Berlin's Flak Tower Network
Hello and welcome to the On the Front blog, where we discuss all things WW2. In this blog, I am going to discuss what remains of Berlin’s Flak Tower network.
If you are lucky to be visiting Berlin, I fully recommend you visit one of these structures that have survived the relentless attempts to destroy them during the war and even after hostilities ceased. On the Front Tours has an in depth itinerary available for visitors, just see the link for further details.
Hitler had initially ordered London be off limits to bombing and the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force was to destroy Royal Air Force targets only in preparation for the planned cross-channel invasion. But on the night of the 24th of August a Luftwaffe bomber drifted off course, accidentally releasing its bombs on the centre of London.
An enraged Winston Churchill ordered the RAF to immediately retaliate with an attack on Berlin and on the night of the 25th of August 1940, British bombers attacked the city of Berlin for the first time. The raid would do little damage to the city with only 81 of the 95 bombers managing to drop their bombs, they did unfortunately kill the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
The bombing sent Hitler into a rage. An embarrassed Herman Göring who at the beginning of the war had promised his Luftwaffe would protect the Reich and if a single bomb was to fall on Berlin, he would change his name “Maier”, tried to calm Hitler.
RAF bomber
Although damage to the city was minimal, the psychological effect of the bombing had a great impact on people of Berlin and as part of his retaliation Hitler ordered the German Luftwaffe bomb the city of London for 57 consecutive nights in events that would later be known as the ‘Blitz”.
To protect Berlin from further bombing raids a total of six Flak Towers were to be constructed but as the war dragged on and resources where needed elsewhere and only three towers were built. A grand total of eight Flak Towers would be built through the Reich, 3 in Berlin, 2 in Hamburg and 3 in Vienna. The towers where constructed in a triangular formation for optimal defence with their guns interlocked for mutual fire support.
Flaktower III
20mm machine guns
Flakturm III in Humboldhain is by far the most preserved Flak tower in the city. This first-generation Flak Tower was built over of a period of six months (Oct ’41 – April “42) by some 800 forced laborers who worked in shifts over a 24 hour day. The tower was designed to protect the manufacturing sector of the city. A major target for allied air raids.
Flakturm III like those of I and II, consisted of two towers. Tower L, which housed the radio and observation post and tower G which contained the main anti-aircraft armaments. Tower defences were constantly upgraded throughout the war, Tower L was equipped with up to forty, 20mm machine guns and Tower G with eight, 128mm canons and sixteen, 20mm machine guns. The towers had a fire rate of 8,000 rounds per minute mostly from the 20mm machine guns but each 128mm could fire up to 12 rounds per minutes to an altitude of 35,000 feet.
Damage to Flaktower III
The towers had other uses other than simply to destroy aircraft but also to protect the Berlin civilian population from the bombings. The tower was designed to house 10,000 civilians although as the bombing frequency increased during the later stages of the war the towers would see twice as many seek refuge in the cramped and humid complex. The Flak Tower also housed a hospital to treat the wounded and even a maternity ward with many Berlin mothers giving birth inside the bunker.
The towers were impenetrable fortresses, built with 3.5-meter-thick concrete walls. The Soviet Army in attempts to destroy the towers during the Battle for Berlin fired their 203mm howitzers at point blank range. The massive fire power had little effect on these Flak Towers and were the last strong hold in the city of Berlin to surrender.
After the war, tower III was the responsibility of the French, who tried on multiple occasions to destroy the bunker but botched the job only destroying the southern sector of the tower. Further demolition attempts were considered too dangerous due to the close proximity of the Soviet controlled Gesundbrunnen train station and fear of inciting an international incident should part of the station become damaged. Instead they tried to bury the tower forming an artificial hill, known today as the Humbolthain hill. Following German reunification, the German government declared the site safe and turned it into an observation point.
North side Flak tower III with Gesundbrunnen train line
The towers though were not just used to protect people but also housed some of Germany’s most prized art works and Flak Tower II would find itself at the centre of a mysterious art heist.
Flak Tower II, located in Volkpark Freidrichsain was built in likeness to towers I and III but what made this tower so special is it was home to 1,659 pieces of art considered to be the most valuable during this period. The Nazis were fervent in their plundering of some of Europe’s greatest treasures of art. Hitler dreamed of turning Berlin, which he planned to rename “Germania”, into the world capital for art, culture and history. The majority of this art though was to be looted from other countries to fill the Reich Capital, Art Galleries and Museums.
Model of Germania
The Soviets also stole art and gems with equal vigour under the theory, “if you destroy a cultures art you destroy their identity”. Tower II housed the city’s most important works from Caravaggio, Donatello and early works of Botticelli. By May 1945, the Soviets had stolen a reported 2 million pieces of art worth billions of dollars in today’s prices. The record of what happened at Flak Tower II remains at the centre of an international art heist mystery. According to Soviet reports, two separate fires broke out in the complex, the first destroyed the ground floor and a few days later a second larger fire broke out destroying what was left of the first floor and subsequent levels 2 and 3, which housed some 400 paintings and 300 sculptures all of which were believed to have been destroyed.
The fires have always been shrouded in suspicion and thought by many experts to have been a cover up for the Soviet thefts and the works were not destroyed. Recent evidence gives credit to this theory. In 2005, 25 antique vases stored in the tower were put on display in the Pushkin museum in Moscow. In 2011, a painting thought to have perished in the fire was put on auction, the owner of the painting said he had inherited the masterpiece from his father who while stationed in Berlin bought the work from a “street vendor”. More recent in 2016, a further 59 sculptures where also discovered in the Pushkin museum of Moscow. It is hoped that these art works will one day be returned.
Tower II was destroyed by the Soviets in 1946 with the rubble being piled up on itself to form an artificial hill, known today as bunker hill.
The last of the towers, Flakturm I or “Zoo Tower” due to its close proximity to the Berlin Zoo was located in the Berlin suburb of Tiergarten; designed to protect the Government district. It was the best-known tower not just because of its location but heavy involvement in the defence of the Reichstag.
Destruction of Flaktower II
Destruction of Flaktower I, “Zoo Tower”
It was eventually destroyed by the British over two attempts in 1947 and in 1948. The first attempt in July of ‘47 saw British engineers pack the tower with some 25 tonnes of explosive. When the dust settled tower ‘G’ remained standing. A US journalist is reported to have jokingly remarked “made in Germany”.
Determined to destroy the tower the British engineers would spend the next four months drilling a further 35 tonnes of explosive into the tower walls. This attempt though would be successful. Later the site would become a part of the Berlin Zoo and the location of the Flak Tower currently makes up the Hippopotamus enclosure.
Let me know your thoughts and if you would like to arrange a tour of these sites please fill out the contact form above to arrange a tour. Thank you very much for reading and if you liked this post remember to hit that like button and I’ll see you next time on the front.
- Matt