Missile disaster in Dannenwalde
Coordinates: 53 ° 6 ′ 0 ″ N , 13 ° 9 ′ 35 ″ E
The Dannenwalde missile catastrophe describes an explosion in an ammunition dump of the Soviet troops stationed in the GDR on August 14, 1977 near Dannenwalde . Hundreds of Katyusha rockets were detonated and fell in the vicinity. The exact circumstances are still kept secret, and the death toll is unknown to this day; It is estimated that 50 to 300 people were killed, all of whom belonged to the Soviet armed forces.
prehistory
In 1938, an ammunition plant for the production and storage of ammunition for the German Air Force was built near Dannenwalde , the air main ammunition plant in Dannenwalde . During the Second World War there was hardly any storage of ammunition at all, as the ammunition was immediately delivered to the front.
After the war, the area was used by the Soviet army . The barracks became the base of the 2nd Guards Panzer Army, the ammunition store was expanded and further large ammunition bunkers were built. According to the Federal Intelligence Service , Dannenwalde had an ammunition store (object number 521) with a total capacity of 13,200 tons and a weapons repair workshop (object number 523) for artillery technology and artillery ammunition.
To date it is not conclusively clear whether nuclear weapons were also stored on the site ; A statement by the former fire chief of the Soviet troops in the GDR, Vladimir Gavrilowitsch Vlasenko, who, according to the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung , spoke of “special charges ” in a Ukrainian newspaper, suggested this.
The 3397th Mobile Missile Technical Base , which was stationed in Dannenwalde until 1992 , ensured the supply of the tactical ground-to-ground missile complex SS-21 Scarab ( 9K79 Totschka ) of the 2nd Guards Panzer Army. The task of a mobile missile technology base was to ensure that the missile troops were supplied with missiles, warheads, rocket propellants and elements to complete the ground equipment. It follows that there were warheads for the SS-21 Scarab on the site. Since this type of missile can be equipped with different nuclear and conventional (splinters, bomblets) warheads, a distinction is not possible. The ignited 122-mm Katyusha rockets were not part of the 3397th Mobile Missile Technical Base, but were considered artillery ammunition.
Course of the disaster
Beginning of the explosion
On August 14, 1977 around 2 p.m., the disaster struck. It is believed that lightning struck a stack of 122-mm Katyusha rockets. The lightning ignited some of the stored rockets, whereupon other ammunition stored next to them also caught fire. This activated the solid fuel propulsion systems of the rockets, whereupon they started uncontrolled. The exact number of missiles detonated is unknown, but is likely to be at least a thousand.
The rockets flew up to a radius of 15 km, an area of 180 km² was affected. There were impacts in 23 villages in the area. Since the detonators were removed from the rockets , the missiles did not explode, but merely caused property damage amounting to approx. 37,000 GDR marks from their impacts. The impacts primarily hit meadows, forest areas and agricultural areas, but also buildings. A car was also hit.
The residents of Dannenwalde fled the place. An ammunition train parked in front of the gate of the base could still be maneuvered out of the danger zone by railway workers. For several hours there were explosions and uncontrolled rocket launches. The explosions did not end until around 7:45 p.m.
Victim
There were no casualties among the civilian population. In contrast, the Soviet troops had to mourn a considerable number of deaths, since the soldiers tried in some cases with primitive means to contain the explosions. Due to the secrecy of the Russian armed forces , which continues to this day , the number of soldiers killed is not known. The estimates are between 50 and 300 deaths, but the number of up to 300 deaths is, according to the current state of knowledge, due to a rumor that circulated shortly after the event. The most realistic estimate so far, based on the number of zinc coffins produced by GDR companies and delivered to the barracks , comes to the result of 70 deaths.
After the disaster
After the disaster, the ammunition store was cleared and the still undamaged ammunition was distributed to other bases. The damaged ammunition was blown up at a nearby military training area . There were explosions there every evening for several weeks; a total of around 330 truck transports were carried out to this blasting site. In the nights shortly after the disaster, there were extensive transports with extremely heavy trucks, which could indicate the removal of nuclear weapons.
770 rockets were recovered during clean-up work in the area. Witnesses to the work reported that some ammunition bodies were found with a conspicuous yellow marking; this ammunition was then transported away with particular care. Based on these testimonies, there were suspicions that chemical weapons were also stored on the site .
Any information about this event was suppressed in the GDR. There was no official coverage of the incident. For a long time afterwards, the MfS allegedly opened every letter that was sent from Dannenwalde.
Situation today
After the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, 270 Katyusha rockets were found in a clean-up operation in 2002. To this day there is still an unknown amount of ammunition in the ground of the former military site. Some storage bunkers show visible explosion damage, these are located directly next to the separately fenced mobile missile technology base.
Since the Russian armed forces have imposed a 40-year blocking period , access to the files has theoretically been possible since 2017 if the blocking period has not been extended by the legal successor, the Russian Federation , before it expires .
literature
- The Dannenwalde missile inferno . Report by MDR television 2007.
- 200 Soviet missiles discovered in the ground . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 20, 2002, online
- Henrik Bispinck (edit.): The GDR in view of the Stasi 1977 - The secret reports to the SED leadership , ed. on behalf of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records by Daniela Münkel , Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-525-37501-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bundesarchiv Koblenz B206 / 147, Appendix to: “Military Situation Report East - Annual Report 1976 (BND)”, Appendix 29 C: List / table of logistic facilities of the land forces in the GDR
- ↑ How Dannenwalde escaped an atomic ferno ( memento from March 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Märkische Allgemeine from August 14, 2012, archived from the original on February 6, 2013.
- ↑ Interview text by Wladimir Gavrilowitsch Vlasenko, www.gsvg.ru, accessed on October 5, 2014.
- ^ Igor Iwanowitsch Dolgow, served until May 1992 in the technical battery of the 3397th Mobile Rocket Technical Base, Dannenwalde www.raketchik.ru accessed on November 15, 2009, access now requires registration or URL changed.
- ^ "Military Lexicon", Military Publishing House of the GDR, 2nd edition Berlin 1973; Entry mobile missile base , p. 53.
- ↑ a b Notes on the reaction of the population to the incident in Dannenwalde, Gransee district, on August 14, 1977, report O / 45 of the ZAIG of the MfS of August 17, 1977 in: The GDR in view of the Stasi 1977, p. 217 f.
- ↑ Jörg Morré, Stefan Büttner: Places of History: Soviet Legacies in Berlin and Brandenburg , Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86153-802-8 , p. 30 f.