The Border Forts of Czechoslovakia Against Nazi Germany

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Map

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

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Sights

Stachelberg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

Voda, Brezinka and Lom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hanicka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

Bouda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

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

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

Hurka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

Forts of the Maginot Line

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sights

Ouvrage de la Ferté

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Ouvrage Simserhof

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Ouvrage du Four à Chaux

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Casemate Esch

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Abri de Hatten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Fort de Mutzig – Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

The Salpa Line – Finland’s Anti-Soviet Barrier

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

History – in brief

The Winter War

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

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

Building the Salpa Line

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

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

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

The Continuation War

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

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

Map

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


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

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Virolahti Bunker Museum, Virolahti

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Salpa Line Museum, Miehikkälä

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hostikka Site

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lusikkovuoren Cave

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

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

Askola Site

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Syysphoja and Puumala Site

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

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

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

General Mannerheim Headquarters and Communication Bunker

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

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

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

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

Raikuu Site

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joensuu Bunker Museum, Joensuu

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huhmarisvaara Artillery Position

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

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

Vanntajankannas Site

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harparskog Line, Hanko Peninsula

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hanko Front Museum, Hanko

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

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

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

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

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

Soviet Airbases in the GDR – Third Chapter

The BEST pictures from Soviet bases in the GDR
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Soviet Ghosts in Germany

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

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

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

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

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

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Sperenberg

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

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

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

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

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Grossenhain

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

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

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

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Finsterwalde

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

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Zeithain

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

Riesa

Sights

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

Aircraft and Missiles Around Tucson

The dry desert ranges of southern Arizona make for a perfect habitat for warbirds – the almost null humidity percentage and ‘sky clear’ conditions prevailing year round are particularly attractive when it comes to store rust and corrosion-prone pieces of machinery, like aircraft are.

For this reason the region between Phoenix and the border with Mexico is scattered with larger and smaller aircraft-centered businesses, going from pure airplane and engine storages, to refurbishment shops, parts resellers and so on.

Of course, if you own an old aircraft you would like to preserve, it would be a good deal finding a place in the area. This is what some people from the Government must have thought when they placed the famous AMARG in Tucson, in the southernmost part of Arizona. It was likely the same motivation which brought the largest private collection of aircraft in the world – Pima Air & Space Museum – down to the same location.

These two attractions, both perfectly accessible on a regular basis, already make a visit to Tucson a true ‘must’ for aviation-minded people. But the area offers also another unique site surely to be found in the shortlist of every aviation enthusiast – the only inter-continental ballistic missile silo you can visit in the US!

In this chapter you can see a series of photographs I took during a memorable two-days visit to these places back in 2012.

The 309th AMARG at Davis-Monthan AFB – Tucson, AZ

The acronym AMARG stands for ‘Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group’, a group which is operating under the Air Force Materiel Command. The most conspicuous part of their facility at the Air Force Base of Davis-Monthan – also home to the 355th FW – is a huge open-air storage area in the desert. This is made of two parts.

The first is where surplus aircraft from the various branches of the Armed Forces of the US and some of their Allies are stored. Before being placed out on the desert, these aircraft are treated to better preserve them, sealing all doors, windows, holes and slots. Some parts are covered in a special white rubber coating, to protect them from direct sunlight exposure. The process can be inverted, and all aircraft preserved in these conditions can be re-activated and return fully operational.

The aircraft stored here in a mothballed condition are really many and make for an unbelievable sight! You will not find the same amount of planes in the same spot anywhere else in the world! And if you think this is just the ‘not strictly necessary part’ of the Armed Forces, well, it’s hard to imagine what the sight of all the aircraft on duty would be like!

In the same part of the installation there is also a kind of ‘commemoration alley’, where an exemplar for almost every model ever stored on the base have been preserved, so as to keep memory of the past activities of the AMARG. These aircraft are placed to the sides of a straight road in a mothballed condition.

The second main part of the AMARG is known as ‘the boneyard’, and it looks more like a huge scrapyard. Here aircraft which are not intended to ever return to active service are stored. Thanks to the good climate, their condition probably appears more derelict than it actually is. Most aircraft here are used as donors for spare parts to supply others still on duty. The business is not limited to within the national borders. At the time of my visit, there were still many General Dynamics F-111, which until recently had been used to supply spare parts to the Royal Australian Air Force, which had just finished to phase out that model from active service.

