Shadowed by fear, consumed by guilt, somewhere in the contradiction of nowhere lies a forgotten city so secret only darkness and light know it’s there. A whole city without a soul.
Curtains flutter nonchalantly through broken windows, backs turned on barren rooms and hollow corridors, while outside giant empty bunkers stand shellshocked and still, doors creaking forlornly, their stash of deadly nukes long gone and with it their raison d’être.
Welcome to Vogelsang, where the Russians once had atomic weapons earmarked for Western Europe’s consumption, ready to launch at a moment’s folly in retaliation for a pre-emptive strike or in pre-emption of an imminent retaliation.
Construction at this 5,800-hectare site began in 1951 (one of the few complexes purpose-built by the Russians, most likely off plans seized from the Germans after the war) and the garrison became home to around 15,000 soldiers and civilians, some 550 buildings, a shit load of tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, tactical missiles and the most fiendish missiles of all – nuclear missiles.
Soldiers carried out maneuvers at night to avoid American surveillance, and locals had no idea what kind of shenanigans were going on behind those guarded walls.
As part of ‘Operation Atom,’ R5-M (SS-3 Shyster) missiles were brought here and to another base at nearby Neuthymen (Fürstenberg) by the elite 72nd RVGK Engineer Brigade in January 1959. The nuclear warheads followed in mid-April.
Four of the weapons were allegedly destined for England, to take out Thor (PGM-17) missile bases in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, while others were for US air bases in Western Europe and at population centers such as London, Paris, Brussels, the Ruhrgebiet and Bonn. These things were HUGE, weighing 29.1 tons and reaching 20.74 meters, and over 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Four mobile launching units and 12 missiles were ready for deployment between the two bases, capable of striking targets up to 1,200 kilometers away.
The East Germans were not informed, and the missiles were delivered under cover of darkness using back roads so they wouldn’t find out.
“The Soviet Army leadership did not give the GDR military leadership any information about the stationing of missiles in Vogelsang and Fürstenberg. In my position at the time as head of the GDR air force, I had no knowledge of any action of that type,” General Heinz Kessler said in 1999.
The Russians withdrew the weapons in a hurry after just a few months, in August, likely for political reasons with Nikita Khrushchev visiting American counterpart Dwight Eisenhower in September.
However, another sneaky deployment – this time with R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) nuclear missiles capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers – was supposed to have been sent here in 1961-62 during the top secret ‘Operatsiya Tuman.’ It was so damned secret not even the soldiers knew where they were being deployed.
“Officers and career servicemen for a long time had no clue that the road ahead of them crosses the western border of the USSR and transited to the GDR,” reported the commander in charge, Colonel Vladimir Aleksandrov from Smolensk.
He left for Berlin on Sept. 17, going first to Wünsdorf, then up to Vogelsang and Fürstenberg with his sidekicks to make preparations for deployment.
Launch sites were constructed close to both bases, buildings and storage facilities built, communications equipment provided and slabs were laid for command vehicles, launch vehicles and technical batteries.
Curtains flutter nonchalantly through broken windows, backs turned on barren rooms and hollow corridors, while outside giant empty bunkers stand shellshocked and still, doors creaking forlornly, their stash of deadly nukes long gone and with it their raison d’être.
Welcome to Vogelsang, where the Russians once had atomic weapons earmarked for Western Europe’s consumption, ready to launch at a moment’s folly in retaliation for a pre-emptive strike or in pre-emption of an imminent retaliation.
Construction at this 5,800-hectare site began in 1951 (one of the few complexes purpose-built by the Russians, most likely off plans seized from the Germans after the war) and the garrison became home to around 15,000 soldiers and civilians, some 550 buildings, a shit load of tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, tactical missiles and the most fiendish missiles of all – nuclear missiles.
Soldiers carried out maneuvers at night to avoid American surveillance, and locals had no idea what kind of shenanigans were going on behind those guarded walls.
As part of ‘Operation Atom,’ R5-M (SS-3 Shyster) missiles were brought here and to another base at nearby Neuthymen (Fürstenberg) by the elite 72nd RVGK Engineer Brigade in January 1959. The nuclear warheads followed in mid-April.
Four of the weapons were allegedly destined for England, to take out Thor (PGM-17) missile bases in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, while others were for US air bases in Western Europe and at population centers such as London, Paris, Brussels, the Ruhrgebiet and Bonn. These things were HUGE, weighing 29.1 tons and reaching 20.74 meters, and over 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Four mobile launching units and 12 missiles were ready for deployment between the two bases, capable of striking targets up to 1,200 kilometers away.
The East Germans were not informed, and the missiles were delivered under cover of darkness using back roads so they wouldn’t find out.
“The Soviet Army leadership did not give the GDR military leadership any information about the stationing of missiles in Vogelsang and Fürstenberg. In my position at the time as head of the GDR air force, I had no knowledge of any action of that type,” General Heinz Kessler said in 1999.
The Russians withdrew the weapons in a hurry after just a few months, in August, likely for political reasons with Nikita Khrushchev visiting American counterpart Dwight Eisenhower in September.
However, another sneaky deployment – this time with R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) nuclear missiles capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers – was supposed to have been sent here in 1961-62 during the top secret ‘Operatsiya Tuman.’ It was so damned secret not even the soldiers knew where they were being deployed.
“Officers and career servicemen for a long time had no clue that the road ahead of them crosses the western border of the USSR and transited to the GDR,” reported the commander in charge, Colonel Vladimir Aleksandrov from Smolensk.
He left for Berlin on Sept. 17, going first to Wünsdorf, then up to Vogelsang and Fürstenberg with his sidekicks to make preparations for deployment.
Launch sites were constructed close to both bases, buildings and storage facilities built, communications equipment provided and slabs were laid for command vehicles, launch vehicles and technical batteries.
Source: http://www.abandonedberlin.com/2014/11/vogelsang-soviet-military-camp-nuclear-missiles.html
© Copyright - Simone Marchetti
