Pheasant explosives factory
The Fasan explosives factory was an armaments company of Dynamit AG in Bobingen (Swabia). The plant was built in the late 1930s for the production of the explosive hexogen . Towards the end of the Second World War , the plant was responsible for a large part of the Wehrmacht's explosives production.
investment
In December 1938, under the management of the Munich construction company Muy and Pitroff, the construction of the main factory, Fasan I, began in a forest area southwest of the urban area of Bobingen on the right bank of the Wertach .
The work that the Wehrmacht put into building the factories was considerable: at times 3,000 workers were deployed. After the end of the war, the construction costs were estimated at over DM 21 million .
The explosives factory was a siding at the station Bobingen of Deutsche Reichsbahn connected. A steam storage locomotive carried the goods traffic on the siding.
production
The KA salt process used in Bobingen was considered one of the most modern for the production of hexogen. With the help of this process, production increased from an initial 31 tons per year to up to 300 tons per month by 1944/45.
Towards the end of the war, over 400 people were employed in the plant to achieve this output. Initially, for reasons of secrecy, careful attention was paid to the employment of German workers, but from May 1942 Russian forced laborers were also brought to Bobingen in order to meet the labor demand . Several barracks were built for these workers on the left bank of the Wertach.
Accidents and air strikes
The production facilities of the two factories were widely spread across the factory premises. On the one hand, this was intended to prevent accidents from destroying large parts of the production area. On the other hand, it made the system more difficult to spot for enemy aerial reconnaissance.
In fact, only two major accidents occurred. In December 1942, welding work triggered an explosion in which two workers were killed. A second explosion in February 1943 also killed two workers and paralyzed production for three months.
For the first time, bombs fell on Bobingen on the night of June 3rd to 4th, 1943. The destination was probably not the explosives factory, but the neighboring Lechfeld military airfield . Only a second air raid on March 16, 1944 caused serious damage to the plant and the neighboring town of Wehringen .
Ingestion by the Americans
The end of the production of explosives came on April 28, 1945 with the invasion of the US Army in Bobingen. The two factories were first given up for looting and finally occupied by the US Army in July 1945.
Reuse
In September 1945 the production of artificial silk started in the civil part of the plant. After the separation of the IG Farben group , the factory premises were transferred to Farbwerke Hoechst in May 1952 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Rasch: The branch lines between Ammersee, Lech and Wertach. With the Ammerseebahn, Pfaffenwinkelbahn & Co around the Bavarian Rigi . EOS Verlag, St. Ottilien 2011, ISBN 978-3-8306-7455-9 , pp. 291-296 .
Coordinates: 48 ° 15 '51.32 " N , 10 ° 48' 3.05" E