About this place.
This place is also known as camp Astrid or camp Hitfeld. On this terrain you find the remains of former Belgium barracks that were built just after World War II by the then Belgium occupation forces. The terrain is pretty large, originally this camp covered over 850 acres.
Logistics units and the staff of the 29th Logistics Battalion of the Belgian Armed Forces in Germany (BSD) were stationed at Camp Reine Astrid. Several material depots for vehicles, spare parts, etc. and an ammunition depot were attached. Around 1,200 soldiers were stationed at the camp and depot. The main task of this camp was supplying other units. Another important task here was the training of soldiers. The camp, located in the forest, had many facilities designed to make work and life pleasant for the Belgian soldiers and their families: church, casino, cinema, outdoor swimming pool, post office, shop, sports field, tennis court, sports hall and a fishing pond. The families of the soldiers did not live on the campsite, though, but in their own settlements in a nearby city.
Around the end of the cold war, Belgian armed forces were restructured and most Belgian facilities in Germany closed and the soldiers went back home.
This camp has been abandoned since 1995 and the property has been given back to Germany. Part of the Southern barracks were demolished and that part is now an industrial area. In the early 2000's, the structural facilities of the camp were removed as well as a big part of the forest surrounding it.
The explore.
It was a calm weekday. The weather was pretty warm for the time of year. Finding this place was easy. Finding a way in was not hard either. We walked a couple of minutes from where we parked our car to the fence surrounding the campsite. We walked along the fence for a bit, until we spotted a big hole to climb through. The campsite was all but deserted. We spotted some local youth, some other explorers, some airsofters and a couple small groups of spray painters, who had turned this place into their canvas. There was a lot of damage. Trashed buildings, covered in spraypaint and some traces of fresh fires. Since I was still a beginner in the urbex scene I still had a great time dwelling around here and looking at what was left of the buildings. We walked around until it got dark, noticed that the atmosphere in the place began to change, photographers and airsofters had disappeared and the terrain was mostly being dwelled by spraypainters, groups of youth and drug users. We decided it was time to leave, returned about two weeks later to see the parts of the site we had missed (since the terrain was still pretty big) and that was that. I recently heard that demolition of the rest of the site, that has been left unattended for years, is now in progress. Goodbye, camp Hitfeld, thanks for the memories.
Some photo's.
Nature is starting to take this place back.
Spray painters have also really taken over this place.
Remainders of the church up here.
One of the main buildings.
Inside the main buildings. Long empty halls and even more spray paint.
This place is also known as camp Astrid or camp Hitfeld. On this terrain you find the remains of former Belgium barracks that were built just after World War II by the then Belgium occupation forces. The terrain is pretty large, originally this camp covered over 850 acres.
Logistics units and the staff of the 29th Logistics Battalion of the Belgian Armed Forces in Germany (BSD) were stationed at Camp Reine Astrid. Several material depots for vehicles, spare parts, etc. and an ammunition depot were attached. Around 1,200 soldiers were stationed at the camp and depot. The main task of this camp was supplying other units. Another important task here was the training of soldiers. The camp, located in the forest, had many facilities designed to make work and life pleasant for the Belgian soldiers and their families: church, casino, cinema, outdoor swimming pool, post office, shop, sports field, tennis court, sports hall and a fishing pond. The families of the soldiers did not live on the campsite, though, but in their own settlements in a nearby city.
Around the end of the cold war, Belgian armed forces were restructured and most Belgian facilities in Germany closed and the soldiers went back home.
This camp has been abandoned since 1995 and the property has been given back to Germany. Part of the Southern barracks were demolished and that part is now an industrial area. In the early 2000's, the structural facilities of the camp were removed as well as a big part of the forest surrounding it.
The explore.
It was a calm weekday. The weather was pretty warm for the time of year. Finding this place was easy. Finding a way in was not hard either. We walked a couple of minutes from where we parked our car to the fence surrounding the campsite. We walked along the fence for a bit, until we spotted a big hole to climb through. The campsite was all but deserted. We spotted some local youth, some other explorers, some airsofters and a couple small groups of spray painters, who had turned this place into their canvas. There was a lot of damage. Trashed buildings, covered in spraypaint and some traces of fresh fires. Since I was still a beginner in the urbex scene I still had a great time dwelling around here and looking at what was left of the buildings. We walked around until it got dark, noticed that the atmosphere in the place began to change, photographers and airsofters had disappeared and the terrain was mostly being dwelled by spraypainters, groups of youth and drug users. We decided it was time to leave, returned about two weeks later to see the parts of the site we had missed (since the terrain was still pretty big) and that was that. I recently heard that demolition of the rest of the site, that has been left unattended for years, is now in progress. Goodbye, camp Hitfeld, thanks for the memories.
Some photo's.
Nature is starting to take this place back.
Spray painters have also really taken over this place.
Remainders of the church up here.
One of the main buildings.
Inside the main buildings. Long empty halls and even more spray paint.
