Tunnel in Wolfenbuettel

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Northampton Barracks (" alte englische Kaserne ")

(move on to Northampton Bks, part II here)  part III   NEW:  B-SQN 2nd subfloor    Northampton Bks forum thread 

Before the Second World War some new barracks were built in 1936 by Wolfenbuettel at the forest edge in the northeast. It served as a flak garrison for the 36th flak-regiment and additional paratroopers for the "1st parachute infantry battalion" in Brunswick.

To war end the British Army took over the barracks and renamed it in "Northampton Barracks". Wolfenbuettels situation in the Zonenrandgebiet (~zone fringe range. This phrase was created in times of the cold war meaning the "DDR" being near by and with this the end of the western world) was presumably a main reason for the British Army selecting the former Wehrmacht (as in army of Nazideutschland) barracks as a location. Shortly after the "Wende" (DDR going down in 1989) the Britons left those barracks. Since then the former barracks ground is used in a civilian way. The ground "Am Exer" now mainly serves for the FH-Wolfenbuettel as technical college campus. The departments of computer science and supply technique, the college library and two dormitories, are on the campus. Meanwhile also many small firms as well as the Diakonie with youth welfare and employment promotion are settled there: to mention the bike workshop, the Cafe Limes, youth workshop, Move&Cargo, moebelkontor, only around some.

	The complete overview of oo the ground. Please pay attention to the pond on 2'o clock and its direction.
	1. A concrete base course, approx. 1,2 x 15m. There is supposed to lie a second one about 2 meters deeper next to that. This once was a stairs rise. When the English left the barracks in 1993, on 3 days of approx. in total 100 lorry loads (sand, etc.) were spilled in there.  2. The former "Officers-Casino". If there were emergency exits underground, then I would presume it was there. So The officers flee, while the rest is lost in battle... 3. Many small bunkers, arranged in a U-shaped way in the semicircle. Everyone with own ?Radio antenna/mast/pole?? What were those ones used for?
	The concrete base course (1). 52°10'48.19"N 10°33'36.06"E
	4. About there is supposed to have been a hospital beneath the lawn. 5. The prolongation of a street marked by Google-Earth, which DOES NOT EXIST. It encounters the street "Hasenwinkel" in the east and the concrete base course and in the west. A tip of third rank says that the tunnel led up to the Hasenwinkel. 6. Simple prolongation of the concrete base course for the better judgment of the geometrical situation.

Becourse of this document:

 http://www.bibliothek-saur.de/2002_1/035-037.pdf
(which basicly says that: -in the old officers-casino, -in the cellar it is pretty much easy to loose your orientation, because ist's quite a huge maze. AND there were said to be secret tunnels to exit the barracks with!) 

and with kind permission of the library management I was allowed to explore the basement (you get to a 2nd staircase which also leads to the roof). Here a few impressions:

Those bricked up windows are the ones, that formerly spent some light from the courtyard (now being the library's reading-room with glas-roof); those bricked up doors once led into the buildings north-west-wing. This is obviously shut due to diffrent ownership.
No signs of a tunnel access anywhere.
Behind the red wall, which is marked "GENTS", there is a very narrow passage. Without touching that wall one won't get in there. Since it also smells like "gents", I gave that one a miss. The uncertainty remains though, because it is also rock-bottom-dark in there. Maybe a camouflaged entrance? ;-)
There is a film clip of the cellar-runthrough  here . 

This is the basement from the neighbouring building:

"Militärischer Sicherheitsbereich" is it seems a studend joke.
What's behind those newer sandstone walls is unknown. We are still at research, following any hints. If ever I win the lotteries, that will be for equipment. For example is there someone in possess of a large technical drawing, which was made by the English. Negotiations about a scanning permission do run.... Also there are documents in the Brunswick building construction office that are still to be inspected. Few more cellars have to be sighted. In the nearby woods I already have spent hours searching for signs of an exit. Succsesslessly.

If you can contribute any information, please do use   one of the forums , the guestbook or use this email to contakt me:

Until then the ground still offers other interesting monuments Am Exer:

sample indications: