I'd been gearing up for this "mini break" for the last couple of months and it was just what was needed to get me back in the game and geared up to do what I love best....going underground. I'd thrown whatever I could into a suitcase and headed to Birmingham for a couple of days to see Dweeb, Sophie, Turkmeister and the Adders to have a mooch round some sites up there before meeting up with some old ghosts and then speeding terrifyingly down the M1 to make it to Luton for 3am.
Outside Simply Exploring's house who sadly could not make it on this trip coz of a poorly back, I met Dark Prince and his landrover and we headed to the airport to meet the rest of the guys from Subbrit. It was way too early for coffee or food of any sort so I stuck my head down on the table and slept whilst the others discussed plans for the coming days from information that Robin had handed out to us.
Fell asleep for the entire flight and woke up 10 minutes before we were due to land-bonza! Within 10 minutes of arriving at Schonefeld, I'd already bought a cuddly armadillo who everyone called 'Adolf' despite my protests to name him something more PC.
The rental cars were all ready to go after ones of the guys valetting had gone a bit "OCD" with the hoovering while we freezed our arses off in the rather nippy German climate. Cue pop rock on the in-car radio and Adolf stashed in the overhead locker, we pulled away with one thing in our minds......an enormous bunker awaiting our arrival.
Like kids in a sweet shop, we pulled on layers of clothing and waiting to disperse after some brief lunch meeting plans. Sausages? Who needs sausage time when there's paradise waiting to be explored?
STOP.....BUNKERTIME! *MC Hammer dance*
There were about 10 billion basements and surface buildings to explore but I'm going to separate it into different reports because we spent two whole days there and I took a ridiculous number of photos. I've included some history from the German version of Wikipedia because the English speaking one doesn't seem to think Falkenhagen is important.
The Bunker Falkenhagen is a bunker at Falkenhagen in Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg, which was built from 1939 to 1943 by the Armed Forces for the underground production of "N-Stoff" and sarin. Under the name "Seewerk" owned the plant in Falkenhagen on a number of munitions establishments, were by the Army, together with the German explosives Chemie GmbH (DSC) operated until 1945.
From 1958 to 1964 the conversion took place of the former Wehrmacht bunker by the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSSD) to an ABC-secure command of the Warsaw Pact.
The bunker was planned in the late 1930s as an underground facility. In 1939 started the construction work. It consisted of a central railway tunnel and underground areas as production of chlorine trifluoride ( "N-Stoff"). Until the conquest by the Red Army in 1945 the bunker was used by the Wehrmacht.
After 1945 the region around the bunker zone, with a legend as a hospital or clinic, and from 1959 as an automotive repair operation. Already in 1946 the space Falkenhagen (without mention of the bunker or its use) as a place for the rear command post, a front of GSSD was called. The current shelter was remodeled in the 1960s by special forces of the army on behalf of GSSD. The GSSD introduced such modifications to the media and the materials ready. The bunker was put on the new function in 1965 in operation.
Until 1945 it was produced here trifluoride for the rocket industry in the Third Reich, which was described from Tarngründen as N-material. She was at that time created room layout: Railway tunnel, two production facilities and an extension for the storage of the finished product. Immediately prior to the conquest by the Red Army has begun to expand the facilities for the production of sarin, in the southern minor sensitivity to the actual shelter facility, but the facilities were never completed.
I'll include some more information in the next report but massive thanks to Ze Wikipedia for their history because they've done a much better job than I could do. I was too busy taking photos of dead foxes and swooning over concreted boilers :crazy
I have to say a massive thankyou to everyone involved in these 4 days, it was an awesome trip. I haven't laughed that hard in ages
Here's some photos of the bunker itself:
Outside Simply Exploring's house who sadly could not make it on this trip coz of a poorly back, I met Dark Prince and his landrover and we headed to the airport to meet the rest of the guys from Subbrit. It was way too early for coffee or food of any sort so I stuck my head down on the table and slept whilst the others discussed plans for the coming days from information that Robin had handed out to us.
Fell asleep for the entire flight and woke up 10 minutes before we were due to land-bonza! Within 10 minutes of arriving at Schonefeld, I'd already bought a cuddly armadillo who everyone called 'Adolf' despite my protests to name him something more PC.
The rental cars were all ready to go after ones of the guys valetting had gone a bit "OCD" with the hoovering while we freezed our arses off in the rather nippy German climate. Cue pop rock on the in-car radio and Adolf stashed in the overhead locker, we pulled away with one thing in our minds......an enormous bunker awaiting our arrival.
Like kids in a sweet shop, we pulled on layers of clothing and waiting to disperse after some brief lunch meeting plans. Sausages? Who needs sausage time when there's paradise waiting to be explored?
STOP.....BUNKERTIME! *MC Hammer dance*
There were about 10 billion basements and surface buildings to explore but I'm going to separate it into different reports because we spent two whole days there and I took a ridiculous number of photos. I've included some history from the German version of Wikipedia because the English speaking one doesn't seem to think Falkenhagen is important.
The Bunker Falkenhagen is a bunker at Falkenhagen in Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg, which was built from 1939 to 1943 by the Armed Forces for the underground production of "N-Stoff" and sarin. Under the name "Seewerk" owned the plant in Falkenhagen on a number of munitions establishments, were by the Army, together with the German explosives Chemie GmbH (DSC) operated until 1945.
From 1958 to 1964 the conversion took place of the former Wehrmacht bunker by the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSSD) to an ABC-secure command of the Warsaw Pact.
The bunker was planned in the late 1930s as an underground facility. In 1939 started the construction work. It consisted of a central railway tunnel and underground areas as production of chlorine trifluoride ( "N-Stoff"). Until the conquest by the Red Army in 1945 the bunker was used by the Wehrmacht.
After 1945 the region around the bunker zone, with a legend as a hospital or clinic, and from 1959 as an automotive repair operation. Already in 1946 the space Falkenhagen (without mention of the bunker or its use) as a place for the rear command post, a front of GSSD was called. The current shelter was remodeled in the 1960s by special forces of the army on behalf of GSSD. The GSSD introduced such modifications to the media and the materials ready. The bunker was put on the new function in 1965 in operation.
Until 1945 it was produced here trifluoride for the rocket industry in the Third Reich, which was described from Tarngründen as N-material. She was at that time created room layout: Railway tunnel, two production facilities and an extension for the storage of the finished product. Immediately prior to the conquest by the Red Army has begun to expand the facilities for the production of sarin, in the southern minor sensitivity to the actual shelter facility, but the facilities were never completed.
I'll include some more information in the next report but massive thanks to Ze Wikipedia for their history because they've done a much better job than I could do. I was too busy taking photos of dead foxes and swooning over concreted boilers :crazy
I have to say a massive thankyou to everyone involved in these 4 days, it was an awesome trip. I haven't laughed that hard in ages
Here's some photos of the bunker itself:
