One thing which nobody ever anymore visits is the Eibia G.m.b.H. Near Bomlitz. This was the most important plant for smokeless ammunition as well as Nitroglycerin which ran up to 6 story's underground between bunkers. I grew up and actually did some of the mine and bunker clearing as a kid we played there and when ever we found stuff we had the MP come and decide what to do with it. Thru the years it produced the highest amount with over 65000 ton's of it.
75 years later I'm still bitter and have an extreme dislike for Germans after losing two uncles because of the Germans and how they were complicit in killing so many innocent people. They still owe the world!
@@canam851 Losses had been made on both sides. I lost a lot more than you will ever loose but I respect that you are upset. I just hope you at least found your family members. Mine are still missing in action. We know one fell in the Kessel in Stalingrad and was never recovered. My aunt had to flee from the russians and got ran over by a train where she lost both of her legs. In 199x she passed away from normal age. Our country was divided for over 50 years and I was there when the wall came down. I was also one of the first western who crossed thru it to the east side of Berlin. On top I am jewish so don't tell ever again. Find your piece by educating your children what happened and why it happened. Let them read the book "THE WAVE" it is something everyone should read because it show's how easily you can manipulate the mass.I am born in the 70's and I visited most of the Concentration Camps because my uncle who also is jewish who lost most of his family in the camps made me learn about the history so that I never do the same mistake his Generation did.
@@lsellclumanetsolarenergyll5071 fyi no, my relatives bodies were never found and I'm of Jewish heritage too. The difference between you and I is the German people for the most part were complicit in what happened to so many innocent people! Your boy Hitler set the rules for every tyrant to follow.
@@mateo1726 for real.. they had those tank gun bunkers and all the other underground hideouts. Be an insane number. Wonder if more than hoover damn? That roof alone would had to have been poured in sections or it'd still be curing today lol.
When I was in the US Navy, The USS Miami visited Bremerhaven for a scheduled port call in 1998 and we were offered a tour of the bunker. It was a very educational tour and I really enjoyed it.
America doesn't have anything like this, and never will. you've never fought an enemy on your own soil, so you do not know what war is about. don't come the usual shit about the civil war you had, that's not like fighting for survival like we had in Europe. sure, you found this educational. dig deeper, all of Europe was a war zone, a whole continent at it. you don't know the half of it.
@@davidmarshall1259 I’m glad we are not related. Your comment is both unnecessarily rude and unjustifiably arrogant. I am glad the Americans came to our aid in both world wars as they made a vital difference in the first and saved Western Europe from tyranny in the second. They also provided the means by which the Cold War was sustained and eventually won. Even today we benefit from the American nuclear umbrella and please don’t think our own independent nuclear deterrent and that of the French are anything other than a means to draw the USA into a nuclear war if we are attacked and they are not. Try visiting www.abmc.gov/Cambridge or www.abmc.gov/Brookwood when this pandemic is over. The USA sent her best and suffered loss as a consequence. I was born 60 years ago and haven’t seen war against Britain as you describe. I served for 31 years in the Army and haven’t seen war as you describe. I study military history and still have no idea of what my parents experienced during the blitz in London, and both told me about it. You state that the Americans have no idea what it was like to suffer as Europe did in the world wars, well neither do I and neither do you. You seem to hold that the European predilection to engage in total war both on the continent and around the world is a good thing, something we should be proud of. Well it isn’t but that predilection is why there have been American forces stationed in Europe since 1941. I for one am glad they are here.
@@davidmarshall1259 If you were to ask the Confederate Soldiers that faced Sherman's army on his march to the sea, I am sure they'd disagree. Civilians were murdered, the women raped, homes, barns, crops and just about any buildings of use were destroyed. Animals slaughtered, and foodstocks confiscated. Thousands starved or died of disease due to their weakened condition. I believe the Civil War in the south was indeed about survival to them.
