Vogelsang
Construction at this 7,000 hectare site began in 1951 (one of the few complexes purpose-built by the Russians) before the garrison became home to around 18,000 soldiers and civilians, tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, tactical missiles and nuclear missiles. Soldiers carried out manoeuvres at night to avoid American surveillance, and locals had no idea what was going on behind the guarded walls.
R5-M (SS-3 Shyster) missiles were brought here in January 1959, and allegedly aimed at London, Paris, Brussels, the Ruhrgebiet and Bonn. These things were HUGE, weighing 29.1 tonnes and reaching 20.74 meters, and much more powerful than those dropped on Nagasaki or Hiroshima. The East Germans were not informed, and the missiles were delivered under cover of darkness using back roads so they would not know what was on their doorstep.
The Russians withdrew the weapons in September, as part of a disarmament pact Nikita Khrushchev agreed with the Americans in return for the removal of US missiles in Turkey. However, another sneaky deployment – this time with R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) nuclear missiles – was sent here in 1961 during the top secret Operation Tuman. It was so secret even the soldiers did not know where they were being deployed. In the end, the Soviet Union’s production of the R-14 Chusovaya missile (SS-5 Skean) with its much greater range eliminated the need for armed nuclear missiles in Germany, and Col. Aleksandrov was given the order to disband on July 12th, 1962.
Vogelsang was still kept as a Soviet base and the Russians didn’t leave until 1993. In 2011 it was slowly been demolished; friends have told me that as of 2014 the site is about 90% gone.
R5-M (SS-3 Shyster) missiles were brought here in January 1959, and allegedly aimed at London, Paris, Brussels, the Ruhrgebiet and Bonn. These things were HUGE, weighing 29.1 tonnes and reaching 20.74 meters, and much more powerful than those dropped on Nagasaki or Hiroshima. The East Germans were not informed, and the missiles were delivered under cover of darkness using back roads so they would not know what was on their doorstep.
The Russians withdrew the weapons in September, as part of a disarmament pact Nikita Khrushchev agreed with the Americans in return for the removal of US missiles in Turkey. However, another sneaky deployment – this time with R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) nuclear missiles – was sent here in 1961 during the top secret Operation Tuman. It was so secret even the soldiers did not know where they were being deployed. In the end, the Soviet Union’s production of the R-14 Chusovaya missile (SS-5 Skean) with its much greater range eliminated the need for armed nuclear missiles in Germany, and Col. Aleksandrov was given the order to disband on July 12th, 1962.
Vogelsang was still kept as a Soviet base and the Russians didn’t leave until 1993. In 2011 it was slowly been demolished; friends have told me that as of 2014 the site is about 90% gone.
