Kaserne Vogelsang
THE ABANDONED MILITARY SITE IN GERMANY
Kaserne Vogelsang was a top-secret settlement of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, financed entirely by the DDR and constructed by Soviet soldiers. The facility was finalized in 1952, and it remained operational until the departure of the Red Army in 1994.
After the end of the Second World War this site, north of the village Vogelsang, became an important site for the Red Army. The Soviets began clearing and building on the 2000-hectare site in 1951. Eventually a barracks town was constructed hidden in the woods. The military town was capable of housing 15 thousand people, including both military personnel and their families. The town was self-contained and off-limits to non-essential personnel. It contained a theater, shops, offices, a gym, a school as well as several medical facilities. During the Cold War, it was the third-largest Soviet base inside East Germany.
The R-5 ballistic missile
Forces stationed at the base included the ’25th Tank Division’ and its ‘162nd Tank’ and ‘803rd Motor Rifle’ regiments. But the most important was the ‘1702nd Anti-aircraft missile regiment’. In early 1959, Soviet nuclear missiles, which were 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, were installed here, ready to be launched at targets including London and nuclear bases in Eastern England. Vogelsang was armed with twelve ‘R-5 Pobeda’ nuclear missiles, which could be launched from a mobile platform situated in one of the four sites, each the size of a tennis court, previously prepared for the larger ‘R-12 Dvina’ missiles. Similar installations were also established at Fürstenberg Havel and Lychen.
Soviet military records state that the R-5 were withdrawn in August 1959. But records obtained after the fall of East Germany suggest that they could have been here until 1967. From the early 1960s, the site became the headquarters of the 25th Tank Division.
Following the withdrawal of Russian Army troops in 1994, the military town underwent partial demolition, with the remaining structures succumbing to natural decay. The presence of numerous ammunition remnants in the soil has led to restricted access to certain areas of the site. Now, it stands as a hauntingly beautiful locale, a stark contrast to its past potential as a site of nuclear devastation.
I visited the old Soviet town ‘Kaserne Vogelsang’ in 2020. Today, most of the site is demolished. Follow this link for more Soviet bases.
