Ammunition plant

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the German Reich (1871–1945), armed forces or armed forces-owned facilities were designated as ammunition facilities, which were mainly used for the loading and storage of ammunition. Munitions factories already existed at the time of the German Empire . Most of the German ammunition factories were built during the National Socialist dictatorship (1933–1945) as part of the armament of the Wehrmacht .

Are mistakenly referred to as munitions institutions in the public often the also the time of National Socialism on behalf of the armed forces after the mining scheme built explosives factories . In fact, the Wehrmacht ammunition plants never produced explosives, and in most cases they were not filled into ammunition cases on site .

The abbreviation that is still used colloquially for ammunition plants today was Muna .

Organization and designations

The ammunition factories of the Imperial German Army were subdivided into ammunition production facilities and ammunition depots and were part of artillery depots . Within the German Wehrmacht at the time of National Socialism , each of the three armed forces ( army , navy , air force ) had its own ammunition plants due to the specific ammunition.

Ammunition plants of the Army carried the designation Heeres-Munitionsanstalt and Heeres-Nebenmunitionsanstalt . The Luftwaffe ammunition plants were called Luftwaffe Main Ammunition Plant and Air Force Ammunition Plant. For ammunition institutions of the Navy were to 1943 the names of naval artillery Zeugamt and Marine blocking Zeugamt and later Marine Artillery Arsenal and blocking weapons use.

The army ammunition plants were subordinate to the military district commands in the military districts . Air Force munitions institutions were under the Aircraft Production Group of Luftgaue , Navy Bomb institutions the naval inspections of naval stations .

Between 1933 and 1945 there were around 370 ammunition plants in the German Reich and the neighboring areas occupied during the Second World War . Most of them were erected in rural areas, especially in forest areas, primarily for security reasons and with consideration for possible enemy air attacks.

Tasks and infrastructure

In the ammunition institutions the completion of serviceable ammunition from sharp and blurred ammunition parts and the repair or occurred mainly decommission the returned from the war zone bombarded ammunition parts. In addition, the finished ammunition was stored and maintained in ammunition plants and loaded and dispatched according to instructions. Individual ammunition companies also had their own filling stations for explosives or warfare agents and storage facilities for warfare agent ammunition .

Army ammunition facilities were used for both the loading and storage of infantry and artillery ammunition of the army, while army auxiliary ammunition facilities were generally only used for the storage of these types of ammunition. In air munitions institutions which Component assembly and storage of Intercept, Bordwaffen-, infantry, lighting and alarm ammunition was the Air Force and the provision of Flakmunition performed. Main air ammunition , on the other hand, was exclusively geared towards the completion of flak ammunition.

Above-ground bunker of the former Hohenleipisch air ammunition facility with earth filling and trees as camouflage.

For the work that had to be done, an ammunition company had ammunition workhouses for loading and dismantling the ammunition. Packaging sheds were used to store empty ammunition boxes. Ammunition and parts of ammunition were stored in ammunition houses , which were often designed as above-ground bunkers with an earthfill. This embankment was replanted with trees as a camouflage against the view of airmen. At a number of Army ammunition plants, the ammunition depot was located underground in the shafts of disused potash mines . An ammunition factory also had its own workshops, supply and transport facilities (sidings, its own road and path network).

Ammunition plants were always divided into several functional areas that were spatially separated (mostly by forest strips) for safety reasons. These were the living area, the administration area and the production area (work area) as well as the ammunition store. The latter made up the largest part of an ammunition plant in terms of area. For security reasons, the residential and administrative area was always at a certain distance from the ammunition storage and work areas and included its own workers' settlements with site administration. During the Second World War, many conscripts and forced laborers as well as some concentration camp prisoners had to work in all munitions factories of the German Wehrmacht , for whom separate labor camps were set up.

Use after 1945

Towards the end of the Second World War, the German side tried to destroy many ammunition plants before the approach of Allied troops. After occupying the munitions factories, the Allies generally carried out more or less systematic explosions.

In the area of ​​the western occupation zones , the heavily damaged ammunition plants were often used as living space for refugees and displaced persons shortly after the end of the war . Not only were the existing houses in the munitions plant settlements included, but not infrequently also the bunkers (if not destroyed by blasting). With simple means, windows and doors were laboriously broken into the bunkers and the camouflage removed. These dwellings were often referred to as living coffins .

Former ammunition factories were suitable as settlement centers because of the existing road network, the track systems and the generously dimensioned water and power supply, which were often used to create small industries and crafts. In this way, in some cases completely new cities and communities emerged, such as Espelkamp in North Rhine-Westphalia , Traunreut in Bavaria and Trappenkamp in Schleswig-Holstein .

With the beginning of the Cold War , many ammunition plants in both parts of Germany were again used militarily as ammunition depots , barracks or military training areas. After some decades of military use, many former ammunition plants are facing the problem of soil remediation . In some places, weapons ( duds ) were discovered and disposed of during the conversion .

Individual ammunition plants

The following lists only those ammunition companies which have their own Wikipedia article or which are described in a section of another article. They are listed alphabetically according to the place name.

army

Individual army ammunition plants classified according to military districts .

