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Report (Permission Visit) - Rzeczka - Poland, Oct 2014 | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report (Permission Visit) Rzeczka - Poland, Oct 2014

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Derelict-UK

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Rzeczka was one of the smaller of the seven Project Riese underground complexes in South West Poland. This complex was less than a mile from our hotel in Walim and in winter months is in prime ski holiday territory!

The complex has three entrances, two of which are open to the public. One of the halls underground is 110m x 10m x 15m and is the largest of all the discovered halls. Some of the areas are partly finished off with concrete. The total length of the galleries and halls is around 700m.

Here is my history of Project Riese:

In WW2 at the start of 1943, in the Sowie Mountains, Lower Silesia, the Germans started the largest underground project of the Third Reich. It was codenamed ‘RIESE’ which means ‘A Giant’.

Thousands of prisoners of war were worked to death constructing the tunnels, many only lasted a couple of months as the German guards worked them 24 hours a day. Children as young as 10 years old were put to work hauling the mining carts with the spoil out of the tunnel systems. Some of the huge tunnel networks were constructed in 6 months, my images may not show the scale of the networks, it was hard to get a photo of everything in a short space of time, there are many tunnel branches that went off into the distant darkness, seemed to go on for ever. For the time frame it was an amazing feat for the progress but at a truly horrific human cost.

The uses of the tunnels were mixed, some were underground arms factories, some were used by the Third Reich’s best scientists for advanced weapon testing and development and others were used as Hitler’s Headquarters (Führerhauptquartier or FHQ) and military shelters.

More than 50 German construction companies were involved in the major project.

There were seven underground complexes situated around the Sowie Mountains including: Wlodarz, Osowka, Sokolec, Sobon, Rzeczka, Jugowice and Hitler’s tunnel complex under the castle of Ksiaz in Walbrzych.

A huge infrastructure was built including new and adapted roads, narrow-gauge railways, bridges and overpasses. In total, around 8.5km of tunnels were excavated (113,000 m3), 60 narrow-gauge railways systems added, 36km of roads and a dozen bridges and flyovers were built in the area.​

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3. Project Riese played its role in the development of the V1 & V2 rockets.
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8. A mock up of the V1 'Doodlebug'...
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12. If you look close, you can see a mining cart, this hall was huge!
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17. Showing the complex in use, a layout and during its excavation...
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20. A memorial to 'Victims of Fascism'...
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D-UK

 

slayaaaa

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Rzeczka - Poland - October 2014

Nice shots mate, site looks pretty good. Thanks for sharing. :thumb
 

bhg

In Search of Lost Time
Regular User
Re: Rzeczka - Poland - October 2014

Riese is such an amazing place! I've only visited Wlodarz, Osowka and Ksiaz Castle Tunnels, always wanted to see all of it. Years ago you could access some parts of the tunnels that are not open to public, in Owl Mountains, some of them still doable.
Parts of this huge underground city are still to rediscover, there are many myths and theories around - unknown tunnels or shelters, production of V1 / V2 rockets, destroyed or blocked access to deeper tunnels.
Thanks for sharing!
 
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Oxygen Thief

Admin
Staff member
Admin
Re: Rzeczka - Poland - October 2014

The Polish are really getting their act together in restoring these sites, although I do think some of the displays are a bit OTT or irrelevant, but that's usually the case anywhere.

What are the people doing in the background of this picture...

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Derelict-UK

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Rzeczka - Poland - October 2014

The Polish are really getting their act together in restoring these sites, although I do think some of the displays are a bit OTT or irrelevant, but that's usually the case anywhere.

What are the people doing in the background of this picture...

15542766139_e499b5f6f6_o.jpg

The people in the picture was to show POW's at work during its construction, you pressed a button on the wall and each dummy lit up and German orders were shouted and you could hear the type of machinery they used (drilling etc).
 
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