Kuma of Finland Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 As people have mentioned gigantic Flak Towers (aka. Geschützturm aka. Gefechtsturm) I became interested. I've been doing some search on Internet, but can't find enough information. Can you help with finding info about Flak Towers, their armament and the battles envolved? Here are some links I've found: Berlin Air-raid Shelters, Flak Towers and Bunkers As Luftwaffenhelfer upon the Flaktower VI in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg The buildings were massive with 2 m thick walls and roofs, with total height of about 45 meters. As they could inhabit 18000 (18 thousand) civilians + military personnel + ammo supply + armament they've been small cities of their own... Huge!!! /kuma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nidan1 Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Try "The Last Battle", by Cornelius Ryan. I dont have the book in front of me now, but I seem to remember some discriptive chapters on the FLAK towers which were located in Berlin, specifically near the TierGarten, and Brandenburg. hope that helps a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schatzi Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Heh, here in Vienna we still have quite a few of those conctrete giants around. Actually I had 2 right in front of my nose whilst living for 7 years in my student apartment. They are so massively constructed, that after the war they tried to demolish them, but failed miserably. The city fathers realized that they would need so much dynamite, that all surrounding buildings within hundreds of meters would be heavily damaged. The ones in Vienna are cylindrical in shape, about 15 stories high and have 2 flak platform levels for 4 flak cannons each. The flak platforms stick out like roundish balconies and are separated by 90deg. around the building (if my memory serves me correctly). They also sport a few firing slits, but apart from that they seem only to have been conctructed as air defence fortresses. The ones they did try to destroy are off limits to the public, but one of the undamaged ones now houses the city aquarium and is integrated into a sports center (climing wall). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreigner Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Think the 88s were powerful? Imagine 100mm FLAK guns....IIRC, some of those FLAK towers in Berlin mounted those - but they could not depress enough to engage ground targets with DF, so when the Red Army stormed Berlin (and Soviet ground attack planes didn't fly many sorties for fear of hitting their own troops), their awesome firepower was of little use at that crucial moment. Though I think those might have caused some major headaches for Allied bombers during raids on Berlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Originally posted by Foreigner: Think the 88s were powerful? Imagine 100mm FLAK guns....IIRC, some of those FLAK towers in Berlin mounted those - but they could not depress enough to engage ground targets with DF, so when the Red Army stormed Berlin (and Soviet ground attack planes didn't fly many sorties for fear of hitting their own troops), their awesome firepower was of little use at that crucial moment. Though I think those might have caused some major headaches for Allied bombers during raids on Berlin.Actually, the guns you're referring to were 105's and 128's. BIG puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Bellator Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 There are descriptions of the big three Berlin flak towers in Anthony Read and David Fishers "The Fall Of Berlin" 1992 QPD Books London. Some info from there: They were purposely designed by Speer to remind people of Medieval fortresses as part of Nazi romantic fantasy, and were to be the first buildings of Hitler's new city of Germania which was to replace Berlin after the war. 13 storeys high with 6 underground storeys. Walls eight feet thick made of reinforced concrete with steel shutters to close any windows. Eight 128mm Guns mounted in pairs were atop the structures crewed by 21 men each. These 'double-barrelled' guns fired every 90 seconds creating a kill zone 260 yards across. Just underneath them were 12 multi-barrelled 20/37mm pom-poms. The largest could shelter 21,000 people in its underground levels during air-raids. A smaller radar tower also stood near them with it's own AA guns as well, these also had a protected viewing platform on which party notables gathered to watch the ongoing raid. Hope that's useful. [Edit - Sp.] [ September 06, 2002, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: Rex_Bellator ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuma of Finland Posted September 9, 2002 Author Share Posted September 9, 2002 Thanks for the answers! Have to go through local library for the books. Just bumping for Internet-links? Anybody, links? /kuma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesco Posted September 9, 2002 Share Posted September 9, 2002 Shatzi! Could you give me some specific reference about where are and how to see those towers in Vienna? Thank you in advance, Francesco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuma of Finland Posted September 9, 2002 Author Share Posted September 9, 2002 Francesco: for flak towers in Vienna, try few links here: Museum in flak tower, has a map: http://www.haus-des-meeres.at/f_flakturm.html Some architectual link: http://db.nextroom.at/bw/10242.html Hope this is something to begin with. /kuma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesco Posted September 9, 2002 Share Posted September 9, 2002 Thank you very much for your help! I'll try a trip in Vienna soon! Best regards all, Francesco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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