Tour Report: Soviet Command Bunker 172 ОБВП

For our trip in early October 2020, my friend Andreas and I had put several Cold War relics in northeastern Germany on our list. After taking the opportunity to photograph an old mausoleum along the way, we headed straight for our first planned location.

Our destination was a former command bunker of the Soviet Air Forces. Originally, it had been constructed as the operations center of the 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in Parchim, before later being repurposed as the command post of the 172nd Combat Helicopter Regiment - a small but telling example of how military infrastructure was adapted during the Cold War.

After roughly 45 minutes of driving, we reached the former Soviet military compound. It was easy to identify: a classic guardhouse at the entrance and a solid concrete perimeter wall left little doubt about the site’s past.

Parking directly in front of the main gate felt like a bad idea, so we left the car a bit farther away along a dirt road. According to our plan, this path should lead us around to the rear of the compound, from where we hoped to make our way inside and search for the bunker.

The plan worked out perfectly. The dirt road ran surprisingly close to the site, and before long we discovered a breach in the wall - part of it had collapsed, leaving a hole just large enough to climb through.

Since we had no precise information about the bunker’s location within the compound, we expected a lengthy search. That fear turned out to be unfounded: after only a short walk, we had already spotted the entrance.

With a floor area of roughly 150 square meters, the bunker itself is fairly unremarkable from an architectural point of view. It closely resembles other Cold War-era structures we’ve explored at former airfields. As was often the case when Soviet forces withdrew from East Germany, very few original items were left behind. This site was no exception. A handful of pieces of furniture were scattered around, though it’s hard to say whether they actually belonged to the bunker’s original equipment—at least the armchair struck me as rather doubtful.

After completing our exploration, we stepped back outside into the daylight.

There were several more abandoned buildings on the site waiting to be explored, so stay tuned - and look forward to the next post.

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

Tour Report: Mausoleum L.

On a warm, sunlit Sunday in late summer 2020, my friend Andreas and I were on the road in the north-east of Germany, once again following traces of a vanished world. Our original plan was firmly rooted in the Cold War: abandoned military infrastructure, forgotten installations, places once designed for conflict and control.

But as so often on trips like this, the most memorable stops are sometimes the unplanned ones.

While mapping out our route, we had noticed a small mausoleum dating back to the late 19th century. It lay almost directly along our way, close enough to justify a brief stop - especially under such perfect weather conditions. Just a few minutes from the motorway, we left the car in the quiet village and set off on foot.

The path led us away from the road and into a more secluded landscape. Between scattered trees, across a meadow still glowing in the morning light, and over a narrow stream, the mausoleum slowly came into view. It stands on the raised mound of a long-lost medieval castle, a place that had already seen centuries pass before the mausoleum was ever built. A surrounding moat accentuates its elevated position, making the structure appear even more isolated and prominent in the open landscape.

Unsurprisingly, the building itself was locked. Entry was never an option. Yet standing there in the calm of the countryside, with the low autumn sun casting warm light across the weathered stone, it hardly felt like a disappointment. Some places don’t need to be entered to leave an impression.

The exterior alone offered plenty of details to explore - textures, shadows, and subtle signs of age. And through one of the windows, we managed to catch a brief glimpse of the interior: just enough to spark curiosity and leave the rest to imagination.

For us, this short detour turned out to be a quiet, almost timeless interlude — a moment of stillness before returning to the harsher, more utilitarian relics of the Cold War that awaited us further down the road.

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

Tour Report: Sand-Lime Brick Factory L.

On the way back from our tour to the abandoned dialysis clinic, we had two more locations planned. The first one was an abandoned prison, which of course promised to be an interesting exploration - if we had found a way in. But at the time, that wasn't in the cards. However, six months later, I did return and had more luck - but that will be another story!

The second location was more or less a last resort, because we didn't have anything left that was en route. So we tried it out.

The place was located right next to a residential area which conveniently offered a public parking lot only a short walk from the old factory building.

As we arrived at the location, we could already see that there weren't going to be many photo opportunities: lots of trash had been dumped on the premises, the walls were covered in graffiti, and there were no windows left intact.

The fence around the area hardly deserved that name, so we could just walk onto the premises as we pleased.

We only needed about an hour until we had all the photos that we wanted, so it was a short visit. It wasn't spectacular, but at least we got to see the place before it was demolished a few yeas later.

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