"The underground installations were amazing. They
were literally subterranean towns. There were 4 in
and around Ohrdruf: one near the horror camp, one
under the Schloss, and 2 west of the town. Others
were reported in near-by villages. None were
natural caves or mines. All were man-made military
installations. The horror camp had provided the
labour. An interesting feature of the construction
was the absence of any spoil. It had been carefully
scattered in hills miles away.”
--Colonel R. Allen wrote in his book ("Lucky Forward : The
History of Patton's 3rd US Army" ,Col. Robert S. Allen, published
by Vanguard Press, New York 1947)
The tunnel system under the castle
has a special quality. In 1944 OT
(Organisation Todt) moved in with
1000 men, and started extensive
reconstruction. The complete
equipment of castle Bellevue, Berlin,
was moved to Bad Salzbrunn, to
furnish the system. In one of the
suites, which should be allegedly
inhabited by Hitler, was an elevator.
Under the castle-yard is located the
main system, which had 4 entries.
The system is finished. The overall
tunnel length is 950 meters and the
base is 3200 sqm. The installation
of a huge communication center
was planned.
Near Langenstein and Halberstadt. Factory for Junkers (airplane
manufacturer). As of 25 March 1945 they had lost 4819 workers by
tunneling, and 853 by building airplanes.
This system has two entries. Four lateral
tunnels, connected together, have been
planned as working rooms. A 48 meter
high elevator shaft with a diameter of 6
meters is leading to buildings on the
surface. Some parts have concrete. The
base is 6200 sqm, the overall tunnel
length is about 1700 meters. On the
surface above the system are located
several concrete buildings with stages
leading to underground shafts, clay-tubes
are reaching to the surface, cable shafts
are visible; also facilities for providing
equipment. This building would have
housed the heating and/or ventilation
system for the tunnels.
Lachs
Located at Kahla/Grosseutersdorf, Thueringen. Following an old mine, an
extensive tunnel system was built. Projected for serial production of the Me 262.
The whole tunnel system should reach 30 km. The underground working
conditions were very bad; there was not enough fresh air. Seven months after
beginning the fresh air problem was not solved. The vast majority of the workers
consists of slave workers; approximately 12,000. 991 cases of death were
recorded due to malnutrition and accidents.
S III
Located near Ohrdruf, Thuringia, Germany, and apparently built as a
headquarters for Hitler. This mapped tunnel system is about 1.5 miles in
length. It was constructed by approximately 15-18,000 inmates of the nearby
concentration camps Ohrdruf , Espenfeld and Crawinkel, from the Autumn of
1944 to the Spring of 1945.
“Purpose of the installation was to house the High Command after it was bombed out of
Berlin. This place also had paneled and carpeted offices, scores of large work and store rooms,
tiled bathrooms with bath tubs and showers, flush toilets, electrically equipped kitchens,
decorated dining rooms and mess halls, giant refrigerators, extensive sleeping quarters,
recreation rooms, separate bars for officers and enlisted personnel, a moving picture theater,
and air-conditioning and sewage systems".
--Colonel R. Allen wrote in his book ("Lucky Forward : The History of Patton's 3rd US
Army" ,Col. Robert S. Allen, published by Vanguard Press, New York 1947),
A concentration camp was built
near Litomerice, Czechoslovakia
3000 prisoners were working on
the construction. Richard has
never been completely finished:
only about 1200 crank-shafts and
1500 sets of engine cylinders were
ever produced there.... they cost
6000 lifes.
Richard III for the Philips company,
for the production of radio tubes
Richard II for the Osram GmbH
company, for the production of light
bulbs
Richard I for the Auto Union AG
company, for the production of
engines for tanks
Barbe
Located in the black forest, Hasslach, near Offenburg in an old quarry. The German armament
industry moved parts of this industry in the deep tunnels to protect them against air attacks.
“Barbe” was first a parts plant then redesigned to be production plants; Prisoners were made
available to speed up project from camps in the area.Progressive war events caused this project to
fail. It then became a prison camp and ammunition depot and the prisoners worked on tunnel
expansions. Another company moved in to produce crankshafts, and was all set up but the power
supply was destroyed. Prisoners died mostly of dysentary and typhus. The French army liberated
the prisoners and later destroyed the tunnels.
Located in the Hoennevalley, several
kilometers from Neuenrade, Sauerland.
In the Quarry Emil some tunnels were
built, projected for the Mineraloelsicherungsplan.
Schwalbe
Planned for the production of 240,000
gallons of fuel and 50,000 gallons of
plane fuel. The Tunnel length overall
is about 3 km. The tunnels were built
by about 500 forced laborers and
prisoners.
Anhydrit
Large parts of the tunnels had been used in February 1945 by Henschel
AG for production of anti-airplane rockets.
Mittelbau was projected
to be built in the
Kohnstein on a 251,250
km large area several
tunnels. One project
planned for producing
airplanes, another for
producing liquid O2.
About 4000 prisoners
from the camps Ellrich,
Dora and Harzungen did
the work.
The system began as a strategic petroleum
reserve then later became a location for V2
production. The A and B tunnels ran through the
mountain, and accommodated two regular gauge
rail tracks. The production of parts and
assemblies took place in the transverse
chambers. B tunnel served as the main
assembly line for the V2. The south end of
A tunnel produced the V1 buzz bomb. The
section at the north end was part of the
ongoing expansion which would have
become a massive underground aircraft
The Mittelwerk/Dora
tunnel complex
factory. The section splitting
off in the middle to the east
was to be a liquid oxygen
factory and repository.
WIESE
The V3 was one of the strangest WW II Weapons. The barrel had a length of
about 124 meters! The weight of this weapon was 76000 kg. Every time, the
grenade passed one of 32 intermediarys, a new charge of explosives, stored in the
sides was ignited, so that the grenade gained more and more thrust to an planned
velocity of 1500m/sec. with a range of 160km. Actual velocities reached were
about 1400m/sec. The Fort with the gun was built underground up to a depth of
more than 100m, with a guncrew of about 1100 soldiers. The Fort was projected
for 25 guns. In July 44 an allied air attack destroyed the Fort with 5.4 ton Bombs
To build this base, the Germans had a simple but very efficient scheme.
They first had a railway tunnel dug, alongside which they then had an
unloading platform built and galleries to stock materials : wood,
cement, tools,.. delivered in large quantities
September 1943 :
Building began
Late August 1944 :
Site abandoned by the
Germans
1 of the 5 V-3
launching shafts
(the only one
preserved).
V3 munitions
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/7087/uk027.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/4392/
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1325/start.htm#anhydrit
http://translate.google.com/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.benth
ere.com/Travel/Europe/Germany/KZDora/TunnelMap.htm&prev=/
search%3Fq%3Dgerman%2Btunnel%2Bcomplex%2BAnhydrit%2
6hl%3Den%26sa%3DG