Denkmalzone Area 1 — Attraction in Dahner Felsenland

Former 165 MP at Fischback Depot. First let me say to all the Germans viewing this page, I'm sorry. We were rotten neighbors. The MP company of my time were mostly late teen, early 20's men, most away from home for the first time, dropped in what seemed like the middle of the woods, with what seemed like the armpit of army service.

Example: When I arrived we had no CO as the Captain had been arrested for using army materials and army personnel to paint his personal vehicle (A VW Squareback) in camo with army vehicle stencils. That was my introduction to the company.

While Area One gets the lion share of attention, there were more MPs on Area two, the bunkers, because it was so much larger and there were so many more weapons stored there. You had the gate house plus 6 towers, plus the SAT and BAF teams. Lots of guys. Tower 4 being the most remote and closest to the French border had the reputation of being the first to be hit if anyone ever came to 'take' the weapons (like that was ever gong to happen). It also had the reputation of being haunted. Bad mojo.

In fact, tower 4 featured in the parody song somebody made up long before I arrived (to the tune of the Ranger song): Plastic badge upon my chest I am one of Fischbach's best saw a deer and fired a burst but tower 4 had got him first

Funny, now I can't even remember what the badge looked like.

On the bright side, I remember hearing Cuckoos singing in the wood from my perch in one of the towers. I would truly love to hear that again.

Glad to see Germany re-making the area into a combo business park and park land. I wish I had spent more time hiking the site back then, but there were also rumors of wild boar living in the woods. This was so pervasive that, if you were on the BAF team overnight staying in the ready building on the site, you were encouraged to take your M16 and a clip of ammo if you took a walk outside the building. Did I mention we were stupid young and...

An interesting place, although just a bare skeleton of what used to be there. I was stationed there in the Army 1983-1984. At that time there were three rows of fences, four security towers (in addition to Tower One, which still stands), advanced detection systems, and no plant life taller than a weed within the fence lines. The wood outside of the fences was patrolled at night by dog patrols. Security personnel were in the towers 24/7/365, with a roaming Jeep patrol within the interior that was also on duty all the time - rain or shine, fog or snow. The majority of the bunkers were empty, or had standard munitions (small arms munitions, hand grenades, etc). Only a few were "hot", and ordnance was moved regularly from one bunker to another so that very few people knew what was where. The majority of inventory was moved in and out via helicopter (Chinooks, escorted by Huey gunships with security personnel). I have mixed emotions seeing it as a ruin only because I remember it when it was alive and active. However I am glad that it served its purpose, and now is returning to forest! The area is beautiful and the people in the surrounding villages are...

An impressive place for anyone interested in Cold War history. We stumbled upon it as a suggested option on a drizzly day in winter, making for a visit almost entirely by ourselves. Kudos to the IG Area 1 group for preserving it and making it accessible to the public. Your signage was excellent and very informative, providing much appreciated context and...