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DECLASSIFIED - Authority NND 75016
ANNEXURE I CONFIDENTIAL
HEADQUARTERS
FIRST UNITED STATES ARMY
APO 230
CHANGE FIND OF MINE DEPOSITORY AT BERNTERODE - SPECIAL REPORT
12 May 1945.
1. SITE.
The Heeres-Munitionsanstalt at Bernterode (C 9016) Kreis Werbis, is a salt mine, since 1936 used as a munition plant and a storage depot, employing some 2000 men and woman. A shaft 533 meters deep with 2 elevators leads to a system of corridors aggregating approximately 23 kilometers. The water in the sump, 17 meters below the level of the main corridor, rises when pumping ceases. At present about 400,000 tons of ammunition and quantities of other military supplies are stored in the mine. A group of large warehouses adjacent to the entrance into the shaft contain munitions, signal supplies clothing and other military stores. A camp of 700 French, Italian and Russian DPs most of whom had been employed at the plant, is also on the premises. A large store of dynamite was found in relatively close proximity to the depository in the mine. The building at the head of the shaft provided protection against the weather for objects that might be stored there, but the adjacent magazines were a constant hazard. The stores of ammunition, paints, clothing, paper stocks and other inflammable materials were constantly being rifled by DPs and were in great disorder. Even while the contents of the depository were being stored above ground and loaded, the detail of the 172nd F.A. Bn, guarding the promises were unable to keep the DPs out of these buildings.
2. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FIND
According to French employees of the mine, German Officers had sent all civilians from the area on or about 16 march 1943. Working with great secrecy and using military personnel only they had brought objects (presumably of great value) into the mine. The entrances of the cache were sealed 2 April. The contents of the mine were inspected on 27 April 1945, by a detail from the 350th Ordnance Depot Co, consisting, of M/Sgt. Louis C. Travers, T/4th Robert G. Townsend, Pfc Iso J. Hache, T/5th Edward Traper, T/4th Henry A. Ernst, T/4th Nagee, and Sgt. Lyle Krueger (of the 232nd Ord. Serv. Bomb Disposal Platoon on detached service with the afore mentioned organization). The non observed a masonny wall built into the side of the main corridor about 500 meters from the elevator shaft. Noticing that the mortar was still fresh, they made an opening and after tunnelling through masonry and rubble to a depth of more than five feet, uncovered, at 1630 hrs, a frame latticed door padlocked on the opposite side. Breaking through this they entered a room divided by partitions into a series of compartements, filled with paintings, books and tapestries, and hung with brilliant banners. The contents were grouped around four caskets, one of which had been decorated with a wreath and red silk ribbons bearing the Nazi symbols and the name ADOLPH HITLER. Posting the other men as guard, Sgt. Travers returned at once to the Company CP at Altmarchen, some 8O miles distant, and reported the find to Captain Greenspan. The following day between 1000 hours and 1430 hours Captain Greenspan and the men inspected the contents of the depository. Among the objects which came to light were a richly jewelled sceptor and orb, two crowns and two swords with finely wrought gold and silver scabbards. Taking the scepter and orb with him to First Army Headquarters, Captain Greenspan reported the find that evening to the Chief of Staff. The following morning, 29 April the MFA&A A Specialist Officer, First U.S. Army inspected the depository.
3. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITORY.
The room is a rectangle, 45 feet by 17 feet, parallel to the main corridor and separated from it by 15 feet of rock and masonry. Brick partitions, each extanding 6 1/2 feet into the room, divide both sides into five bays, leaving a passage-way between then about 4 feet wide. The end bays each have an additional depth of 9 feet on the side nearest the main corridor from which they were separated by a wooden door and 5 1/2 feet of rubble and masonry. Entrance was gained through the door farthest from the elevator shaft. The ceiling over the aisle between the six central bays or compartments is 11 feet high. The partitions are solid brick, covered with cement, to a height of six feet. Above this level the bricks were laid with spaces between the ends.
4. CONTENTS.
(a) Caskets: In each of the three central bays on the side nearest the main corridor was a wooden casket placed paralled with the partitions. In the fourth bay on the opposite side a metal casket, larger than the others, lay perpindicular to the partitions. To the cover of each a paper label had been fastened with scotch tape. In the order in which they were approached these read: Feldmarshall von Hindenburg; Frau von Hindenburg; Friedrich Wilhelm I der Soldaten König; Friedrich der Grosse. The names were hastily written in reddish crayon and two of the labels had become loosened. The wreath mentioned above lay on the casket of Friedrich Wilhelm I, a ribbon bearing the words DER KOMMANDATUR, POTSDAM, being near the coffin of Frau Hindenburg.
