Sham system

The lead bunker of the Krupp night glow system (2013)

A sham installation is the term used to describe mock- ups of important war targets, which were intended to attract enemy attacks in order to deceive them so that the target to be protected would be spared.

history

In the Second World War in particular , the warring parties tried to protect themselves because of the increasing number of air attacks by pretending to be endangered facilities such as train stations , airfields (see also false airfields ) or industrial facilities. The positioning of mock ships z. B. off the coasts of the English Channel is known.

Day ticket systems

Day ticket systems were complex and therefore rather rare. An example was the 1940/1941 built mock representation of Lombardsbrücke in connection with the Flächentarnung the Binnenalster in Hamburg , to Allied bomber the orientation in finding the Hamburger central station more difficult.

Night glow systems

In the German Reich, experimentation began in 1937 on two test sites in Hamm in Westphalia and in Pausin , in the Nauen district, with the development of deception devices. The results culminated in the “Construction and Operating Principles for Bogus Systems” of the Reich Aviation Ministry of November 1942. In addition to the topographical conditions for the construction of a bogus system, the construction instructions for 21 deception devices are published.

As a result of the development of radar and the resulting improved route guidance, many dummy systems became ineffective in the middle of the Second World War.

Well-known fake systems in Germany

• Brazil , mock-up of the Stuttgart Central Station near Lauffen am Neckar
• Costa Rica, dummy of the Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental air base near Feßbach -Rüblingen
• Krupp night glow system , dummy of the Krupp cast steel factory in Velbert
• Venezuela , mock-up of the Karlsruhe road in the Hardtwald
• Fake airport and fake industrial facility at Werl Air Base

literature

• Air Force Service Regulation 2400 Operation of Bogus Systems, L.Dv.g. 2400, published by the Reich Minister of Aviation and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, May 1941 edition.
• Construction and operating principles for bogus systems , published by the Reich Minister of Aviation and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, November 1943 edition.
• Erich Hampe : The civil air defense in the Second World War - Documentation and experience reports on construction and use . Bernard and Graefe Verlag, 1963.
• Ulrich Oertel: Deceiving, camouflaging and obscuring: Special air protection measures at the Hermann Göring Works in the Second World War (1939–1945). Self-published, 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-037688-7 .
• Jürgen Lohbeck: The forgotten Scheindorf in Velbert - The Krupp night glow system on the Rottberg in the Second World War 1941-1945 . Scala Verlag, Velbert 2012, ISBN 978-3-9813898-6-9 . (Short version)

• Jürgen Lohbeck: The war on our doorstep - events, experiences, fates in World War II in Velbert, Langenberg and the surrounding area. Scala, Velbert 2013, ISBN 978-3-9813898-9-0 . (Short version)
• Elke Janßen-Schnabel: The sham village of the Krupp works. In: Preservation of monuments in the Rhineland. Volume 30, 2013, No. 4. ( ISSN  0177-2619 )
• Helmut Grau, Jürgen Lohbeck, Josef Johannes Niedworok, Sven Polkläser: Forgotten buildings of deception of the Second World War. The Krupp night light system in Velbert. In: Archäologie im Rheinland 2013. Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2014, ISBN 978-3-8062-2986-8 .
• Wiebke Hoppe: Krupp night glow system, Mettmann district. In: LVR office for soil preservation in the Rhineland, Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz (Hrsg.): Archaeological war relics in the Rhineland. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2014, ISBN 978-3-8375-1323-3 .
• Martin Brehl and others: Camouflage and mock systems at Uetersen Air Base - Unknown measures in World War II. RWM, Eltville 2014, ISBN 978-3-944988-02-3 . (Short version)
• Günter Keller: The pseudo system "Stuttgart station 1940-1943 in the large field between Lauffen, Hausen and Nordheim . Regional culture publisher, 2017, ISBN 978-3-95505-014-6 .
• Helmut Grau, Jürgen Lohbeck, Sven Polkläser: The Krupp night light system in Velbert . Scala Verlag, Velbert 2017, ISBN 978-3-9816362-8-4 . (Short version)

Web links

• Audio contribution on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on December 4, 2018: The forgotten history of the false systems - counterfeit steelworks and train stations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hampe: The civil air defense in the Second World War on: bbk.bund.de.
2. ↑ Construction and operating principles for bogus systems. published by the Reich Minister of Aviation and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, November 1942 edition, in it V. Appendix Compilation of deception devices .
3. ↑ Juliane Renk: Rüblingen had a camouflage airport. In: Hohenloher Zeitung . April 16, 2015.