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

April 23, 2022July 28, 2022 CarloRLeave a comment

	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 Second Edition - 2024
	DON'T LEAVE IT AT HOME! AVAILABLE in PAPERBACK or KINDLE from your national Amazon store!
	amazon.com \| amazon.de \| amazon.co.uk amazon.it \| amazon.fr \| amazon.co.jp

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.

Soviet Luna Missile Launcher 9P113 – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen Germany (GDR)

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.

Soviet BTR-60 Armored personnel transport vehicle – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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!

Soviet/East German Oka 9K714 Missile Launch Vehicle – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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!

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Lance Missile Transport Vehicle M752 Bundeswehr – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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!

Hägglunds Bandvagn BV-206 Transport Vehicle Swedish Army SUSV – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Pershing, Honest John, Sergeant Missile warheads (US) – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

Honest John Missile Bundewehr – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Soviet/East German Luna Missile (Frog) – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

Soviet/East German Oka 9K714 Missile (SS-23 Spider) – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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

Soviet/East German SCUD Missile – Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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).

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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!

Militärhistorischer Verein Demen, Germany (GDR)

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.

Traces of the Cold War in Southwest Germany

May 12, 2018June 3, 2023 CarloRLeave a comment

Between the end of WWII and the collapse of the USSR in the early Nineties, Germany was caught in the middle of the confrontation between the West and the Soviet bloc. An unnatural and heavily guarded new border was established between the two adversaries, which crossed the extensive territory of todays Germany. Thanks to the presence of American, British and French military forces over the western territory of the Country, and of the Red Army to the east, with the start of the Cold War the German ‘inner border’ became a modern line of the front for this new type of confrontation (see this post).

All armies stationed there benefited from substantial resources poured by the respective governments in the setup of permanent military detachments and infrastructures. The aim for the nations involved was that of having on the spot a credible force, capable of effectively fighting an enemy army – as well as hitting the populations of neighbor Countries – in case a new war was started in Europe. In the end, an open war was never fought, yet for decades it was deemed possible, and in some crisis moments even likely (see this post).

This chapter presents pictures from five Cold-War-themed sites in southwest Germany. Photographs were taken in April 2018, and in the summer of 2020 and 2021.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Nike Missile Battery, Wurmberg
Pershing Warhead Storage Bunker, Waldstetten
Internationales Luftfahrt-Museum, Villingen-Schwenningen
Military History Museum, Stammheim am Main
Former US Airbase, Giebelstadt

Sights

With the end of the game for the communist empire and following German reunification, Russian forces withdrew from all bases in Germany – as well as from many other Countries in Europe – and so did the foreign NATO allies, with a very few exceptions. Most former military bases and military infrastructures fell in a state of disrepair, and by the years the majority were either completely wiped out or converted into something else. Nonetheless, especially in the less crowded territories of the former communist East Germany, visible traces remain from the period, in the form of – sometimes immense – abandoned airports and military bases (see this post and links therein).

Comparatively less traces of the once substantial presence of NATO forces are to be found in todays western ‘Länder’ – i.e. administrative regions – which used to be part of West Germany. Yet something of interest for Cold War ‘archaeologists’ can be found also here.

A long chain of anti-aircraft missile batteries was implemented based on the Nike missile system designed in the US, and implemented by the US Army as well as other NATO armies in West Germany. The defensive line was established in the 1950s and updated over the years, running almost parallel to the border with the communist DDR, but located pretty far from it and well within the territory of West Germany. It stretched from the North Sea to the Bodensee, on the border with Switzerland. There are some very extensive references on the web providing a complete description of the Nike defensive barrier both in the US and abroad, a very rich one here (the link should point directly to the German section).

In this chapter you can find some pictures from an exploration of an abandoned Nike Hercules site next to the town of Wurmberg, just out of Pforzheim, between Stuttgart and the French border. It used to be run directly by the US Army.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) were part of the tactical plans of both the US and the Soviets in Europe. The Pershing platform, based on the homonym theater-level nuclear missile, was deployed in Germany, and placed in the inventory of both the US Army and the West German Luftwaffe. The missile was updated in several instances in the decades of the Cold War, until it was banned by the INF treaty in 1988, agreed upon by the administrations of Gorbachev and Reagan.

Among the strongpoints of the Pershing missile deployment in Europe, a huge warhead deposit was built close to the town of Waldstetten, next to Schwäbisch Gmund in southern Germany. In this chapter you will find photographs from an exploration of this mysterious site.

Furthermore, a nice collection of aircraft from both sides of the Iron Curtain can be found in the southwestern corner of the Country, next to the town of Villingen-Schwenningen – one of the few air museums in this part of Germany. Similarly, the large collections of the military museum in Stammheim, next to the town of Schweinfurt in northwestern Bavaria, and once close to the ‘Inner Border’ with the GDR, has on display substantial specimens from the Cold War era.

