Pomeranian barracks Wolfhagen

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Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 4.2 ″  N , 9 ° 7 ′ 30 ″  E The Pomeranian barracks was a barracks of the army of the Bundeswehr in the west of the district of Wolfhagen in the north Hessian district of Kassel , in which from 1960 to 2008 parts of the Panzergrenadierbrigade 5 and later the Panzerbrigade 6 were stationed. It was located north-west of Wolf Hagen in today's district Gaster field directly south of the Federal Highway 450 by Wolf Hagen to Landau , and contained about 42 ha barracks area and 257 ha training area .

After the civilian conversion of the land in 2008, a school center for vocational training and several medium-sized commercial enterprises were located there, and a number of the former team accommodations are now used as communal accommodations for asylum seekers .

prehistory

Wehrmacht

As part of the armament of the Wehrmacht by the Nazi regime , the Luftwaffe had the Wolfhagen 1 / XII air ammunition facility ( Muna for short ) built in Gasterfelder Holz west of Wolfhagen from 1936 to 1938 , with a siding to the Volkmarsen – Vellmar-Obervellmar railway . The total area of ​​the facility was about 277 hectares . Like all Luftwaffe main ammunition plants, the Muna was mainly used to manufacture ammunition for anti-aircraft guns . The complex contained workshops, warehouses, tool sheds, a case cleaning system, fire brigade, headquarters, officers 'apartments and soldiers' quarters. A large part of this area was taken up by around 110 above-ground bunkers for the storage of explosives and ammunition. Four houses for Muna officers were built on the south-western edge of the so-called Schanze north of the street. The staff consisted mainly of civil servants and, in the course of the Second World War, increasingly also of forced laborers . Immediately before the approach of American troops , most of the Muna bunkers and other buildings were blown up on March 31, 1945 by the retreating German Wehrmacht .

Post-war years

In the immediate post-war years, part of the Muna site was demunitioned . The remaining buildings were used for commercial and residential purposes. From 1948 to October 1964, the former Muna administration building was used by the Wolfhagen Foundation for the elderly as a home for the elderly; then a new old people's home was built in Wolfhager Karlstrasse. Also in 1948, additional buildings were built as the “Schauinsland” tuberculosis sanctuary. The facility, which was later converted into a “forest hospital”, was closed in November 1961 after the city of Wolfhagen decided in 1958 to build a new hospital on the Kleiner Ofenberg , which was then officially opened in May 1962.

armed forces

Construction and opening

The gradual development of the site into a civil mixed area was ended with the establishment of the Bundeswehr in 1956. Wolfhagen was only about 100 kilometers from the border with the former GDR , the so-called " Iron Curtain ", and was therefore a strategically attractive location for the stationing of NATO troops. Thus, in 1958 and 1959, a new barracks for armored units was built on the old Muna site - with crew quarters , canteen, officers' house , guard, vehicle hangars, repair workshops, sports facilities, tank washing facilities , vehicle loading ramp at the siding, on- site training area , ammunition store, handgun shooting range , etc. The state also ensured that married professional soldiers could find apartments in Wolfhagen with new buildings; As early as 1960, the topping-out ceremony for 18 new houses for professional soldiers built by the Hessische Heimstätte was celebrated there.

On 14./15. March 1960 the barracks were occupied for the first time by units of the Bundeswehr. The Panzer Battalion 54 from Wetzlar and formed there in April 1959 and the Panzerjäger Company 50 relocated from Marburg were now stationed there . On April 5, 1960, the barracks were ceremoniously handed over to these troops by Major General Paul Herrmann , the commander in Defense Area IV . The evening ended with the Great Zapfenstreich with the Army Music Corps 2 , the music corps of the 2nd Panzer Grenadier Division, on the grounds on the Limecke in the east of the city of Wolfhagen . In 1964 the barracks were named “Pomeranian Barracks”.

Stationed troops

The tank battalion was 54 with American tanks of the type M48 equipped. The "Wolves", as the troops were subsequently called, received the new Leopard 2 / A 6 tanks from May 1968 . The Panzerjägerkompanie 50 replaced its M48 with the Kanonenjagdpanzer and its HS 30 with wire-guided anti - tank guided missiles SS.11 with Missile Jagdpanzer 2 , also with the guided missile SS.11.

From its establishment in 1963 to its relocation to Montabaur in 1966 , the guard and escort company (6./350) of the rocket artillery battalion 350 was stationed in the former hospital buildings vacated in 1962 on the former Muna site immediately north of the new Pomerania barracks.