Defense district I Königsberg

Military district II Stettin

Military district III Berlin

Military District IV Dresden

  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Naumburg auxiliary ammunition plant
    • Army auxiliary ammunition plant Leipzig
    • Secondary Army Ammunition Plant Chemnitz
    • Army secondary ammunition facility Dresden
    • Army secondary ammunition facility in Königsbrück
    • Secondary Army Ammunition Plant Riesa

Military district V Stuttgart

  • Secondary ammunition plants:

Military district VI Münster

  • Secondary ammunition plants:

Military District VII Munich

  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Augsburg
    • Army secondary ammunition plant Landshut
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Rosenheim
    • Army secondary ammunition plant Kempten
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility in Munich

Military district VIII Breslau

Military district IX Kassel

Military District X Hamburg

  • Secondary ammunition plants:

Military district XI Hanover

Military District XII Wiesbaden

Military district XIII Nuremberg

Military district XVII Vienna

  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Linz
    • Army auxiliary ammunition plant Vienna
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Herzogenburg
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Döllersheim

Military district XVIII Salzburg

  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Hall
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Graz
    • Army auxiliary ammunition plant in Salzburg

Military district XX Danzig
  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Army secondary ammunition facility in Elbing
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Marienburg
    • Army secondary ammunition facility Bromberg

Military District XXI Poznan

  • Secondary ammunition plants:
    • Army auxiliary ammunition facility Litzmannstadt

air force

Individual Luftwaffe ammunition plants broken down into aircraft groups. These air force groups were geographically based on the division of the Luftgaue.

Luftzeuggruppe 1 Königsberg

  • Main ammunition plants:
  • Ammunition factories:
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 1 / II Bromberg
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 2 / I Domnau
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 3 / I Hexengrund
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 1 / I Schugsten

Aircraft Group 3 Berlin

Aircraft Group 6 Münster

Aircraft Group 7 Munich

Aircraft Group 8 Wroclaw

  • Ammunition factories:
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 2 / VIII Krappitz
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 2 / II Regny
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 3 / VIII Striegau

Aircraft Group 11 Hanover

Aircraft Group 12 Wiesbaden

Aircraft Group 17 Vienna

  • Main ammunition plants:
    • Luftwaffe main ammunition facility 1 / XVII Lambach
  • Ammunition factories:

Luftzeuggruppe See Kiel

  • Ammunition factories:
    • Luftwaffe Munitionsanstalt 8 / XI / See Diekhof

Air Force Group Norway

  • Ammunition factories:

Navy

literature

  • Uwe Otte, Stefan Heinecke, Bettina Köchling: Comrades, take the flags out! Everyday life under the Nazis and armaments production in teaching. On the history of the town and its muna . Apprenticeship 1990.
  • Barbara Hillmann, Volrad Kluge, Erdwig Kramer: Lw. 2 / IX, Muna Lübberstedt. Forced labor for the war . Edition Temmen, Bremen 1995, ISBN 978-3-86108-254-5 .
  • Rainer Fabisch: Main Air Ammunition Plant I / XI - Muna Hambühren . Hambühren 2003, ISBN 978-3-00-010803-7 .
  • Johannes Preuss, Frank Eitelberg: Heeres-Munitionsanstalt Lübbecke: Prehistory of the city Espelkamp . Ed .: Geographical Institute of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Mainz 2003, ISBN 978-3-00-012863-9 .
  • Jan R. Friedrichs: The Muna Haid in Engstingen . Oertel and Spörer, Reutlingen 2004, ISBN 978-3-88627-278-5 .
  • Bernd Klinkhardt, Günter Freudenberg, Ulrich Marose: Air Main Ammunition Agency Wolfhagen LHMa 1 / XII Wn: History and present of a former ammunition factory . Regional Museum Wolfhager Land, Wolfhagen 2004, ISBN 978-3-924219-18-5 .
  • Dankmar Leffler: 70 years of the powder keg in Thuringia. The Muna between Crawinkel – Wölfis – Luisenthal and Ohrdruf . Crawinkel 2004.
  • Gebhard Blank, Bettina Kahl, Mathias Hufschmid: The history of the Muna vacation . Heimatpflege Leutkirch, Leutkirch 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-022748-6 .
  • Sarah Kristin Kleinmann: Somehow there is a great silence here. The collective memory and forced labor in the Haid ammunition plant in Engstingen . Tübingen Association for Folklore, Tübingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-932512-71-1 .
  • Frank Branowski: Arms production in central Germany 1929–1945 . Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2017, ISBN 978-3-95966-266-6 .
  • Frank Branowski: Army ammunition plants in disused potash plants in the southern Harz and Werra regions . Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2018, ISBN 978-3-95966-282-6 .
  • Carsten Eigner: Muna in the forest, we'll find you soon! The air ammunition plant Hartmannshain (Muna) near Grebenhain in Vogelsberg from 1936 to 1945 and the Muna site from 1946 to today . Ed .: Förderverein MUNA-Museum Grebenhain e. V. Grebenhain 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-059616-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Egon Lendl : Change in the cultural landscape. In: Eugen Lemberg, Friedrich Edding (ed.): The expellees in West Germany (Volume I). Verlag Ferdinand Hirt, Kiel, 1959, pp. 486-492.
  2. ^ Elisabeth Pfeil : New urban foundations. In: Eugen Lemberg, Friedrich Edding (ed.): The expellees in West Germany (Volume I). Verlag Ferdinand Hirt, Kiel, 1959, pp. 505-492.
  3. ↑ Orchids behind barbed wire on swp.de
  4. ↑ https://www.religte.com/cux_sperr/