Senne military training area

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Coat of arms TrÜbPl Senne
Location of the Senne military training area
North-western part of the military training area (stack training area). In the background the Teutoburg Forest

The Senne military training area ( TrÜbPl Senne ) is a 116 square kilometer military training area under British administration in the Senne north of Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia . The area is owned by the federal government, represented by the Federal Real Estate Agency . Military use began at the end of the 19th century.

location

The military training area is located north of Paderborn, on the western edge of the Teutoburg Forest in the middle of the Senne between 113  m and 382  m above sea level. NHN . For Truppenübungsplatz-Senne and the north of the part Augustendorf located about 550  hectares large training area stack. The following cities and municipal areas protrude into the military training area, starting in the north and clockwise: Augustdorf , Detmold , Schlangen ( Lippe district ), Bad Lippspringe , Paderborn , Hövelhof ( Paderborn district ) and Holte-Stukenbrock Castle ( Gütersloh district ).

Landscape image

Typical landscape at the military training area: the tank tracks are clearly visible

The military training area is about half covered with forest, the majority of which consists of coniferous forest . About 2900 hectares of the site are covered with heather . To maintain the heather, the Paderborn-Senne District Biological Station has maintained a herd of around a thousand Heidschnucken herd on the military training area since 1987 , and volunteer landscape maintenance workers from the Biostation are on duty in the winter months to preserve the heather as it would otherwise be forested. In the south of the square there are also swamps , the rest is grassland . On the training area of the spring from north to south, Bärenbach , Krollbach , Berlebecke, Haustenbach , Red Bach , Mömmenbach, Grimke and Lutter. In the far south, the Strothe also flows through the military training area. Some of the streams, especially the Haustenbach, have dug their way into valleys up to ten meters deep over time. The Krollbach and the Bonebach continued as dry valleys for a few kilometers above their sources . The military training area is predominantly slightly undulating in the flatlands, rising slightly to the east, although in the Teutoburg Forest it is up to 382  m above sea level. NHN rises.

history

Prehistory 1817–1881

On February 24, 1817, the "General-Commando" demanded in Munster , the Royal Government in Minden on, for the year to be held maneuvers to nominate more decorous places where different forces move together and could also drill. The size of these places should not be less than 1,600 paces in any direction.

Cavalry parade ground 1881/82

Since 1820 Paderborn and were Neuhaus already Cavalry - garrisons . From 1851 onwards, several squadrons of the 1st Westphalian Hussar Regiment No. 8 (see 15th (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment and Officer Riding School in Paderborn ) were stationed here. For their exercises, land south of the Strothe on Diebesweg was purchased in 1881 for the creation of a cavalry parade ground , which at that time had a size of 15 hectares.

Cavalry training ground 1888–1890

In 1888 an application was made to the War Ministry in Berlin to expand the previous parade ground into a cavalry training area with a size of 400 hectares. The expansion took place in the same year.

Military training area from 1892–1936

Senne military training area around 1895
Military training area with water tower on a picture postcard, 1906
Military training area, 1916
Heidebahnhof
Wehrmacht soldiers in 1936 with food

From 1891, the previous cavalry training area was expanded into a military training area with almost no transition. In 1891 the Royal Prussian Army designated the Senne as the location of a " General Military Training Area", which was put into operation in 1892, initially comprised around 35 square kilometers of the Senne region and was set up by the VII Army Corps with staff in Münster. Most of the uninhabited areas became a restricted area , but 49 house and farm owners had to leave their homes. Also from 1892 a new barracks for the exercising troops was built in the north of the community of Neuhaus, initially consisting of nothing more than tents, the later south camp , which was then constantly expanded and the new district Sennelager developed . 1901 was another camp, new camp - not to be confused with the later briefly as New warehouse designated GFM Rommel barracks in Augustdorf - created that has now been created in stone construction.

From 1914, the Staumühle camp was built on Haustenbach about five kilometers north of Sennelager . In addition to its function as a prison camp in World War I , reserve infantry regiments were set up in the Staumühle camp from 1916 and served to train the officers' corps . The forest camp at Sennelager , which was set up during the World War, also served as a prisoner of war camp . After the lost war, the exercise activity was initially reduced because the Reichswehr was limited to 100,000 men. The Staumühle camp served as a children's village from 1925 to 1932 .