In 1975, parts of Panzerjägerkompanie 50 changed as Panzerjägerkompanie 340 to Panzerbrigade 34 , which was renamed Panzerbrigade 6 in 1981. The remaining part was moved to Homberg (Efze) in the East Prussia barracks there and formed the basis of the Panzerjägerkompanie 50 newly formed in April 1976, which was equipped with twelve Jaguar rocket tank destroyers and HOT guided missiles .

In August 1976, the Panzergrenadier Battalion 341 set up in Stadtallendorf in April 1975 - renamed Panzergrenadier Battalion 62 in October 1981 as part of the restructuring into Army Structure IV - moved into the old hospital building. Staff, transport group and paramedics occupied the houses; The soldiers' rooms were in the main house. The former Muna administration building became an officer's home. The Panzergrenadierbataillon 62 was disbanded in 1992.

Panzerbataillon 54 was renamed Panzerbataillon 64 in October 1981 with the introduction of Army Structure IV and was subordinated to Panzer Brigade 6. From May to November 2003 almost the entire battalion was relocated to Kosovo , and from November 2005 to March 2006 parts of the battalion were deployed in Kunduz ( Afghanistan ). The battalion was disbanded in June 2008.

Also in October 1981 the 2nd and 4th companies of the mixed tank battalion 61 moved to the Pomeranian barracks and stayed there until the battalion was disbanded on September 30, 1992.

The “ Kraftfahrausbildungszentrum Wolfhagen”, a Bundeswehr driving school that was economically subordinate to Panzerbataillon 64, was also located in the Pomeranian barracks from October 1981 until it was closed in 2008. Other cadre or smaller troop units were temporarily stationed there, such as the (cadre) field replacement battalion 24, from 1981 to 1992 the hunter battalion 26 (only as a device unit ), from 1984 the material of the 3rd company of the supply battalion 2, the medical center 419, the reserve hospital group 7403 and the dentist group 405/2.

closure

The decision to close the Pomeranian barracks when the Bundeswehr was downsizing was made in November 2004. From 2006 to 2008, all the troops stationed there gradually left the barracks. The last tank left Wolfhagen on May 21, 2007, and on June 11, 2008 the soldiers of Panzer Battalion 64 made their last roll call by rolling up the troop flag . The barracks, which had been renovated from 1995 to 2004 for around 15 million euros, were closed on June 30, 2008. At the beginning of 2009, the site was spun off from the defense department . The barracks were an important economic factor for the city of Wolfhagen until it was closed.

Todays use

Planning for civil use of the building began very soon. Today there are two mechanical engineering companies, a glass manufacturer, a truck driving school and, since August 2010, the modern vocational training center of the Kassel district , the Herwig-Blankertz-Schule, on the former barracks site . There is also the largest communal accommodation in the district of Kassel for asylum seekers who have fled from Iraq , Syria and Turkey in eight former team buildings, with 673 places and currently around 400 residents .

literature

  • Bernd Klinkhardt: Air Main Ammunition Plant Wolfhagen LHMa 1 / XII Wn: History and present of a former ammunition factory. Wolfhagen, 2004

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Bernd Klinkhardt: Air Main Ammunition Agency Wolfhagen LHMa 1 / XII Wn: History and present of a former ammunition factory. Regional Museum Wolfhager Land, Wolfhagen, November 2004, ISBN 3-924219-18-4 .
  2. ↑ Abandoned and passed ... - Munitions factory, sanatorium, hospital, barracks
  3. ↑ Panzerbataillon 54 moved to Wolfhagen-Gasterfeld, 14.-15. March 1960, in: Contemporary history in Hessen
  4. ↑ At the end of 1960, the battalion created a battalion coat of arms that showed a black wolf jumping through a horseshoe, which is also part of the Wolfhagen city coat of arms.
  5. ^ Jürgen Dreifke: Corps artillery in the German Army 1957-1994 , pp. 14-15.
  6. ^ "Reorganization of Panzerjägerkompanie 50 in Homberg (Efze), April 1, 1976", in: Contemporary history in Hessen
  7. ↑ fk-62.de
  8. ↑ The battalion was equipped with the Leopard 1 battle tank , from 1985/86 with the Leopard 2 and the Marder armored personnel carrier .
  9. ↑ panzertruppe.com
  10. ↑ rk-kassel.com
  11. ↑ hna.de
  12. ↑ hessen-trade-and-invest.com
  13. ↑ There is a second campus in Hofgeismar .
  14. ^ District of Kassel: Accommodation and Care, Kassel, 2020
  15. ↑ District of Kassel: Material for hardworking hands , Kassel, March 5, 2020