"Valentin" was the second largest submarine bunker in Europe. A million tons of gravel and sand, 132,000 tons of cement and 20,000 tons of steel were used to build the bunker. A body found in the foundation of the bunker on June 28, 1957, was apparently one of the deceased forced laborers. The blasting of the bunker was also discussed, but then discarded because the possible damage in the area would have become too great. It was assumed that the large collapsing masses would produce an artificial earthquake, as a result of which the district of Rekum would be largely destroyed and the nearby Farge power plant would be severely damaged. And so "Valentin" will surely be seen for many years over "Rekum". Greetings from Germany.
I don't recall which one, but one of the sub pens I visited on the east coast of France it was said that the concrete was so thick they calculated it had only finished curing 10-15 years ago.
I recently visited this site as part of following my fathers footsteps through Europe. It is like a massive mausoleum. So incredibly interesting, and well worth a visit
One thing which nobody ever anymore visits is the Eibia G.m.b.H. Near Bomlitz. This was the most important plant for smokeless ammunition as well as Nitroglycerin which ran up to 6 story's underground between bunkers. I grew up and actually did some of the mine and bunker clearing as a kid we played there and when ever we found stuff we had the MP come and decide what to do with it.
The scary thing is, the Nazis were just a few months away from producing a nuke. Also, they had already been building some very fast fighter jets, but they did not have enough of them to really do much and their production capabilities were destroyed just in time.
-NAtionalZI, or NAtional SocialZI, has unlimited resources. It forcibly engulfs and utilizes Every existing resource in it's insatiable forward march, as long as the 'tractor' maintains a supply of energy.. fuel.
Come from a little village a few Km away. Live on the other side of the world now. My father was a very young German soldier. At the age of 15 he spent his hours after school in an anti aircraft flak emplacement in a railway siding in this area. Brought his wife and sons to Australia so "you will never see what I have seen". Also once said, "only people who have never been in one think war is an adventure". Never even knew this existed. Very interesting. Thank you.
Living near the bunker I visited serveral times. During the use for the German Navy and also later on. Just a little detail: the bombings in March didn't cause the whole in the roof. This whole is caused by a test bombing after the war.
There is actually another room which you didn't mentioned. It is on the far right of the floor plan. It is used as a storage room for private boats. When I had the chance to look inside, there was also a privately owned German WW2 tank. It's sad that there are no informations about the rooms in the "second" floor and on the rooftop. Even the people who work there were not able to tell me what's up there :(
Well done to the German government keeping it and opening to the public Something the U.K. really should take note of I live near cammel lairds and sadly we think it’s ok to raise one of few U-boats from the sea bed then decide to cut it into sections and just display one part of it 😢😢
In America, all the crazy deranged Democrats hell-bent on erasing our history would insist that something like that is a racist monument glorifying slavery and demand it be destroyed and buried.
Its part of Germany's history. Its very unfortunate thousands died in its construction, but the building will survive for future generations to realise the follies of war.
Thank you very much for this wonderful video. I'VE never seen such a huge structure in world war 2 era. amazing massive building which still stand like a rock. keep posting them.
One of my colleagues, his dad was an Irish merchant mariner in WW 2 and they were captured by the Germans and despite being neutral and operating an Irish ship,they were imprisoned in a Marlag (sailor's POW camp) and forced to work on this monstrosity, despite the efforts of the Red Cross to get them freed as neutral non-combatants. Hundreds died from overwork on a meagre diet and they got sod all in the way of compensation from the Germans after the war. Knock this place....
It is now apart of WW2 History and needs to be preserved! I visited the the Submarine Pens at Bordeaux and I was amazed. Yes there were New Zealanders apart of these bombing crews. My father fought the Italians, Germans and Tito's forces as part of the New Zealand Army. However I have German ancestry; being a New Zealander I also have Irish, French, Scottish and English ancestry..... History must be respected. This building needs to be preserved. I doubt that even a 22,000lb bomb could have punctured a whole in is roof, the Bordeaux Sub Pen roof was only dented by a similar bomb. The Flak Towers were also marvels of engineering.
Just living a few kilometers from there. Been there 2005 the last time, but it was all closed as said in the video. But it was very impressive even if you could only watch from outside... Didn't know it is open for visitors. Well, I guess I will have a look soon.
