Havelterberg site (American base)

At the Havelteberg there was an American barracks for a number of years, 31 years to be exact. Also called a “site”. Atomic bombs were stored on this site (they say).

The site served as a storage facility for nuclear ammunition for the American army from 1961 to 1992. A large number of Dutch conscripts of the Royal Netherlands Army walked site guard on this site.

This site guard lasted a week, the soldiers stayed on the site.

The site was built up from 2 large elongated bunkers for the nuclear ammunition, 4 towers, 1 of which was concrete, 3 inward-facing bunkers and an elongated white building, there were also 2 fences, outside the fences a belt of foxholes had been dug.

These foxholes were dug approximately 10m from the fences. About 50m before the site there was a bunker, this was the last checkpoint for the site, on the road Spanish riders had been placed in the way, these consisted of long iron bars that stuck out of the way at an angle. These Spanish riders were also positioned in front of the gate. About 150m before the last checkpoint there was a guardhouse with a barrier and again Spanish riders, here was also a garage with 2 jeeps for alarm patrols, but first you came across the barracks of the American army, this was a separate barracks and consisted of about 4 barracks and a power house. Furthermore, there was an open area of ​​about 100m around the entire site, outside of this 100m there was a belt of rolls of barbed wire (razor wire).

The Havelterberg site has been in the news a lot because of the many demonstrations of the peace movement, if I am not mistaken a warning shot was even fired in 1980, this happened when the demonstrators marched to the gate of the site and started throwing paint bombs and stones.

Unfortunately the Havelterberg site was demolished in 1999, only the old concrete tower is still there. If you are ever in the area, go and have a look, you can also take a nice walk there.