Finally, a special feature presented in this chapter is a group of pictures from the former airbase in Giebelstadt, south of Würzburg, Bavaria. Today a privately owned general aviation airport, this former military airbase gained a special historical significance when it was selected for the departure of secret overflights of the communist territory beyond the Iron Curtain, performed with the Lockheed U-2 in the late Fifties, by decision of president Eisenhower.

Nike Missile Battery – Wurmberg

The site in Wurmberg, east of Pforzheim, was actually Battery ‘Delta’ – i.e. the fourth – of the four missile forces managed by the the 3rd Battalion of the 71st Air Defense Artillery (ADA) regiment.

Typical Nike missile batteries were composed of two geographically separated areas. The largest was the ‘Launch area’, with missile storage facilities – sometimes reinforced underground bunkers, sometimes more usual ‘soft’ hangars – and launch pads. The other was the ‘Integrated Fire Control area’ or ‘IFC’, where all antennas and electronic equipment for target detection and missile guidance were placed. Due to the limited speed of motion of the missile guidance antennas, the distance between the launch site and the IFC had to be greater than a threshold, while the elevation of the IFC had to be somewhat above the the launch pads. These technological constraints led the choice of the sites suitable for the installation of the Nike batteries.

The site was deactivated in the Eighties, and both areas were sanitized in more instances, basically demolishing any buildings. The ‘final stage’ of the operation is likely to be underway at the time of my visit, as you can see from the pictures, where piles of gravel and moved land can be spotted all around the launch site.

Surprisingly, a feature that has come to our days virtually without any alteration is the external fence of the launch site, which runs all around the launch area and is still particularly impenetrable. Also the rounds of barbed wire on top are still there.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The exploration of the launch area is pretty straightforward. It is rectangular, basically flat and aligned along an east-western direction. Close to the eastern end, you meet a flat area with a concrete pavement – now partly demolished – and a curved road nearby. This is where the missiles and warheads were assembled. Nike missiles could mount nuclear warheads, but apparently this was a rarely adopted option.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The next notable item to the west is a water basin, still in a very good shape. There used to be a water system all around the base. Remains of demolished buildings can be spotted around here too.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

A mystery electric cable comes out of the ground on a spot. It is noteworthy that the launch area and IFC were connected by an underground cable, but I don’t think this is the one you see in the pics.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

This battery had three launch sectors, bearing the little imaginative names of ‘Alpha’, ‘Bravo’ and ‘Charlie’. You can find them in a sequence, walking towards the west end of the site.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The pads of the Alpha sector, while now greatly damaged by the demolition work, are still in place with their metal covers.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

There were three launch pads on each sector. The area of each sector appears unnecessarily large, but actually the missile storage hangar used to stay beyond the launch pads, occupying about half the area of each sector. Today these soft constructions have disappeared.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

To the west of each sector there is a small bunker, intended for the protection of the troops working around the launch pads, in case of an attack to the battery. These bunkers are not very damaged, so they constitute a very interesting part of the site today.

The protection bunkers have two exits on the two opposite sides – so the Alpha bunker connects the Alpha and Bravo sectors, the Bravo bunker the Bravo and Charlie sectors, while the Charlie bunker connects the Charlie sector to the logistic storage area to the west end of the launch site.

The Alpha bunker is well conserved – except for some spoiling by some idiot writer. There is no camouflage paint coat outside, just some plain green paint, and the walls inside are painted in a bright crimson color. The bunker has two opposite entrances, and two corresponding corridors leading to two massive tight doors, which give access to a central protected room, insulated from the outside.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

Writings in English are still there in the central room of bunker Alpha.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The launch sectors Bravo and Charlie are more damaged than Alpha.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The Bravo bunker is camouflaged, and differently from Alpha the walls inside are painted in water green. It is possible to notice how the central room was separated from the rest of the structure for blast insulation, similar to other missile sites (see this post). There is a wide slot at the level of the doors.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

Further writings in English and some original linoleum pavement are still perfectly visible.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The Charlie bunker is different from the other two. The facade is wider, it is coated in a camo paint, and bears the name ‘Charlie’ above the eastern door. Inside it is very dark, possibly as a result of a fire. In the insulated room it is possible to see an original air conditioning system.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The three launch sectors are connected to the south by a wide road, from where you can appreciate the extension and state of conservation of the original fence.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

The IFC area is located just north of the small town of Wurmberg, on top of a hill. Unfortunately, the former military site has been wiped out and a nothing less than a waste disposal facility has taken its place! Anyway, from this vantage point you can clearly see the launch area, roughly two miles to the west.

Nike Missile Battery Delta Battery 3/71 ADA Pforzheim Wumberg Germany Abandoned Military Base

Getting there and moving around

Getting to the launch area is very easy. Leave the highway N.8 close to Pforzheim (the exit is 45b Pforzheim-Süd) and take for Pforzheim on Wurmberger Strasse. Take the very first road to the right and park your car there. You will see a gate open since ages and an almost unmaintained road taking straight north and climbing gently uphill. This road will take you to the official gate of the launch area in 0.4 miles. Getting in is probably prohibited, but the area is pretty remote and secluded, and I didn’t see a person around during all my stay.