From 1928 an ammunition plant was built in the northern connection to the south camp on an area of ​​70 hectares . Until 1935, the "Muna" was a branch of the Army Munitions Plant in Scheuen near Celle . It then received its own administration and was further expanded. The Muna was bombed for the first time on February 23, 1945, on March 29 it ceased operations and on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1945, from around 4 p.m., the Muna was blown up. By the blast went down to eight kilometers distant snakes windows broken.

From 1935 the Staumühle camp and the entire military complex around the Senne were massively expanded; Staumühle now held troops in regiment strength and more. In the same year, the so-called Heidebahnhof was built at the intersection of Panzerstraße and Alte Bielefelder Poststraße, which is a functionless building dummy and serves as a landmark. The Heidebahnhof was restored in 1974 by the Bundeswehr Training Area Command .

By 1936, the training area was expanded in several stages to around 41 square kilometers, and from 1934 a tank test station, which also had a tank for tanks , was built south of Haustenbeck on the Roten Bach . This began its service in 1935 as a tank testing facility in the Haustenbeck desert .

Extensions 1937–1945

Seven Wehrmacht soldiers in the heather in 1937 in the Senne

In 1936, the Reich Office for Land Procurement gave the Reich resettlement company Ruges in Berlin, which was tasked with buying barracks and military training areas throughout the Reich, to set up a branch in Sennelager. With a decree from the Army High Command of January 21, 1937, additional land between Augustdorf and Haustenbeck was incorporated into the military training area as a Landwehr exercise area; another barracks, the north camp , was built in Augustdorf . Haustenbeck thus lay like a hose between the two practice area areas, which was very obstructive for the practice. After two farmsteads in the south of Haustenbeck had to be cleared in 1935, it was decided in 1938 to buy up the entire village of Haustenbeck. By the end of 1939, almost the entire village had been cleared. After that, the military training area should also be expanded in the direction of Hövelhof and Stukenbrock- Senne. In agreement with the military training area command, the purchase area was divided into three purchase zones from south to north, starting at Haustenbach . Zones one and two could still be closed, but zone three could no longer be closed due to the ongoing Second World War and a lack of other accommodation options, so that a large part of the residents of Hövelsenne and the Stukenbrocker area could temporarily stay in their houses. The residents of the Heimathof, which was only built from 1932 onwards, with the property belonging to it, a facility of the v. Bodelschwingh institutions stayed, but could only exercise their agricultural activities to a very limited extent.

Also from 1936, the Stapel exercise area was built north of Augustdorf , here only one property had to be cleared. The expansion of the military training area also included around 1270 hectares of forest areas in the Teutoburg Forest. In 1941 the POW camp Stalag 326 was built on the north-western edge of the military training area in Stukenbrock-Senne . According to uncertain figures, around 65,000, mostly Soviet prisoners of war, died in this camp until the liberation in 1945 . From 1941 onwards, predominantly Soviet prisoners of war were also housed in the Staumühle camp.

At the end of the Second World War, the training area fell to the US Army . Defensive battles near Augustdorf in the Dörenschlucht by u. a. SS units were unable to repel the 3rd US Panzer Division , which had penetrated the Senne area, in the "Tank Battle near Paderborn", even though its commander, General Rose , had died near Hamborn Castle. In the internment camp Staumühle and in the former Stalag 326, an internment camp for leading National Socialists from the British occupation zone was set up after the war . Former prisoners of war were also housed in the north camp until they were repatriated.

The military training area after 1945

Site practice area pile

After the military training area fell into the hands of the United States Army on April 3, 1945, the British occupying forces took over the military training area on August 1, 1945 and requisitioned further areas in the north of Oesterholz as well as large parts of the Teutoburg Forest near the towns of Berlebeck and Hiddesen including the area around the hunting lodge Lopshorn and the forester's house Hartröhren, both of which were destroyed in flames on June 11, 1945 by arson of former Soviet prisoners of war . After all Wehrmacht barracks in and around Paderborn were taken over by the British army in 1951, the British built another barracks to accommodate a tank regiment on the southern edge of the military training area . It was named Athlone Barracks . By 1951, around 200 apartments for married British soldiers and their families were also built in Sennelager on the military training area near Thune and Grimke.

