presence, and especially in the former, reducing military museums to a minimum.

Among the most prominent Cold War relics you can find in Poland are the three Monolith-type nuclear warhead bunkers mentioned above. One of them – the Podborsko site – has been restored with 90% original material, and makes for a world-class, top-tier museum in the panorama of Cold War military history. The other two, Brzeznica-Kolonia and Templewo, have been left to nature and have now become ‘Soviet ghosts’, but they are advertised with panels, providing some info, and while access is not encouraged, a quick look inside the bunkers, as well as freely walking in the former premises of these bases, is of course possible.

This post covers these three Monolith-type sites, with a focus on the unique preserved Podborsko site, which needs to be on the shortlist of everyone with an interest in Cold War technology, as well as in the history of the nuclear stockpile. All sites were visited, and all photographs taken, on a trip to western Poland in summer 2020.

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Sights

All three sites are in northwestern Poland. GPS coordinates are provided in the respective sections. Despite being not too much afar from each other, due the relatively slow connection roads in the area, visiting all three places in one day is not possible. Furthermore, the area is quite dense in both general interest and Cold War related destinations, so I would advise planning a trip to this region of Poland and listing these sites among other destinations.

Podborsko Site – Objekt 3001

A good specimen of a Monolith site, Podborsko – or Objekt 3001, as per the official military listing of the Cold War years – was centered on two large half-interred bunker, each with two big side-wards opening tight doors at ground level, providing access to the interior with the trolleys used to move the nuclear warheads from the transport trucks to the cellars.

For an increased protection in case of an attack to the site – likely listed among targets of strategic value by Western Countries – a second tight door was put immediately next to the external one, creating a tight, blast resisting and insulated airlock between the interior of the bunker and the outside world.

Both doors to the two ends of the airlock can be – and are – opened via a manual crank system. Two men are needed to actually move the doors however – they are really heavy! A servo-assisted system was in place originally.

An interesting detail is the original sensor for the door status, part of a security system of the base.

Similar to their US counterparts, the Soviets took the problem of security of the nuclear arsenal pretty seriously. Each door on the path followed by the warhead from the outside to the cellar, including the airlock doors as well as the cellar doors inside the bunker, were associated to a trigger. When the corresponding door was opened, the trigger sent a signal via a dedicated cable link to the headquarters of a dedicated branch of the Red Army offices in Moscow, Russia, which was kept constantly updated on the status of each critical door in the depot. The link was via purpose-designed vacuum-protected cables – the actual wiring ran along a vacuum manifold, so that in case of the cable was bitten and the vacuum manifold collapsed, an emergency signal was immediately sent to the nearest nodes of the network, allowing surveillance staff to intervene promptly.

The opening of and closing procedure of the airlock doors involved communication with a post in Moscow too, which started with the local guards communicating their intention to open the doors via a system housed in a blue cabinet besides the tight door. As the signal traveled from the bunker to the headquarters and back, the opening of an airlock was not a quick operation! Original writings in pencil can still be found in the cabinet.

Past the airlock, you land on an elevated concrete platform. From here the warheads were moved to the underground floor via a mechanical crane. This is still standing today, with limit indications in Russian.

From the platform you get an excellent lookout of the bunker structure. You can see a twin suspended platform to the opposite end of the underground floor, with a tight door shut closed. Along the long sides of the main hall, on the underground level you see several doors. On the right hand side, big sliding doors painted in white give access to the cellars, where the warheads spent most of their time in rest. On the opposite side are smaller man-sized doors, giving access to the technical area, with provision for the men of the permanent bunker watch.

The stairs leading downstairs are among the few complements to the original structure – they have been put in place to ease visiting. Originally, the underground floor could be reached from the suspended platform only via a lateral manhole with a vertical metal latter.

The warheads are long gone today – the site was built in the late 1960s, and was emptied of its strategically relevant content in the late 1980s, to be finally ceded back to the Polish government after the withdrawal of all Russian forces from Europe. The cellars today are mainly empty, and used to showcase interesting items related to the site.

First, you can see a scale model of the entire site. In Soviet times, the place was a full scale military base. It included a separated area with living facilities for the troops and their families, who ran the base with both technical and surveillance tasks. Today, this area has been taken over by the government, and used as a prison – Podborsko is rather secluded and far from populated areas on the Baltic coast. Furthermore, as said there used to be two twin bunkers. Today only one has been restored, whereas the other is sealed and waiting for reuse. Between the sectors of the base multiple fences with barbed wire, concrete walls, foxholes and other deterring/defense devices and systems were in place, making the innermost part of the base with the bunkers rather inaccessible.

An original armored cabinet from the time of operation is still in the corner of a cellar, its original use is uncertain.

