Castle Gate
Castlegate is the code name for an underground NATO - bunker complex in the city of Linnich in Düren and is officially today as Static War Headquarters (SWHQ) Castlegate for Joint Force Command (JFC) Brunssum Headquarters called.
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The bunker complex covers 14,000 square meters (53 m long and 45 m wide) and six underground floors (up to 28 meters deep). It offers protection against conventional, biological or chemical attacks, against shock waves and electromagnetic impulses from nearby nuclear weapons.
history
At the time of the Cold War bunker in 1983 was right on the southern edge of the district Glimbach created on the Moolberg as the command and should the whole in case of war AFNORTH - headquarters in Brunssum record. Today it serves as a crisis and fallback location for the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum , the successor to AFNORTH. The bunker was originally intended to serve as headquarters for AFCENT - Allied Forces Central Europe - in the event of war.
The plans for "Castle Gate" go back to the beginning of the 1960s, when a "safe castle" was designed for two NATO staffs ( NORTHAG and 2nd ATAF) in Mönchengladbach . Construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1992.
The bunker construction site was the scene of several demonstrations by the peace movement in the 1980s . Adjacent, a " peace field " was acquired in 1986 by a large number of citizens to prevent further expansion of the facility. Celebrities and politicians from the Greens took part in the “Gesellschaft Friedensacker GbR” founded for this purpose . Around 1200 people acquired shares in the Friedensacker, u. a. Celebrities like Robert Jungk , Walter Jens , Petra Kelly , Antje Vollmer , Horst Eberhard Richter and the television priest Jürgen Fliege , then a Protestant priest in Aldenhoven .
In the meantime the military-political situation had changed fundamentally. After a change in the NATO command structure , the bunker initially seemed superfluous and was “on hold” for a long time. It was not until 1998 that the facility was "rediscovered" and its necessity for the NATO command staff in Brunssum was established. The furnishing and the installation of the electronic infrastructure followed. Twelve positions for maintenance work were created. Since then there have been activities again on the outskirts of Linnich-Glimbach, which was still the target of many peace movement demonstrations in the early 1990s. For example, a peace pagoda was built by Buddhist monks in the immediate vicinity .
On October 1, 2001, the bunker was handed over to NATO and has served as an alternative command post for the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum since 2004 . From April 9th to 15th, 2008, the NATO exercise "Conducted Exercise Steadfast Joist 2008" was carried out as part of the CJTF concept.
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Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 22.6 " N , 6 ° 17 ′ 43.3" E