@@appie666 In the north west of Bremen near the sharp curve in the Weser river, It is southwest of the main road between Bremen Farge and Rekum. A small road leads to it. It is mentioned on Google Maps. When you give in Farge, you.ll see it left of the village,
The amount of concrete is staggering. I look at the thickness of the roof alone and I can’t imagine much getting through there. Sad though to realize that so many died building this structure
Though the submarine bunker was not complete, the fact that the concrete thicknee 7 m is amazing. the Deutsche civil engineering is excellent. Thanks for your posting. 🍒🍒
Very nice and informative Video. I visited this bunker in 2017 and it is gigantic. Inside as a man/woman you feel like an ant... From the 1960ths to 2010 the bunker was used by the german navy as a depot to prevent the site from becomming a neonazi memorial hotspot. From then the bunker is no open to public as a memorial for the tousands of slaveworkers who died there in desparation an without hope. I'm not able to explain it realy in englisch...
CALi G They have higher IQ’s than most in the world. German people truly are extraordinary. I worked with an American WW2 vet who watched over German POW’s. Said they were the smartest and most disciplined soldiers he ever encountered. Said he would give them projects to do and they would do it to perfection.
The Battlefield Explorer I live in Bremen. The journey to the bunker takes 10 minutes. They don’t want to use it because of his past. It’s just a memorial of WWll and a unbelievable building.
The structure at Cherbourg is very different than a bunker. It was a mile long and shaped like an hour glass. The triangular ends ran into a hillside at each end and the length of the mile long center section was a mile long 5 meter by 6 meter continuous block. And even just before Patton’s death no one could figure out what it was. I believe it may have bent the anchor for the launch rails for the Sanger Antipodal Ricket bomber ad it faced East to west.
617 squadron. And after reading various books on this part of the war while they were damaged clearly they were not destroyed. The Germans loved concrete, though so much of it was severely flawed with poor quality gravel and beach sand. 6m of that concrete was similar in strength to about 2 metres of good quality modern concrete.
>> I agree. I began roofing the 2nd floor of my 4 bedroom colonial house with 6m of German concrete. But then someone advised me to use modern concrete instead, and i was able to finish the rest of the 1st floor roof over the 2 car garage with a mere 2.5m of modern concrete! I realize it wont withstand "tall boy bombs", but as long as they only drop the weaker "Disney bombs", my family should be OK!
Among the thousands of slave labourers employed in Valentin’s construction, were some 20 Irish merchant seamen taken from the MN camp Milag in Westertimke. Why they were selected is not known but although most survived, they suffered great hardships and inhuman conditions. When returned to their MN comrades a few days before the end of WWII, the were nor believed as their treatment had been so vastly different from the rest of the 4,500 other Allied seamen. Gabe Thomas, author “Milag- Captives of the Kriegsmarine”
This was the target of the 390th on December 20, 1943 when my dad was shot down. My son and I visited in 2015 on a Sunday. No one was there and the gates were open so I got a good look around.
The Allies also had trouble blasting the flak towers in berlin and most of them were knockedtoabout half size and then covered in rubble from the cities.
Most German cities still have intact flak towers that were also built as air raid shelters. Too expensive to cut up, too dangerous to blast, they became aquariums and night clubs. The thick concrete meant the neighbors could sleep.
The location is called Farge? I read an account of the Dambuster squadron (617) by Paul Brickhill that specifically mentioned the raid. The claim was that the roof was 16 feet thick & increased to 23 feet after 617 raided other U boat pens at Brest. The book claimed that it was the worlds largest concrete structure in 1945. It took ten tons of the Allies most powerful explosive, RDX to make that hole. The 7 ton 'Tallboys' were alleged to have caused structural damage.
The also knocked hell out of the V2 dome at La Couple, you can se ethe angles in the concrete where it wa sreapired, and the V3 site at Memoquoies. JF Kennedey juniour lost his life in testing for a US drone attack on the place.
++NJPurling++ In later editions of the book some of the details of many of the raids has been omitted. The early post war Book Club editions, often still to be found on sale in charity shops are the most complete so far as details at the time were known. Some details were also subject to the thirty year (i think) secrecy restriction.
