Abandon tunnels

[Schone23666]

I'm not sure if there was another thread on this somewhere, but there are miles and f**king miles of old underground tunnel networks and bomb shelters throughout Germany, a lot of it under the cities around the Ruhr area and such.

When I attended University of Maryland overseas in Germany (they had an overseas program for dependents graduating from high school over there, back then) they had just moved the campus from Augsburg to Mannheim. The barracks the campus shared with a U.S. Army transportation/logistics outfit used to be an Imperial German army barracks around the turn of the century, later got converted into a barracks and depot for a Panzer unit during WWII and also was used as one of several AA observation posts. An old concrete MG nest/AA flak tower and several observation posts disguised as bell towers could still be seen studding the roofs of the barracks buildings.

Anyway, there was a permanently fenced off entrance off in a grassy corner by itself, no adjoining buildings or anything, and I was told that was one entrance that led to a massive series of tunnels and shelters beneath Mannheim. A few old timers told us that before they'd closed it off, when the waters had receded (the tunnels were now flooded) they'd gone down below to look around and found old rotting bunk rooms, radio rooms, etc. and even found underground garages with a few old rusted, parked Panzer tanks still in them.

Look around enough and I think you'll find plenty of stories of lost underground shelters/tunnels and weapons caches they were still turning up in Germany decades after the war.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by Schone23666

I'm not sure if there was another thread on this somewhere, but there are miles and f**king miles of old underground tunnel networks and bomb shelters throughout Germany, a lot of it under the cities around the Ruhr area and such.

When I attended University of Maryland overseas in Germany (they had an overseas program for dependents graduating from high school over there, back then) they had just moved the campus from Augsburg to Mannheim. The barracks the campus shared with a U.S. Army transportation/logistics outfit used to be an Imperial German army barracks around the turn of the century, later got converted into a barracks and depot for a Panzer unit during WWII and also was used as one of several AA observation posts. An old concrete MG nest/AA flak tower and several observation posts disguised as bell towers could still be seen studding the roofs of the barracks buildings.

Anyway, there was a permanently fenced off entrance off in a grassy corner by itself, no adjoining buildings or anything, and I was told that was one entrance that led to a massive series of tunnels and shelters beneath Mannheim. A few old timers told us that before they'd closed it off, when the waters had receded (the tunnels were now flooded) they'd gone down below to look around and found old rotting bunk rooms, radio rooms, etc. and even found underground garages with a few old rusted, parked Panzer tanks still in them.

Look around enough and I think you'll find plenty of stories of lost underground shelters/tunnels and weapons caches they were still turning up in Germany decades after the war.

University of Maryland is at Yokota AB also, People have found railroad cars of military weapons, ammo that sit forgotten on spurs for decades in the U.S.

[Schone23666]

Originally Posted by .45cultist

University of Maryland is at Yokota AB also, People have found railroad cars of military weapons, ammo that sit forgotten on spurs for decades in the U.S.

That was originally constructed by the Imperial Japanese Army as Tama Airfield, correct? Wouldn't surprise me if they had been still finding old tunnels and caches around there too. They did build some tunnel and bunker networks around parts of the islands and stockpiled with whatever ammo and weapons that were left in anticipation of Operations Olympic and Coronet.

I guess it'd be a little like poking around the old tunnels and caves on Saipan like this guy does, plus watching out for unexploded ordnance and such:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkV..._6za6Mv02OYxtg

[.45cultist]

It had three B17's that were pieced together for study. Huge roaches come out of the man hole lids, reminded me of "Damnation Alley", when Paul Winfield's character was eaten.

[Sanjuro]

When I was a student (Reagan was still POTUS..) I went exploring some of the abandoned railway tunnels on the west side of Glasgow. For those familiar, we started under a restaurant on Great Western Road, near Gartnavel Hospital, tracked North nearly a mile, then emerged near Maryhill. Then we entered another tunnel tracking Southeast, passing through the long-disused Botanic Gardens station and emerged in an old cutting beside Kelvinbridge (across the river from the entrance to the Underground station).
I believe most, if not all of the entrances we used have been closed off now, but there is still a fenced-off area in the Botanic Gardens where the ventilator shafts above the station are.

[stormlion1]

I was stationed at Yokota in the mid 90's. We kept those tunnels sealed except for one entrance that was able to be opened. I believe that they were used on occasion for training, or at least the parts that had been cleared had been were. Someone told me that there were sections booby trapped with high explosives which is why they were sealed so tight. I never went down there though even though I knew were the entrance was and probably could have gotten my hands on the keys if I really had wanted to. I did remember them finding two old US Bombs when we were paving the flight line as well, seem to remember the wash stand for cleaning C-130's had to be sealed off after finding unexploded ordinance beneath it.

[Schone23666]

Originally Posted by stormlion1

I was stationed at Yokota in the mid 90's. We kept those tunnels sealed except for one entrance that was able to be opened. I believe that they were used on occasion for training, or at least the parts that had been cleared had been were. Someone told me that there were sections booby trapped with high explosives which is why they were sealed so tight. I never went down there though even though I knew were the entrance was and probably could have gotten my hands on the keys if I really had wanted to. I did remember them finding two old US Bombs when we were paving the flight line as well, seem to remember the wash stand for cleaning C-130's had to be sealed off after finding unexploded ordinance beneath it.

Jeez, that had to be comforting...

"Hey, what's this little thing sticking out of the ground?" BOOM

It wasn't uncommon to hear stories in Germany of them finding another unexploded bomb in a town or city somewhere when they were doing construction, probably dropped from a B17. Hell, when I visited Verdun in France (WW1 battlefield, the terrain still looks like the moon from all the sheling after these years) a couple times, they always had plenty of WARNING signs everywhere indicating areas that still weren't safe to venture into, plus a French EOD team standing by just in case. WW1, mind you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxR4Fgs0iB0