OBERDACHSTETTEN, Germany -- Tucked away within the northern fringe of the Frankenhöhe nature park lies a place where the decaying skeletons of the area's World War II past bear witness to 21st century Soldiers training with today's high-tech equipment on state-of-the-art training facilities.
This mix of old and new is evident to the Soldiers of U.S. Army Europe whenever they train at the Oberdachstetten Local Training Area.
Decrepit concrete bunkers, some with 50-foot tall spruce trees growing out of them, line the forest trails at Oberdachstetten LTA. These ammunition storage bunkers and the haunted shells of the administration buildings and guard shacks are all that remain of the former "Munasiedlung," or just "Muna," which once occupied this forest.
Meaning literally an "ammunition settlement," the Lufthauptmunitionsanstalt 1/XIII Oberdachstetten, as it was officially called, was the largest Luftwaffe ammunition factory in southern Germany during World War II. Completed in 1936, this bustling compound employed about 3,000 people during the height of production.
These workers consisted of a mix of civilians and soldiers, and there was also a kindergarten and school on site to educate the children whose mothers were hard at work producing the 8.8-centimeter flak ammunition used by the German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery guns at the time. Flak is a contraction of German Flugzeugabwehrkanone, meaning "aircraft-defense cannon." In English, "flak" became a generic term for ground anti-aircraft fire.
The best preserved portion of the old "Muna" is the four-building compound that was used as the final assembly and inspection area for the ammunition before being loaded onto freight trains for shipment to both war fronts. This compound is ominously shaped like a swastika from the air and currently houses the Frankenhöhe Military Museum.
The museum association is dedicated to preserving the military history of the Westmittelfranken area and has painstakingly re-created and maintains exhibits depicting both German and U.S. Army uniforms, arms and equipment going back to the 1870s and continuing to the present day. The museum offers tours each first and third Saturday of the month from April through October and is a favorite location for local unit noncommissioned officer and officer professional development events.
Meanwhile, as AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade pass overhead on their way to Illesheim Army Airfield, next door to the Muna Museum you might find Soldiers busily preparing to conduct live-fire training on the 30-acre Oberdachstetten Range Complex.
Outfitted with a two-lane automated pistol range, five known distance ranges (50 and 25 meters) and a newly constructed five-lane, 300-meter automated record fire range, the Oberdachstetten Range Complex allows U.S. Army Europe, NATO and rotational unit Soldiers to complete all of their individual marksmanship training at one location. The adjacent 16-station confidence/obstacle course allows Soldiers to challenge themselves mentally and physically while strengthening unit camaraderie and building strong teams. A 10-station practice hand grenade course and a CS chamber help round out the range complex training facilities package.
After traversing just a few miles through the eerily quiet mixed deciduous/boreal forest, the 987-acre LTA opens up to a grassy bowl with two small lakes that feed the Zenn River. Across from one of these lakes sits the urban operations site.
This eight-building simulated village represents a small settlement surrounded by replicated agricultural terrain for added realism. Soldiers perform numerous training tasks here from ground and aerial reconnaissance using Unmanned Aircraft Systems, to entering and clearing buildings utilizing air-to-ground integration techniques, to fast-rope insertion from UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Only a quarter mile away is a 12,000-square-foot Forward Arming and Refueling Pad, which allows for the safe and environmentally friendly refueling of any rotary-winged aircraft in USAREUR.
The current FARP was formerly the site of a farm house dating back to the 17th century and was known as Wessachhof. A local legend has it that a young woman named Apollonia Hufnagel, from the village of Anfelden, was walking to the village of Westheim to spin cloth and passed by the Wessachhof farm. She was warned by some travelers about the infamous Devil's Ditch, which was along the way. The girl said she was not afraid of the devil, and to prove it she would go to the Devil's Ditch at midnight and use her spinning wheel. She did as she had promised and was found the next day with her head spun around to the back of her neck. A monument was erected at the top of the Devil's Ditch, "Teufelsgraben," in her memory.
This monument remains there to this day and is mysteriously adorned with fresh flowers every few weeks. The Wessachhof farm was purchased and demolished by the U.S. Army as part of the occupation of Germany after World War II and the conversion of the entire area from a Wehrmacht ammunition factory to a U.S. Army training area.
The relative seclusion from large population centers coupled with its proximity to USAREUR's aviation assets made the Oberdachstetten LTA a prime location for military training exercises in the past, and it continues to fill that role today.
Soldiers training here today not only have state-of-the-art training facilities and world-class training support available to them, but they can temporarily step back in time and catch a glimpse of the rich military history of this beautiful region of Germany.
The Oberdachstetten LTA and range complex is managed by the Training Support Center Ansbach, Regional Training Support Division -- EAST, Training Support Activity Europe. TSC Ansbach is one of eleven TSCs distributed throughout Europe with the mission to identify, acquire, manage and sustain the resources required to support training as directed by the USAREUR commander.
For more information on any of the above mentioned training facilities or enablers, visit the TSAE TAP-IN site at this link: https://armyrangemapper.eur.army.mil/tapin/tapin.aspx. To reserve training facilities or airspace at Oberdachstetten LTA/ range complex, contact your unit S-3. Training facilities must be requested and reserved using the Range Facility Management Support System at: https://rfmss.usareur.army.mil/LTA/Pages/login.aspx.
Related Links:
Joint Multinational Training Command
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