In another cellar you can find everyday items and relics from Soviet presence in the area. These range from toothpaste to children’s toys. Also more military-related items, like cartridge boxes and even original Soviet military dog tags have been found scattered over the area!

You can also find weapons, a scheme of the base in Russian, anti-radiation suits, and parts of the body, control and guidance systems of a Soviet SCUD theater missile – the corresponding warheads being the main business in Podborsko. There is also a copy of the plan of an attack scenario for Western Europe, showing some targets on the respective sides of the Iron Curtain.

One of the cellars has been left empty, with a mock-up of a warhead, resting on one of the original trolleys. This is particularly evoking, despite being just one out of the high number of warheads usually stored in a cellar. The actual number of warheads residing in each Soviet storage over the years is still today not totally clear. However, reportedly former Soviet staff support there was in a single Monolith bunker in Poland enough nuclear material for the whole attack plan over Europe, meaning a number of several tens warheads per site.

The trolley is original as said, and it shows the function of the slots on the ground of each cellar, which allowed anchoring the trolley firmly in position. This was possibly needed also in the extreme case of a blast hitting the bunker, so as to avoid any unwanted displacement of the trolleys.

A fourth cellar displays a set of panels, outlining the history of the Cold War.

As said, the security triggers telling the status of the door can be found close also to each of the sliding doors of the cellars.

Before moving to the technical area on the other side of the bunker, a look to the central hall reveals a number of original material. In particular, you can find an interesting set of instruments, handles and gauges packed together in a metal cabinet. Their function was that of monitoring the state of each warhead. Nuclear material needs to be stored in precise conservation conditions, so warheads were kept in dedicated cases. These were inspected regularly by connecting them to the monitoring system and recording the corresponding gauge readings. Traces of the positioning markers for an inspected trolley can be found close to the cabinet, painted on the ground.

Another conspicuous sight in the main hall is the heating system, needed to keep the inside atmosphere at a constant assigned temperature and humidity level, to guarantee the health of nuclear material. A big array of heat exchangers takes the top part of a side wall in the main hall.

The technical part is made of two main parts, and is accessible on the long side of the hall opposite to the cellars. One part is made of a blind sequence of three narrow compartments. Here you can find a case for manipulating dangerous chemicals, with protection gloves once protruding inside. Nearby, a sink and some cabinets recall a medical room.

This area was designed to manipulate and check the triggers of nuclear weapons in use at the time of construction of the Monolith bunkers (late 1960s). These made use of reactive materials, thus requiring some precautions and a complex maintenance procedure. They were phased out soon after the construction of the site though, so this part of the bunker was basically unused since that time. A tight door connects this area to the main hall.

The second part of the technical area is arranged along a U-shaped corridor, starting and ending in the main hall. Similar to the previous technical part, a small sealed door connects the corridor to the main hall.

The first technical rooms you meet are related to climate control.

Next you find a big water tank. Close by there is a single toilet. This was reportedly seldom used, as drainage did not work properly due to the underground placement. Watchmen during their shifts in the bunker went out for their physiological needs.

Going in and out for pedestrians was made possible through a man-sized airlock. This is perfectly preserved in Podborsko, similar to the passage leading up, by means of very steep metal ladders.

Another interesting sight in the technical area is the air filtering room, which is close to the small living area for the watch staff. In case of an attack to the facility, making the area poisonous possibly also due to fallout, this huge filtering system allowed the troops inside to survive for some time.

The electric control room is in almost mint condition. Only the major connections to the external power lines – not there any more – have been cut. Same electric connections still bear their original hand written identifiers!

An original – and rare – handbook with some illustration of standard trolleys is among the artifacts to be found in this incredible exhibition.

Concluding the technical part, a massive Diesel power generator, with its ancillary air pumping and exhaust expulsion systems, is still there in a rather good state.

Back outside, the Podborsko site features also a Granit-type bunker, perfectly preserved with its metal doors – seldom found elsewhere. Granit bunkers were much softer in construction than the Monolith-type, and they might be used for storing assembled missiles, command posts and more. The one in Podborsko is another Soviet mystery – it is hard to tell to what purpose it was built, probably in the late 1970s-early 1980s.

The second bunker, very similar inside to the main one, is sealed and waiting for restoration. You can walk the exterior, where some remains of the truck loading/unloading platforms can be found. Traces of a fence line can be seen to the back.

Getting there and moving around

The Podborsko site is a branch of the ‘Muzeum Oreza Polskiego w Kolobrzegu’, called ‘Cold War Museum Podborsko 3001’ (‘Muzeum Zimnej Wojny Podborsko 3001’ in Polish). The town of Kolobrzeg is on the Baltic coast, roughly a one hour drive from this bunker, and hosts other branches of this nice museum (a tank and artillery collection, a marine branch,…). The dedicated website of Podborsko is here, to be Google-translated from Polish. The Podborsko site is open on a regular basis at least in summer, and also by appointment. I guess the visit may take about 1 hour once on site.