Geographically in the same area of ‘the boneyard’, it is possible to see also some larger aircraft on storage, up in size to the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, plus some unique exemplars, like the incredible Boeing YAL-1, a modified 747-400 mounting an experimental laser cannon!

There are also some large missiles, and some mystery aircraft with civil markings, as well as a less attractive but really important asset – all the factory rigs necessary for re-booting the production of discontinued plane models.

Other items not on shortage here are jet engines. There are hundreds of them, some stored in dedicated cases, some just placed on a sand lot in open air.

The AMARG is very busy also with maintenance and conversion activities. At the time of my visit, they were working on the conversion of some McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom into target drones for weapons testing.

Leaving the installation you can spot close to the fence of the airbase – and besides a parking area for sequestered cars – a small deposit for aircraft. I don’t know much about it, but noticed a pretty good number of interesting items, especially a series of Grumman Albatross.

Visiting

This is an active military installation, and visiting is managed only by the Pima Air & Space Museum through a special agreement with the Air Force. The museum is located at a short distance from Davis-Monthan, just south of downtown Tucson. You will need to go to the museum reception to arrange a visit. Tours are offered on a regular basis, but it is not possible to book tickets, so you will need to go early to make sure you get your tickets. Full info from the website of the tour here.

The visit will take a couple of hours in total. You will board an air conditioned bus and you will tour the AMARG facilities without stepping off, which is nice as the temperature maybe crazy outside. The guide during my visit was a friendly former Super Sabre pilot and war veteran. Taking pictures was allowed at the time of my visit, except when military personnel were in the scope of your camera and in some specific spots your guide told us. A very enjoyable visit to a truly unique place! Totally recommended for aviation enthusiasts.

Pima Air & Space Museum – Tucson, AZ

Besides being the largest privately run collection of aircraft in the world, this museum has adopted a very interesting acquisition policy and also boasts an active restoration facility, making the place interesting not only for plenty of aircraft, but also for their variety and condition of preservation.

The museum is organized with some large hangars, close to the reception and gift shop, a huge open-air part and some smaller hangars scattered over the property.

The first hangars showcase some items from the collection which were restored to a very good non-flying condition. These include a very rare Martin PBM-5 Mariner, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, an A-10 Warthog, a F-14 Tomcat and a F-4 Phantom! Also a super rare North American F-107 is part of the collection. Already enough for a visit, these are just a starter…

On the outside you will find a representative for virtually any model ever in service with the USAF or the Navy since the Fifties, from fighters to bombers, transport and observation aircraft.

These include a B-47 Stratojet, two B-52 Stratofortress, a B-36 Peacemaker – it looks like a real monster even parked outside, where things look shorter! – and some special aircraft, like a ski-equipped C-130, a veteran of operation ‘Deep Freeze’ to Antarctica, a Super Guppy and the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker christianed “Weightless Wonder V”, used for parabolic zero-gravity flights.

In a somewhat secluded part of the open-air exhibition you will find a shortlist of extremely rare aircraft, including a Beechcraft 2000 Starship, a twin turboprop design by Burt Rutan with a canard configuration, made for the executive market, and a Budd RB-1 Conestoga, an aircraft proposed during WWII when an aluminium shortage was feared, and mainly made of steel! Both models never entered serial production. Nearby there is also a Boeing YC-14 prototype, which participated in a competition for a STOL aircraft to replace the C-130.

Other highlights on the outside include a Convair B-58 Hustler and a Douglas VC-118 Liftmaster – a version of the Douglas DC-6 propliner – serving as Air Force One transporting Presidents Kennedy and Johnson on some official travels. But the list of interesting aircraft here would be really long!

Some aircraft in the exhibition are pretty rare to find at least in this part of the world. These include a French Sud Aviation Caravelle passenger aircraft, several British aircraft including a Fairey Gannet, and also some Soviet models.

The restoration facility could not be toured during my visit, but on the outside I could spot a rare Avro Shackleton patrol aircraft from the Fleet Air Arm – an unexpected sight in the desert of Arizona!

Among the warbirds preserved in the smaller hangars, a B-17, B-24 and B-29 from WWII are surely worth mentioning. Another interesting sight is one of NASA’s X-15 rocket planes.

You can choose to tour the huge open-air exhibition with special covered trolleys departing at certain times instead of moving around alone. I elected to go on my own, but I experienced a certain level of dehydration – as it is typical in deserts, a combination of intense sunlight, hot air temperature and very low humidity triggers intense perspiration from your skin, but this goes unnoticed to you, for sweat evaporates fast and has not the time to accumulate to form droplets, so you don’t realize anything strange is happening… until your mind starts to feel light and your legs very heavy! Luckily, there is a restaurant offering cold drinks inside the museum – there I consumed the fastest ‘tall size’ of Coke in my life during my visit!

