Hainhaus ammunition depot
The US ammunition repair depot Hainhaus was a 74 hectare ammunition store of the US armed forces from the Cold War era in the Odenwald directly on the 3349 road between Vielbrunn and Lützelbach in the Odenwald district in Hesse . Today the site is owned by the Odenwald-Regional-Gesellschaft (OREG) , which operates a park for green technologies there through its subsidiary Brenergo . Part of the area is rented out as a warehouse. It got its name from the Roman fort Hainhaus, a little further south . Even today, 20 years after the military gave up the facility, it is usually not shown on official maps.
use
Origin and military operation
The ammunition dump was set up by the US Army in April 1953 in the forest area that was previously not used by the military. This was an alternative proposal from local committees to a warehouse originally planned on the Sophienhöhe near Erbach . Initially, 23 bunkers were built as ammunition stores, at the beginning of the 1980s the number of bunkers on the site was increased in two expansion steps by 79 and another 29 to a total of 120. In the late 1980s, maintenance buildings for ammunition maintenance were added.
The NATO name of the depot was Prestock Point 5J (PSP 5J) . A Prestock Point is a storage area for all types of conventional ammunition required by combat units operating in the area. Such a bunker typically only had about 30 bunkers, so the Hainhaus warehouse was unusually large for such a facility. It was affiliated with the 98th Area Support Group (ASG) stationed in Aschaffenburg , but members of the 2043rd CSG (Ord) (Civilian Support Group Ordnance, civilian employees of the US Army) were also active there, who dealt with the maintenance and handling of the stored ammunition cared. These were in the barracks of Mainbullau housed. New ammunition was delivered by train, loaded onto trucks at Michelstadt station and then taken to the depot.
The increased activity associated with the strong expansion of the depot and the German peace movement that was forming at the same time meant that the ammunition depot came more into the public eye in the 1980s. The refusal by US and federal authorities to specify the type of ammunition stored, along with numerous incidents involving ammunition trucks in the Michelstadt metropolitan area, was cause for concern. Likewise, in times of active terrorist groups, the guarding of the facility with the long journeys of possible reinforcement troops from the surrounding US barracks was felt to be completely inadequate . In particular, the discovery of a safety data sheet with warning signs for radioactivity caused a stir, which the US armed forces explained with the storage of armor-piercing ammunition made from depleted uranium .
Task by the military and other civilian use
After the end of the Cold War and reunification , the district council, under the leadership of the then District Administrator Baldur Nothhardt, advocated the early closure of the superfluous depot. In the course of the second Gulf War , the majority of the holdings were removed as early as 1991. On July 15, 1993, the camp was finally evacuated and handed over by the US military.
Soon afterwards, the Pirelli company began to rent the now empty bunkers and use them as a tire store. On September 14, 2007, the OREG bought the site from the meanwhile owner Hessen-Forst with the plan to set up a business park for green technologies there. After a change in the land use plan in 2008, this project could be implemented. In addition to Pirelli, three other companies have now set up shop. Several wind turbines have been installed on and in the vicinity of the site since 2007, and solar systems have been installed on bunkers and building roofs . A new office building was also built.
swell
- Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question by MP Lange and the DIE GRÜNEN parliamentary group, printed matter 10/4011, November 12, 1985
- Rainer Kaffenberger: The subsequent use of the Hainhaus camp has been clarified. In: Odenwaldregional September 17, 2007.
- Horst Schnur : Hainhaus ammunition depot. In: gelurt 2011, pp. 93-105.
- http://www.usarmygermany.com
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 44 ′ 42.6 " N , 9 ° 4 ′ 30.1" E