Tour Report: WWII Maintenance Bunker [Revisit]

The last location we visited in 2019 was the remains of a bunker from the Second World War. We had already visited it a little over two years earlier, but as we were in the area anyway and didn't have too much time before the New Year's Eve party, we made a quick stop here. In fact, we walked through the forest beforehand to take a quick look at the airfield's former nuclear weapons depot. This is used by the munitions clearance service and is therefore not open to the public. We were aware of this, but wanted to have a look at least once anyway.

So back to the World War II bunker.

During the war, it was probably used as a maintenance hall for the Rechlin test site. It was blown up after the war; only the side walls remained standing. Due to the blasting, you can see the dimensions of the facility very clearly. The floor plan is rectangular with an area of approximately 1,200 square meters with wall and ceiling thicknesses of three to four meters. A huge building!

The ceiling collapsed downwards into the building as a result of the blast, so that not one stone inside is left standing on another. Over the decades, stalactites have formed on the concrete, some of which decorate the protruding steel reinforcements.

On the walls, you can still clearly see the graffiti of the Soviet soldiers who served in the Lärz airfield's radio transmitter station, which was set up on the site in an AU-13 arched shelter around 1980.

We climbed around a bit in the ruins of the bunker and took our photos. There's not much to see apart from the bunker, and the Soviet broadcasting station doesn't offer any special motifs either, as it is used by local farmers as a hay store.

So we enjoyed the sunny weather for a while and then made our way out - after all, there was a party waiting for us :)

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.