Nike fire position Kleingartach

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The Nike-firing position Kleingartach of US forces was on the ridge of the Heuchelberg between Stetten am Heuchelberg and Haberschlacht in Baden-Württemberg district Heilbronn and was during the Cold War, a site for nuclear weapons . From 1959 to 1969 the position was part of the western air defense using Nike-Hercules missiles . It then served as a base for Pershing IA missiles until 1977 . The launch base has been covered by a landfill since the mid-1980s .

location

The defensive position was part of an anti-aircraft belt against air strikes from the east during the Cold War . The belt comprised a total of 52 positions within West Germany , which were set up at a distance of around 150 kilometers from the GDR border. The defensive position on the Heuchelberg was named after the then closest town of Kleingartach , which was incorporated into Eppingen in 1971 . At the time of their construction, the facilities were located in the districts of Kleingartach and Niederhofen (incorporated into Schwaigern in 1971). Today all areas belong to Schwaigern.

The next neighboring Nike anti-aircraft batteries were to the northeast near Dallau , southwest near Wurmberg and south near Sachsenheim .

The firing position with the launch bases was on the ridge of the Heuchelberg running in a west-east direction between Stetten am Heuchelberg in the north and Haberschlacht in the south ( ⊙ ). It could be reached via an access road from the road 1107 to the east , which connects the two places. The position included the control room (Integrated Fire Control, IFC) and accommodation for the teams, spatially separated. The fire control station was located around 1600 meters southwest in the middle of fields ( ⊙ ). The crew accommodation was in between, near the district road from Haberschlacht to Kleingartach ( ⊙ ).

history

Access road to the former crew accommodation (Nov. 2012)

At the end of 1957, the first rumors arose among the population about the construction of an air defense position on the Heuchelberg, whereupon a protest movement was organized. In February 1958, the Heilbronn municipal council called for the work to be stopped. Regardless of this, construction officially began on September 28, 1958. The system was ready for use on August 15, 1959; the official opening took place on December 15, 1959. The up to 220 man strong C-Battery of the 3rd Missile Battalion of the 71st US Artillery Group occupied the position with nuclear-armed anti-aircraft missiles of the Nike Hercules type. Around 1965 the command was placed under NATO .

As early as 1969 the Heuchelberg was given up as a location for the successively thinned out Nike system. The 3rd Battalion of the 84th Field Artillery Regiment, stationed in the Neckarsulm artillery barracks, then set up a QRA position here with Pershing IA missiles, which were also equipped with nuclear weapons . Military use ended in 1977 after the Pershing missiles were moved to the Waldheide near Heilbronn.

In 1984 the buildings and bunkers of the launch base were blown up. The site has served as a landfill ever since and is gradually covered with excavated earth to this day (as of 2012) . A summit of the landfill forms with a height of 353  m above sea level. NN meanwhile the highest point of the Heuchelberg. Today there is a model airfield on the site of the fire control station . Minimal remains of the crew quarters have been preserved.

Web links

Commons : Nike-Feuerstellung Kleingartach  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl-Klaus Rabe: Nuclear Weapons Locations in the Federal Republic . Research Institute for Peace Policy, Starnberg 1984, p. 8-9 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Thomas Schulz: Timetable NIKE fire position Kleingartach. (No longer available online.) September 26, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 20, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nikesystem.de  
  3. ↑ a b According to TK-25
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Rolf D. Goerigk: US Nike Site in Germany: Kleingartach. (No longer available online.) April 23, 2011, archived from the original on September 15, 2010 ; Retrieved November 20, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nikesystem.de
  5. ↑ Gerd Kempf: "Rocket Debate" in the Heilbronn municipal council . In: Heilbronner Voice of September 28, 1983 . ( [1] [accessed November 26, 2012]).
  6. ↑ a b c d e Herbert Kaletta: 35,000 trees and a new peak . In: Heilbronn voice from April 11, 2011 . ( from Stimme.de [accessed on November 9, 2012]).

Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 28.8 "  N , 9 ° 0 ′ 28.8"  E