Hamburg

Places you have visited,recommend etc.
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Irwin
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Post by Irwin »

flak towers always came in pairs, a command and control tower (L-tower) and the gun-tower (G-tower). the tower directly above is the hamburg G-tower.

only berlin, vienna and hamburg ever got flak-towers, with vienna having a total of 6, for some reason more than any other city. I've made a point of visiting 5 of them and they are indeed vast. because of the density of vienna's buildings they have been unable to demolish them, and interestingly noone in vienna talks about them, nor knows the location of all 6! It was a bit of a detective mission to find all of them.

At the augarten pair I was walking along following my city map scratching my head because I couldn't find the towers and they were supposed to be right there ... till I noticed that I was actually standing underneath them and because of the scale it hadn't clicked until I looked up! you know, you walk through a lovely baroque street and then suddenly in the middle of it is a massive flaktuerm!

anyway, there isn't very much around vienna and austria (though I have it on good information that in florisdorf there are some bunkers that have hitherto been unacknowledged on the internet ... hmmm more adventure!).
anyway, for those wanting a trip to vienna, here are the locations of the six flak towers:

esterhazy park: this one is converted into an aquarium and rock climbing edifice. strangely, and I don't understand why, at the very top of this L-tower it says mysteriously something like "in the peace of the night" - not that exactly, I don't have my photies to hand to say precisely. Its sister, the stiftskaserne is located within an army barracks and is presumably still used by the military. you can't get anywhere near it ... but interestingly it is therefore probably the best preserved of all of them.

the pair in the arenberg park are sealed but by the look of them are in good nick inside (I think one might be converted soon into either a car park or an art installation - a shame really. go see them before the austrians wipe them from history!). These two are the least impressive ... and visit them in winter because they are surrounded by trees and you won't get a good view of them otherwise.

The augarten towers are the last generation of flak towers and are large, very very tall and almost ornamental. again, visit them in winter!
they are demolished inside but they did represent the pinnacle of the architectural development of the towers.
Yuo can get a great view of them by going to the nearby park (the prater) and go on the big wheel .. the riesenrad.

after the war they were intended to be monuments to the fallen, clad in marble, but as they now stand they are the perfect monuments to a failed ideaology.
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FockeWulf
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Location: Schleswig-Holstein/Germany

Post by FockeWulf »

Kurt Volkmar, I hope you don't mind when I post new photos from the Heiligengeistfeld Flak tower IV in your thread. I can't see your photos and I took these ones in October 2005.
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Here is a linkabout the Flak tower in the Wilhelmsburg district and a soldier of the gun crew reports about his experiences, it's very interesting.

It's my first attempt to post photos and to include a link... :?

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BDMhistorian
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Post by BDMhistorian »

Stephan,

You should really post some of the other photos from your area. I think people would find them just as interesting as I did, and I know you have a lot of really nice ones! :)
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FockeWulf
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Post by FockeWulf »

Thank you Chris. ^^ You are right and I will post some of the other photos from my area in the next days.
Franz repper
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Post by Franz repper »

To right Stephan whats it used for now if at all ? keep posting the photos as i will keep looking
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FockeWulf
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Post by FockeWulf »

Your articles are very interesting, thanks for sharing.
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