The site is geographically compact, so touring may take about 2 to 2.5 hours taking all pictures, if you have planned your movements in advance. A tripod is strictly necessary for taking decent pictures inside the very dark bunkers.

The IFC area can be reached going to Wurmberg, leaving the same exit but taking the direction opposite to Pforzheim. You will soon reach central Wurmberg. Cimb along Gollmerstrasse, then along Oschelbronnerstrasse. Where the village ends and the road stops climbing you will see a field to your left and a waste disposal facility to your right – this used to be the area occupied by the IFC area. Looking west you can see the launch area and the taller buildings of Pforzheim further in the distance.

Pershing Warhead Storage Bunkers – Waldstetten

The site in Waldstetten is basically an array of warhead storage bunkers, built between 1954 and 1958 by the US Army. In 1972 these bunkers became a part of a Quick Reaction Alert site, managed by the 1st Battalion of the 41st Field Artillery Regiment, tasked with supplying the nearby storage site of the Pershing missile in Mutlangen, just north of Schwäbisch Gmund. The site saw major action in 1982, when 36 Pershing II missiles were installed in Mutlangen as an answer to the deployment by the USSR of an updated version of the excellent SS-20 Saber IRBM system.

During the Eighties the 1st Bn 41st FA was reformed more than once, until it became 2nd Bn 9th FA in 1986, only to be disbanded in 1991, following the dismantlement of the Pershing system as a consequence of the INF Treaty between the US and USSR.

It should be mentioned that whether the nuclear warheads of the Pershing missile ever made their way to this storage site is a matter of discussion. As a matter of fact, the missiles were in the nearby Mutlangen site, and their installation triggered well documented protests by the usual pacifist folks, who encountered difficulties in understanding the moves of the Reagan administration, which helped with successfully putting an end to the Cold War and to many communist dictatorships in Europe. What the bunkers in the Waldstetten site were used for is not totally evident, and it should be recalled they were built in the Fifties, before the deployment of the Pershing system.

Of the 28 bunkers originally built, 25 exist today while three have been demolished in a landslide. The site is located in the trees along two broad circular roads, once service roads. Today it is in the heart of a natural preserve, and the roads are used by MTBs and hikers, whereas the Mutlangen site has been converted into a solar power plant.

The local administration has prepared a placard with a map and a short history of the place (in German only), which I spotted only by the first bunker you meet climbing uphill along the road approaching the site from north. You can see the placard in the pics below, with the corresponding map. The position indicated with ‘Standort’ on the map is where the placard is. I suggest starting you exploration from there.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

About half of the bunkers can be accessed. Except a few, they are basically indistinguishable.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

Inside they are empty and very basic in shape, with just one large storage room. Other bunkers are inaccessible, and some have been converted into bat shelters.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

A notable bunker is 870 (see the map in the pic), which bears on the front facade graffiti from US troops, probably veterans visiting the place in recent times after it was closed up. Today it is a bat shelter.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

In 869 you can find some naive paintings, including one portraying a truck probably dating from the years of operation.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

A mystery bunker is 856, which is very different from all others. It has two small entrances, apparently for humans only, and a group of small chambers ahead of the larger storage area. This has no wide entrances, suggesting it was not used for warheads nor anything similar, and a blind room to the back. Unfortunately, this bunker is also covered in indecent graffiti.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

Another interesting sight, especially visible to the west of the bunker area, is the original fence of the storage site, with a number of aligned concrete posts and traces of barbed wire. The line of the fence is shown also on the map.

Quick Reaction Alert QRA Nuclear Atomic Weapons Pershing Warhead Storage Waldstetten Schwabisch Gmund US 41st Field Artillery Germany Abandoned Bunker

Getting there and moving around

The storage bunkers are located on top of a hill, and some climbing is required to reach the bunker area. The place is not fenced, and there are multiple access points from all directions. I personally parked at the end of Dreifaltigkeitsstrasse in Waldstetten and accessed the site from the west. After touring it, I came back passing by the placard mentioned above. The road is steeper on that side of the hill, but starting from the placard may ease your exploration.

Please note that the on most part of the site the cell phone coverage was very weak, with no access to internet data. I strongly suggest downloading your maps before being on site.

The place is secluded and the bunkers are much overlooked by the locals, who keep on the main track and just cross the area – you will probably move around undisturbed if you walk in and around the bunkers.

Due to some amount of mild hiking required, a complete tour of all bunkers may take about 3 hours, including time for pictures.

Internationales Luftfahrt-Museum – Villingen-Schwenningen

This small air museum is composed of three parts.

The first is a single hangar, stacked with smaller aircraft and a helicopter, plus memorabilia and parts of aircraft of diverse proveniences and ages, including German machines from WWII, and later from both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Internationales Luftfahrt-Museum Air Museum Baden-Wurttemberg Germany

The main part is a grassy apron with an open air collection. Here you can see aircraft of American make in the colors of the West German Luftwaffe, including an F-86 Sabre and F-104 Starfighter.