Jump to content

German bunker complex found.


John Cooper
 Share

Recommended Posts

Wow, that was very interesting! w00t.gif I would have really liked to have been in the first tour to go down and see it. Unfortunately I couldn't see the video but I could hear it. Does anyone know if this video is on the web somewhere else?

 

- Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johan Willaert

This was all over the internet about a year and a half ago....

 

Just google Maisy Battery and you'll have dozens of sites...

 

I visited it last June, and although nice, there's nothing really shocking to be seen.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Dave, that was a very interesting article. I thought it was just discovered, I didn't realize it was found a couple years ago.

 

- Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a local guy in my home town.When he was in the Army in the late 60s he was stationed in France.He was with an Engineer outfit.He would tell stories about his unit sealing up caves/bunkers in France.He told of one incident where the locals would complain of the livestock falling in holes.They would go out and find the hole which tuned out to be an air shaft.They would then trace it out by blowing smoke into it and find the entrance.Once found he stated they blew all openings or dozed them shut.He remembers looking into some and seeing many crates.They were not allowed to go in as their Lt. thought everything was mined.He also remembers a bunch of kids near there base wearing German helmets,uniforms and gear.When asked where they found it the kids took them there and they sealed this too.Needless to say my imagination was in overdrive when he told these stories to me as a kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a local guy in my home town.When he was in the Army in the late 60s he was stationed in France.He was with an Engineer outfit.He would tell stories about his unit sealing up caves/bunkers in France.He told of one incident where the locals would complain of the livestock falling in holes.They would go out and find the hole which tuned out to be an air shaft.They would then trace it out by blowing smoke into it and find the entrance.Once found he stated they blew all openings or dozed them shut.He remembers looking into some and seeing many crates.They were not allowed to go in as their Lt. thought everything was mined.He also remembers a bunch of kids near there base wearing German helmets,uniforms and gear.When asked where they found it the kids took them there and they sealed this too.Needless to say my imagination was in overdrive when he told these stories to me as a kid.

 

When I was a kid my dad was stationed in Orleans, France (1958-1962). We lived in an American housing area called "Olivet". On the backside of this housing area was a huge hole in the ground full of junk. Rumor had it that this was an underground German supply depot that the US Engineers demolished during the war. We kids used to call it the "dump" and it was off limits to all dependent children. Since there were no guards on this "dump" our parents resorted to the honor system to ensure our compliance. Yeah, Right! We would pull out old military hardware (some rusted, some not), helmets, web gear and ammunition of all sizes. The hammer came down when some kids lugged home a case of functional S-mines. Only time in my life my dad ever swore at us kids but he did explain what a "Bouncing Betty" mine was ( no, it wasn't us who dragged the crate home). Within 2 days the engineers had made a mountain of dirt out of our "dump".

BEAR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the comments Kurt and Jeff...that was an interesting story to research. I was able to speak with several Rangers who participated in the assault, plus others who landed at Omaha and a few airborne guys as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you build it they will come....Rangers

Great read and view.

 

thanks John,

60 years was not that long ago but it might as well been a thousand years.

 

pmshindy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think just about anybody who was stationed in Europe can tell you a story of bunkers and buried caches.

 

I served with an SF Officer who was stationed over there in the late 1960's. He talked of when they used to rappell to get to some of the harder to enter bunkers. They were pulling out uniform items, MP-40 machine pistols, grenades etc. He was a little fuzzy on the "disposition" of these items.

 

Around 1983, right before I returned I used an old map to find the dragon's teeth of the Siegfried line. While not hidden, these were not always easy to find. One thing that trip taught me was that the Wehrmacht understood terrain. You could stand on one hill top and completely miss where the line was. The only thing that helped me was a local tourist or fire tower that was next to a restaurant. I not only spotted the line, but what at first appeared to be a series of random large boulders and rock formations. Something looked funny about them and where they were positioned. I violated the property of of local farmer, crossed his pasture and found I was looking at bunkers and command postions that had been demolished. The only souvenir was strands of WWII barbed wire that was still on the top of them.

 

I was stationed at Baumholder 1980 to 1983. Basically the barracks were in a large horseshoe ridge that surrounded a parade field. The kaserne had been used for training German officers and NCO's during the war. Supposedly most of the old buildings were linked by underground tunnels. In our battalion headquarters we noticed a large metal door on one of the basement walls. The commander got curious and ordered it to opened. Lo and behold there was a complete indoor rifle range, with the lights still hooked into the main circuit.

 

After I left I heard a tunnel entrance had been found inside of a railroad tunnel in a nearby hillside. Part of the tunnels had been built so that German wounded could be transported from the rail line to the local hospital. Supposedly there were side rooms that were flooded. One of the training NCO's went diving in there and found a stash of old supplies. What got him in trouble was when he started selling "replica" potato masher handgrenades that were of amazing authenticity. The authorities took a closer look at them and realized they were actually live grenades that had only been dewatted. Putting a higher value on his career rather than his militaria sales, the NCO came clean very quickly. The tunnel entrance was sealed.

 

And on and on.... there is a lot more buried in both Germany and France....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are still a few subtarrain salt mines that where used as storage place for german warfare items in the Harz region in germany.A family member that is an officer at the Bundeswehr told me that those sites are sealed because the place is secured inside by explosives.No human life should be put in danger for old stuff!

Give me a thermal view robot to explore those places hahahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...