Camp Benelux
THE ABANDONED MILITARY SITE IN GERMANY
Camp Benelux is a former Belgium NATO site in Germany. The site was part of the Belgian military corridor that ran from Aachen up to Kassel. The site with 16 buildings was opened in 1968 and was in use until 1995.
In 1969, 800 soldiers of the Belgian air defense regiment moved in, and were housed in five specially built buildings. There were 11 other buildings on site, most of which were offices. One building contained a huge boiler network, which was used to provide the site with its own electricity. Its chimney towered above the barracks, as did the adjacent 27-meter-high radar tower.
Between 1969 and 1990, the barracks was a NIKE-site. The NIKE was a command-guided, long-range, high-altitude anti-aircraft missile. These long range missiles contained nuclear warheads, loaned from the 5th US Army Artillery Group. Should a nuclear confrontation between the Eastern and Western blocs ever have taken place, it may well have been from this tiny site where the first launch emanated from. With the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the units were deactivated in 1990. From 1991 until 1995 it was used by Americans as an administration office.
Eventually, in 2011, the site was sold to a real estate company. A local group of the German Red Cross is currently renting several garages at the barracks, and using them to store their vehicles. Apart from that, the site is still empty and without use.
I took these photos of Camp Benelux in 2016. Also check these other abandoned military sites in Belgium, Germany, and Ukraine.