(b) Banners: Regimental banners were hangig above the coffins, the ends of the staffs resting in the spaces between the bricks of the partitions. The end bay opposite the entrance room was nearly filled with banners hanging unfurled from specially built racks. Still others were stacked beside the casket of Frederick the Great. There were 225 banners in all, both painted and embroidered, dating from the early Prussian wars and including many of the war of 1914-1918. Many of the older ones are torn and mounted upon notting.
(c) Books, China, Textiles: The bays opposite those containing the Hindenburg caskets were filled with cases of books. Other books with the stamp of the Crown Prince's Library, and some China were found in boxes in the end bay. A large heap of tapestrics, altar cloths, etc. lay damp and unwrapped by the door. Leather cases for the banners were piled alongside. There were 65 boxes not counting the Hohenzollern treasure described below. The textilos,when later packed for evacuation made 40 bundles. Two late 18th Century decorative marble busts stood in the central bay on the left.
(d) Pictures: In the entrance room and in every available space along walls and partitions were stached pictures, for the most part unframed and unwrapped. These numbered 271 in all. A large, proportion were 18th Century court portraits and palace paintings apparently from Sanssouci at Potsdam. These were also a number of important works from other proverances. Part of an exhibition of the works of Lukas Cranach (assembled in 1937 in Berlin) was discovered. This included the Adam and Eve from the Uffizi Palace in Florence, a serios of nine panels of the Passion of Christ, a Crucifixion and several portraits. Among the other paintings noted were Boucher's Venus and Adonis, Watteau's Departure for Orthera, Chardin's Femme Cachetant une lettre and La Cuisiniere. There were three or more paintings by Lameret and a large painting of an Armada by von de Velde or a follower. Many scretches and scars were noted, apparently the result of hasty or unskilled handling when the pictures were brought in.
(e) Photographs: A small metal box found near the casket of Frederick the Great contained 24 photographs in color (with copies in black and white) of portraits of Field Marshalls fron the Kriegschule in Potsdam. During their inspection the men had opened this box but the contents were left undisturbed.
(f) Hohenzollern Museum. Treasures. The boxes in which the scepter and orb had been found bolonged to a series of three fron the Hohenzollern Museum in Berlin. They contained the following objects, identified by cards:
1. Crowns for the King and Queen. Made for the coronation of Frederick I and Sophie Charlotte in 1701. The jewels are missing, according to the card, having been sold.
2. The orb or “Reichsapfel”, 1701, in a tooled leather case.
3. The Scepter, 1701, in a tooled leather case.
4. The Great Seal showing King Frederick I on the throne. Made, like all the above mentioned, for the coronation in 1701.
5. A silver and gold box for the seal, 19th Century, by Hubert and Son, Berlin.
6. The Helmet (Totenhelm) over life size. First used in the funeral of the Great Kurfürst in 1638.
7. Sword (Der Reichsschwert) made for Prince Albrecht of Prussia (1540-41) by Jobst Freudner.
8. Sword (The Kurschwert) Given to the Kurfürst Albrecht Achilles in 1460 by Pope Pius II in Mantua, altered in 1540 by order of Joachim II.
5. EVACUATION. Because of the precarious conditions at the depository, the Chief of Staff directed that it should be evacuated.
At the request of the MDFA&A Officer 1st US Army, Lt. George Stout, USMR, MFA&A Officer, 12th Army Group, arrived, 30 April to take part in the work. These Officers went directly to the nine. The following day the MFA&A Officer, First U.S. Army, returned to headquarters with the three boxes from the Hohenzollern Museum. On the morning of 2 May they were opened and contents inspected in the office of the Chief of Staff. The Scepter and Orb were replaced in the boxes from which they had been taken and all three boxes repacked for shipment to Frankfurt. The convoy left Headquarters with escort at 1200 hours and arrived at the Reichsbank, Frankfurt at 1630 hours. Another thorough inspection was made of the objects which were found to have suffered no damage in transit from the nine. The boxes were repacked and deposited in the bank. An itemized receipt was given by Lt. Col. Henry D. Cragan., F.D. Lt. Stephen Kovalyek and Lt. Ray A. Powers, were detailed to assist in the evacuation of the depository and officiently attended to many of the details. Power at the mine was intermittent and the lighting insufficient. A detail from the 3052nd Engineer Combat Bn. under Capt. Horney installed a generator and lights, and remained to help with the packing and moving. With the men of the 350th Ord. Depot Co. they were organized into two shifts working daily from 0800 hours to 2200 hours. Fourteen French laborers were engaged to help in moving the objects from the depository to the elevator shaft. The elevators were operated by two German crews of three each. Packing materials were improvised from German military stores found on the premises. The enlisted men quickly learned the methods of packing and worked in three teams at the entrance of the depository. Each object was checked as it left the depository, at the top of the shaft (note being made of the time hoisted), when loaded into the trucks and when delivered at the destination. The last to be hoisted was the casket of Frederick the Great which weighed at least 1200 pounds and filled the elevator, with not a half inch to spare.