Until 1955, the Bad Lippspringe airfield , which belongs to the southern part of the military training area, was also used by the predecessor clubs of the Paderborn air sports community . It was operated there soaring and powered flight. After the aviation community moved to the Paderborn-Mönkeloh airfield, which still existed at the time, the area was used exclusively by RAPA, the Rhein Army Parachute Association, one of two support and training facilities for the British armed forces for parachuting. Mainly parachute jumps and the associated drop flights took place there until 2017. The airfield is currently out of service and is not in use.

From 1956 a grenadier battalion from Höxter was the first German troop unit to practice again in the Senne. In 1957 the first Bundeswehr liaison officer moved into the British military training area headquarters in Sennelager. After the military training area was also used by the newly founded Bundeswehr, a reorganization of the shooting lanes was ordered, so the shooting lanes, which previously all had English names, were now given letters . At the end of the 1950s, large areas of the Teutoburg Forest were returned to their owners, only the area around Lopshorn and Hartröhren near Oesterholz remained within the military training area. Also in 1960 in Neuhaus Castle , in the area of ​​Thuner Weg and Habichtsee, land was returned to the community, which then created building land there.

So around 1960 hopes in Hövelsenne that the area would be cleared at least as far as the so-called row of fountains. This hope was not fulfilled, because the border planned during wartime was to be finally determined. This led to great protests from the population living in the affected area, and finally, on July 20, 1960, the then Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, together with the local Bundestag member Rainer Barzel and the then Detmold District President Gustav Galle, were in the Senne for negotiations and this was concerned Also viewed the area from the helicopter. Finally, a compromise was reached on the so-called Barzel Line, named after Rainer Barzel, a member of the Bundestag from Paderborn at the time, located about one kilometer west of the Mittweg / Brunnenzeile. That meant the salvation for the majority of Stukenbrock-Senne, but the end for Hövelsenne. The reason why a large part of Stukenbrock-Senne was removed from the planned expansion of the military training area at that time is that if the original plans had been implemented, the Soviet cemetery of honor would have been located within the military training area, which should be avoided. This meant that the residents, who now finally had their home in the area of ​​the military training area, had to be resettled. The Heimathof, a facility of the v. Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten Bethel, until 1971 the Randsiedlung- Haustenbeck west of Oesterholz, until 1972 numerous individual buildings in the eastern Stukenbrock- Senner area, and until 1974 almost the entire village of Hövelsenne. After the residents had left the area, several firing ranges and in the west and north were there tanks street from Staumühle at the Field Marshal Rommel barracks over to the training area stack built. Since 1962, the military training area has covered around 116 square kilometers, making it one of the medium-sized military training areas in Germany.

On June 26, 1963, a serious accident occurred at the military training area. A transport machine of the Belgian Air Force was hit by a mortar shell and crashed. 38 soldiers died in this accident. Nine paratroopers were able to save themselves from the crashing machine.

In autumn 1989, with the support of the Bundeswehr from Augustdorf, 1,360 refugees from the GDR were accepted into the Staumühle camp .

Todays use

Today the training area is still operated by the British Armed Forces in Germany in Paderborn in accordance with the NATO troop statute, which until 2019 had around 3,000 soldiers stationed there at four locations. The British Armed Forces currently maintain the Normandy barracks, the old south camp, and the Athlone barracks on the south edge of the square and have around 200 men permanently stationed here. In addition, guest forces from almost all of the other NATO countries come to the Senne for exercises, which are then stationed in the two barracks. The Staumühle camp is still located on the western edge of the military training area . It is owned by the German Armed Forces and was not permanently occupied by troops, but was used by troops from almost all NATO countries, especially the Benelux countries, until 2015 . From 2015 to 2018, the Staumühle camp served as a home for asylum seekers, after which the camp was no longer used. The Hövelhof correctional facility is located on part of the original camp site . The site of the former Stalag became the location of the " Erich Klausener " police training institute .

Building of the special airfield
Golf course clubhouse

On the northern edge of the military training area in Augustdorf is the Generalfeldmarschall-Rommel barracks of the Bundeswehr, the old northern camp . The units stationed there, u. a. the 21st Panzer Brigade , but mainly use the training area stack , which is used as a tank training area without live fire, and is located north of the village of August. The Bundeswehr also uses the entire training area. In addition, the military training area is temporarily used by troops from all other NATO countries. The main use of the area is as an infantry firing range, with the shooting lanes on the edge of the area and from there shooting inwards. Heavy armored weapons are also used at the military training area. In addition, there are indoor fighting systems on the practice area , which are modeled on a village in Northern Ireland .

