Zeithain Army Ammunition Plant

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Recycling of ammunition parts

The Zeithain Army Ammunition Plant was an ammunition plant ( MUNA ) north of Zeithain in Saxony .

location

The original 40  hectare area is located two kilometers north of Zeithain in the Gohlis district. Immediately to the west runs the Riesa – Falkenberg railway line , from which the branch tracks also serve the MUNA.

history

Reconditioning of ammunition leftovers (1948)

The area around Zeithain was already used for military purposes in the 16th century due to its strategically favorable location on the Elbe . After it was also made accessible by a railway line around 1850, a military training area was built north of the site around 1870 .

The munitions plant was built from 1913 a little southeast of its current location and had its own rail connection. However, it was not commissioned until 1916. At the end of the First World War , a hospital was added.

In the course of rearmament during the Nazi era , the Wehrmacht expanded the facility from 1937. The commissioning took place on August 25, 1939, just before the start of the Second World War . At first only Germans were employed in the war-important operation that belonged to Wehrkreis IV ( Dresden ). From 1941 on, Soviet prisoners of war from Stalag IV H, one kilometer to the east, were increasingly used for forced labor . The nearby Zeithain Memorial Grove commemorates the victims of this period .

Constant capacity bottlenecks and strategic considerations meant that the Altenhain army ammunition facility was also built just a few kilometers west in 1943 .

On April 23, 1945, the MUNA was captured by the Red Army . Ammunition parts that were still present were reworked into everyday objects in the north of Torgau in the following years (see photos).

In the 1950s, the former MUNA site was initially used by the Soviet Army and later served the NVA as an artillery ammunition store.

At the end of the 1990s, the buildings, bunkers and the railway connection were partially dismantled, so that the site now only covers 20 hectares.

today

Since September 26, 2003 the area of ​​the ordnance dismantling facility (KMZE) of the Free State of Saxony with 25 employees has been available. The 18 remaining storage bunkers are still in use. If boulder ammunition or duds arrive that cannot be relocated, dismantled or rendered harmless without risk, they are detonated in a controlled manner on the former training area in Zeithain , which is adjacent to the north . This happens about once or twice a year.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zeithain in the 20th century. In: www.militärhistorik-zeithain.de. Retrieved May 1, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Hartmut Ellrich: Dresden 1933-1945: The historical travel guide . Ch. Links Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-498-3 .
  3. ^ Army headquarters and ammunition companies. In: seewerk.neweden.ws. Retrieved May 1, 2016 .
  4. ^ Disposal of bombs and war ammunition found in Saxony. In: Dresden television. August 14, 2014, accessed May 1, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Jens Herbach: Sperrgebiet.eu - documented bunkers and military installations. In: www.sachsenschiene.net. May 17, 2014, accessed May 1, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Jörg Stock: The factory with the bomb jobs. In: sächsische.de. July 11, 2015, accessed November 23, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Bombs blown up on a former military training area in Saxony. In: www.lvz.de. July 28, 2011, accessed May 1, 2016 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 49 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 31.5 ″  E