My visit was a special one though, as I had the chance to join in for a special thorough visit of the site, prepared for Dr. Reiner Helling, a nuclear scientist from Germany, and one of the most knowledgeable historians in the field of Soviet military presence and nuclear assets in Europe. Dr. Helling extended the invitation to me, so I had the unique chance to take a private, tour with the local curators of the branch, Mr. Mieczysław Żuk and Mr. Pawel Urbaniak. We spent some hours touring the site inside and out – special thanks to all three for an unforgettable experience!

Getting to the bunker is easy by car. Driving will be along an original Soviet service road, which can be faced with a regular city car. You may park once on the spot once there.

Brzeznica Kolonia – Objekt 3002

The site in Brzeznica Kolonia can be found close to the former Soviet village of Klomino – pretty famous in its heyday among the urbex community – and in the vicinity of the airport of Nadarzyce, still active today.

The site has been largely wiped out, but the bunkers and a little more hardware survive, in a ghost condition. However, the site is advertised with some explanatory panels, and it is also quite popular among the locals, which come here to take a couple of pics in a weird scenery.

One of the most portrayed items on the premises of this site is the Granit bunker, which is today lacking its original metal door. Similar to Podborsko, this ‘soft’ bunker was added at a later stage, and its function is to be guessed. Interestingly, some painted stripes can be found on the pavement, possibly marking the position of some trailer or gear.

Similar to Podborsko, the two major Monolith bunkers are arranged with their respective axes crossed. The eastern one can be accessed from its southern door pretty easily. Inside, it reveals its similarity with Podborsko, except for having being spoiled of any metal part – from the doors to the heat exchangers – and having hosted a wildfire or similar, as can be guessed from the sooth on the walls and ceiling.

Getting to the underground level from the suspended platform is not safe if you are going alone, like me, as the original metal ladders have been taken away. However, hard spoiling has to be expected also in the technical rooms.

Walking on top of the bunker, you find traces of the man-sized side entrance, completely interred.

Ahead of the bunker and to the back, traces of the loading/unloading platforms for trucks can be still recognized.

The westernmost bunker is easy to access from the eastern gate. Inside, it has been spoiled of any metal, similar to its twin brother. It is in a generally better shape though, without sooth on the inside walls.

In both bunkers, traces of original painting can be found.

In between the two bunkers, a number of smaller buildings are still to be found, including – apparently – a water tank, and some sentry boxes.

Also, more than in Podborsko you can appreciate a network of foxholes, which despite fading in nature, can be clearly noticed departing from the main roads once crossing this military installation.

Back to Nadarzyce nearby, you can get access to the former ghost town of Klomino. The majority of the original Soviet blocks have been wiped out, but most incredibly some of them have been restored and are today inhabited. This, and the very bad access road, make this place worth a visit only for completing the tour of this once big Soviet installation, without adding much. There is really not much left to see in Klomino.

Getting there and moving around

As said, the bunkers are pretty popular among the locals, who go there by mountain bike or car. The site can be accessed via an unpaved service road, totally safe also for a standard car, taking south from Nadarzyce. The parking point is here 53°25’51.0″N 16°34’43.6″E. There are also some picnic tables, an explanatory panel and some warning signs.

Templewo – Objekt 3003

Similar to Brzeznica Kolonia, the Templewo site has been largely reclaimed, and is now partly preserved as an unusual spot in the wilderness. The base has completely gone, but the the monolith bunkers are still there.

They can be found following an original Soviet paved road.

Both Monolith-type bunkers can be accessed with little difficulty, despite the gates having being mostly interred, like for Objekt 3002.

With respect to the latter, they appear in a generally better shape, albeit stripped of any metal hardware. Again, going down to the underground level is not recommendable if you are exploring alone, as there are no ladders from the suspended platform.

Taking a detour from the Monolith bunker area reveals an extensive network of trenches and foxholes, with abundant traces of – dangerous – barbed wire.

Finally, a single Granit-type bunker, added to the site at some point similarly to Podborsko and Brzeznica Kolonia, has been completely taken away. Only the side embankments can be seen today, wet and with a slimy puddle in between.

Getting there and moving around

The site can be reached by car, shortly north of the road connecting Trzemeszno Lubuskie to Wielowies. A parking area, part of the former base, is here 52°25’16.2″N 15°19’10.6″E. No special car needed, you can drive the original Soviet service road with a standard city car. From the parking, you may move north for a very short walk. You will soon find mild warning signs concerning the bunkers.

The area is located next to a huge military proving ground, so loud bangs might be heard quite easily, and you will see signs telling not to go south with respect to the access road to the former nuclear installation. However, the bunkers themselves are out of the danger area, and totally open and accessible.