Unique buildings of the Nazis. Bomb shelters in the form of a giant tower

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Until now, on the territory of Germany, you can see strange structures left after the Second World War, which have no analogues either in the USSR or in any other country.

The uninitiated are still wondering what is hidden behind the walls of tall concrete towers shaped like a ballistic missile. Strange as it sounds, these unusual monuments turned out to be bomb shelters that survived even after the most brutal air raids.

By the mid-30s. of the last century, when the mass preparation of Nazi Germany for military operations was in full swing, the design and construction of bomb shelters for its citizens began. In addition to the fact that additional equipment was installed in some buildings with suitable basements, new protective structures were built according to standard plans. It was at this moment that the architect Leo Winkel, a civil engineer at August Thyssen AG, on his own initiative, developed a unique design for the bomb shelter tower.

Reference:Leo Winkel (1885-1981) in September 1934 registered a patent for an air defense tower (LS-Turms von Leo Winkel), named "Winkelturme". In 1936, in Duisburg, he opened the construction bureau Leo Winkel & Co, which was engaged in the design of overhead bomb shelters, selling projects and licenses for their construction.

Having considerable experience in construction, Leo Winkel understood how laborious and costly the process of creating new underground bomb shelters was. Therefore, he has matured the idea to simplify the life of a builder, to reduce the cost of the process and … to increase the safety of citizens. If most of us understand the first two points, then the last one is perplexing, because how can you be sure of safety during bombing, being at an altitude of 5-20 m above the ground. To understand this issue, you need to compare the technical characteristics of these two structures.

So:

- to create a bomb shelter tower, you will need a plot of land no more than 25 m² and extraction of soil no more than 300-500 cubic meters. In order to accommodate how many people underground, you need a rectangular piece of land of at least 68 m² and a displacement of 1500-3000 cubic meters. soil;

- when preparing a construction site for a surface structure with a shallow foundation, it is not required to take into account the location of gas-water pipelines, sewerage systems, etc., which cannot be said about an underground facility;

- to create the shell of the "Winkelturme" tower or an underground bomb shelter, you will need almost the same amount of concrete and steel;

- for a surface structure, it is not required to create waterproofing and protection from groundwater, and for an underground bomb shelter this is one of the most problematic and costly processes;

- there is no need for special signs to designate a bomb shelter high above the ground - they can be seen from afar, but hidden structures during raids are quite difficult for an unaware person to find;

- the probability of hitting bombs during air strikes into a conical structure, the ground area of which is only 25 m², is unlikely, but getting into a rectangular area of 68 squares and damaging the ceiling is more likely;

- in a detached structure, there is no danger of blocking doors and the entrance of air intake pipes due to the destruction of nearby buildings, as is the case with underground shelters;

- there is no danger of flooding in the tower, in case of damage to the water supply system or worse than sewer pipes;

- in the event of a fire or a gas attack, people in the tower will not suffer, but underground they will simply suffocate from carbon monoxide or any other gas creeping along the ground.

A comparative analysis showed a clear advantage of the Winkelturme bomb shelter tower, so we can examine its structure and look inside such an original structure, especially since the author presented its structure with extended functions. Patenting his invention, Leo Winkel made a greater bias towards military use in the form of an air defense tower with the installation of anti-aircraft systems on the upper tier, and the shelter in the middle and lower part. In peacetime, its structure could be used as a water tower.

The first option did not interest the army, and the last was not implemented, but as a bomb shelter "Winkelturme" was a success. For the military, in particular to ensure security in Wünsdorf / Zossen, where the High Command of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces was located, 19 Winkelturme bomb shelters were installed, and the remaining 15 were installed on the territory of other strategically important objects.

The Winkelturme bomb shelter is a multi-storey reinforced concrete structure with a cone-shaped appearance, more like a huge termite mound or a ballistic missile ready for launch. The main role in protection from direct bomb hits was played by a powerful concrete conical head, which was installed above the truncated cone formed by the walls of the tower. Such a design was made with the expectation that if a direct hit of a projectile occurs during the bombardment, it will not explode, but slide down and land at a distance, which means that the structure will not be damaged as a result of the explosion. Moreover, the tower has a recess in 2 floors and is fortified, so that even a powerful blast wave will only shake it.

Interesting: Before the mass installation of such structures, real tests were carried out. In 1936, over the range where it was located, Ju 87 dive bombers dropped 50 bombs for several days in a row, but none of them hit the turret. After the failure of this test, it was decided to attach bombs weighing 500 and 1000 kg to the outer walls and detonate them. To get a complete picture of what could happen to living things inside the bunker, goats were placed there. After the explosion, the tower only swayed, and several spalls formed on the outside, but everything inside remained unchanged. The only thing is that those animals that were tied close to the walls of the structure became deaf for some time. After that, a prescription was issued that benches should not be installed closer than 30 cm to the walls.

The bunker created by Winkel has 9 floors, 2 of which are in the ground, it is in them that filter ventilation units, communication points, loudspeakers, water tanks, toilets and other life support systems are located. The remaining 7 floors were intended to accommodate people. Air intakes were installed on the sides of the facility, and at the very top there is another filter-ventilation system, activated by electric or manual drives.

In general, when the Winkelturme bomb shelter was fully filled, it could accommodate from 300 to 750 people, it all depended on the modification of the structure, because a little later the architect patented a tower with a base diameter of 11.54 m (64 m2) and a height of 23 m. increase in area, safety did not suffer, because the thickness of the concrete walls at the base was increased to 2 m and slightly decreased to a height of 10 m.

The bunker of the first modification could be accessed from two sides, one entrance / exit was directly from the ground, and the second was at the level of the 3rd floor. The enlarged model "Winkelturme" already had 3 doors on different sides and floors of the bomb shelter, which made it easier to climb. Inside any of the bunker models, immediately near each entrance, there are sealed vestibules with metal sluice doors that protected the interior from the penetration of various gases and smoke. The movement of people inside the structure took place using spiral staircases. Wooden benches were installed on each floor, where people were accommodated. In those places where schools, factories, residential areas were located, they even assigned a seat number to each person in order to avoid crowds.

According to the editors of Novate. Ru, over the entire period of creation of various modifications, about 130 objects were created, and only 1 of them suffered a little when a shell pierced a hole in the very top of the structure. After the war, they tried to demolish such unusual objects, but it turned out to be not so easy and very expensive, so most of the bunkers were redesigned for the needs of the national economy, using them as warehouses. Several towers have so organically blended into the architecture of the cities that they have become a real attraction.