The caskets were wrapped with heavy carpet to facilitate handling and conceal their identity. The Engineers contrived the means of hoisting the caskets as well as some of the pictures which were too large to fit into the elevator. A convoy of 8 trucks from the 413st Truck Co. in Charge of 1st Lt. Schoenbeck left Bernterode 9 May, 0730 hours and arrived at Marburg at 1400 hours. The detail of the 172nd Field Artillery Bn. which was to have escorted the convoy did not appear. All objects arrived undamaged at the destination.
6. DISPOSITION OF OBJECTS
The four caskets were deposited in a room on the ground floor of the castle at Marburg. All other objects were delivered to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Marburg. Receipt for these delivered at the museum was signed by Dr. von Herhart. Unloading was done by a detail of the 3rd Replacement Depot.
7. DEPOSITORY OF ARCHIVES
In the same mine a depository of archives was discovered some distance farther down the main corridor. The records are in two rooms, one about 40 feet by 150 feet; the other about 40 feet square. In the first are 40 cases of city plans and 100 running feet of open shelves in 2 or 5 tiers, filled with real estate surveys, The second room contains 9 stacks, each the length of the room and about 6 feet high. The records have labelled with the names of many communities, apparently limited to no specific area. Among the more important cities and towns noted are: Marburg, Wiemar, Nordhausen, Kassel, Kirchhain, Breitenbad, Naumburg, Melsungen, Heinfeld, Hersfeld, Homburg, Korbach, Fulda, Witzenahausen, Fritzlar, Frankenburg, and Eschwege.
8. REMARKS
The nature and arrangement of the depository which has been evacuated lead to the conclusion that it was planned to perpetuate the tradition of German military glory. It was given the aspect of a decorated shrine by the use of the banners. The paintings were apparently brought in as an afterthought. It is suggested that the removal from Germany of these banners might be considered. It is further suggested that the detail of the 350th Ordnance Depot Co. which made the discovery be commended for their proper action in reporting the find and helping in its evacuation.
WALKER HANCOCK,
MFA&A Specialist Officer.
Frank B. hat geschrieben:Im Herbst 1944 wurden 200 Stahlfässer mit „Z-Stoff“ in die Martha-Strecke auf der 540-m-Sohle des Bernteröder Kaliwerkes eingelagert. Dabei handelte es sich um flüssiges Natriumpermanganat (NaMnO4), das in der Raketentechnik als Starthilfsstoff Anwendung fand. Dieser „Z-Stoff“ wurde in Bernterode vermutlich wegen der Nähe zu den geplanten V2-Abschußrampen in Keula und Hüpstedt vorgehalten.
bobo hat geschrieben:Frage doch mal bei Krut Hänsel an - der müßte meines Wissens nach was darüber haben.
mece hat geschrieben:Wer ist das denn ?
Mercedes-Diesel hat geschrieben:Kurt Hänsel ist Historiker und Schriftsteller aus Erfurt.
Mercedes-Diesel hat geschrieben:mece hat geschrieben:Wer ist das denn ?
Kurt Hänsel ist Historiker und Schriftsteller aus Erfurt.
Volwo hat geschrieben:Nein - hat er nicht - und bevor unser bobo den mece völlig verwirrt:
er ist Bernsteinzimmer-Experte und war zu DDR-Zeiten Kulturgutforscher,
kann sein dass er da was über V2´s weiß, wer weiß? Ist aber eher nicht sein Gebiet.
Kurt / Conny schreibt schon lange nicht mehr hier bei uns,
aktuell schreibt er bei explorate seit heute morgen um 5 Uhr wieder nach 7 Wochen Totalabstinenz sehr oft und grantig wie immer seine Kommentare.
was ist aus den ganzen Raketen geworden
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