Bad Lippspringe airfield , located on the southern edge, was used from 1964 to 2017 by the Rhine Army Parachute Association for skydiving operations, which also offered jumps for private individuals.

In the immediate vicinity of the airport is already built in 1963 by the British and now at 27 fairways Advanced Golf Course of the British Army Golf Club Sennelager . This sports facility is also available to German members and guest players.

future

According to a controversial plan, the British wanted to invest tens of millions in the military training area in the Senne. For example, 39 kilometers of sand and gravel tracks for tanks were to be converted into a concrete tank road and six more practice villages built. In addition, two artificial tunnel systems were to be built in which special forces can practice fighting in caves. On February 18, 2009, the seven neighboring municipalities as well as the three districts that are affected by the military training area were informed. Construction work was originally scheduled to begin in September 2009 and be completed by the end of 2012. The nature conservation associations in Ostwestfalen-Lippe spoke out against it and formed an action alliance. According to press reports, the construction of the villages has been postponed indefinitely for financial reasons. In the area of ​​the former outskirts of Haustenbeck, only a structure resembling a fort and a shooting house in wooden plank construction were built. When the building permit for the planned facilities was available, the British wanted to start construction after financial obstacles had been reported in October 2009.

In contrast to the previous plans, which provided for the British troops to remain until 2035, Prime Minister David Cameron announced on October 19, 2010 that the withdrawal from Germany should take place by 2020. The expansion plans were abandoned. In July 2018 it became known that the Senne military training area and Sennelager would remain in place with 200 soldiers even after the withdrawal.

The general in command of the British troops, Richard Clements, predicts the use of the training area in September 2019 during his farewell visit with 40 training weeks per year, of which the British armed forces would cover 22 weeks, the German armed forces 10 to 12 and other NATO the remaining weeks.

Due to the closure or limited use of large parts of the military area in the Senne, a diverse flora and fauna has developed there that is unique in this form. The state government plans to transfer the area of ​​the military training area to the future Senne-Egge National Park after the military use has ceased. However, the realization of a national park is uncertain, as the Bundeswehr also claims that the Senne can be used for military purposes.

The reconstruction of Lopshorn Castle in the Senne near Augustdorf is planned by the reconstruction of Lopshorn Castle initiative, founded in 2003 .

Postcard 1912

The contaminated sites of the military training area were documented as part of an investigation by publicly appointed, sworn experts. The results were presented on June 21, 2017 at the Committee for Nature, Environment and Climate Protection of the Paderborn district. According to this, large areas are very likely to be contaminated with explosive ordnance and contamination with other contaminated sites is to be expected in other places. No systematic ordnance clearance has been carried out on the site since it began to be used in the 17th century . According to documentation from the British armed forces from the 21st century, the entire area of ​​the military training area is considered to be burdened with "extreme dangers", which justifies a strict ban on access.

literature

  • Claudio Hils u. a .: Red Land - Blue Land. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-7757-0930-4 .
  • Senne military training area. Contemporary witness of a hundred years of military history. Chronicle, pictures, documents. ISBN 3-87088-730-3 .

Web links

Commons : Senne military training area  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.para-commando.be/detmold.html
  2. ↑ Finding A Dropzone. ( Memento from October 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) raf.mod.uk (Engl.)
  3. ↑ Unofficial site about the Rhine Army Parachute Association's drop zone
  4. ↑ nw-news.de: Kampfdörfer on hold for the time being. October 20, 2009 ( Memento from October 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Approval notice ( Memento from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 197 kB)
  6. ↑ nw-news.de: British army wants to build three " battle villages ". February 24, 2010 ( Memento from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Report by the Neue Westfälische Zeitung on the withdrawal of troops by 2020 ( Memento from May 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ 200 soldiers of the British Army stay in Paderborn. Neue Westfälische, July 13, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  9. ^ Briten-General predicts 40 weeks of training in the Senne. September 23, 2019, accessed June 6, 2020 .
  10. ↑ NW-News: Military training area is also suitable as a national park. Press release from September 17, 2011
  11. ↑ NW-News: Bundeswehr wants to continue using Senne. Press release from July 12, 2012
  12. ^ Initiative for the reconstruction of Lopshorn Castle
  13. ↑ https://www.kreis-paderborn.de/kreis_paderborn/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/derzeit-keine-akuten-gefahren-erkennbar.php

Coordinates: 51 ° 51 '  N , 8 ° 47'  E