Visiting

The museum is open year round and almost every day. Check the website here for further info. The location is quite close to downtown Tucson, and can be easily reached by car.

To help your plans, if you are an aviation enthusiast consider that the combination of a visit to this museum and the AMARG facility described above will easily fill a 1-day schedule, for this collection is extra-large and also very interesting. This is especially true if you are interested in taking pictures – something you are encouraged to do by the clean, perfect light typical of desert areas.

I visited in August and the temperature was very high. You can bear it easily thanks to the low humidity rate, but be sure to take precautions to avoid dehydration. Visiting in other seasons may be indicated to enjoy milder climatic conditions.

Titan Missile Museum – Sahuarita, AZ

This museum encompasses a full Titan II missile launch facility. The Titan II was constituted by a liquid propelled, two-stages missile capable of reaching targets more than 6000 miles away, transporting a 9 megaton W-53 thermonuclear warhead, the most powerful ever deployed operationally by the US.

There were just above 50 such launch sites in the US, in southern Arizona, Kansas and Arkansas, and this is the only one which can be visited today. The operational life of the missile spanned from the early Sixties to the mid-Eighties. Even though it was soon superseded by the Minuteman missile fleet, the mighty Titan II remains a true icon of the Cold War era.

Being more than 100 ft tall and weighing around 350’000 lb, this missile could not be moved easily, and was in fact kept in a concrete interred silo specifically built around it. The cylinder-shaped silo is a relatively small part of the installation, which is composed also of a number of underground passages, control rooms, staircases, storages, safety doors, air ducts, cables and literally tons of equipment.

The whole site was designed to withstand the blast of a nuclear attack directed to the silo, itself a designated target for the enemy of the time – the Soviet Union. To this aim, a large part of the structures in the underground facility are standing on a complicated elastic base, with springs and dampers to compensate for intense vibrations coming from the ground in case of a nuclear attack.

During your visit to the museum you will receive a briefing about the history of the Titan II in a service house. You will be given a helmet before accessing the underground control part.

The most interesting stop in this area is by the control room of the missile, where the condition of all systems was constantly kept under control. It was from here that the missile could be armed and launched in case an attack was authorized. During the visit you are shown a simulation of the launch sequence. This is a very lively experience, for all control panels are lighted on as they used to be when the system was actually working!

After exploring a bit of the underground site, you reach the inside of the cylindrical silo, where a Titan II is still standing today. Here you can appreciate the monstrous size of this ICBM, and the complexity of the system – many pipes going in and out, cables and other systems.

In the final part of the visit you leave the underground facility and return to the ground level, where you can have a look at some pieces of machinery like dismounted rocket engines, pumps and other equipment connected with the function of the site.

All in all, this museum represents a unique destination for aviation enthusiasts as well as historians, veterans of the Cold War and everybody with a fascination for relics of the duel between the two Superpowers. Even if you are not an expert, you will be astonished by the size and complexity of this missile, so there is definitely something for everybody in this site!

Visiting

The Titan museum is located south of Sahuarita, less than 15 miles south of Tucson, AZ, along the I-19 going to the Mexican border.

The museum is actually a friend of the Pima Air & Space Museum, but it is a separated entity, so timetables are different. Visiting is possible only through guided tours, which are organized on a regular basis. Full information from their website. They also offer special-themed tours to usually inaccessible parts of the site. Taking pictures is possible anywhere, for the installation is today decommissioned and declassified.

Touring the underground facility may ba a little uncomfortable when moving in groups – the rooms where not intended for tourist groups! -, there are several flights of stairs and the terrain is sometimes uneven. That said, for the average person there is really nothing to worry about during the visit.

World War I Trenches in the Saint-Mihiel Salient

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

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Sights

Flirey – destroyed village

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

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

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

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

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

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

Butte de Montsec – Memorial of the American Expeditionary Forces

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

Bois brulé – German and French trenches

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

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

Trench of the Bavarians and Roffignac

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

‘Trench of the Thirsty’

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

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

Calonne Trench

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

Note

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

Wolfsschlucht II – Hitler’s Forgotten Headquarters in France

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting there and moving around

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

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

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

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

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

Sights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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