Last week i visited the Siegfried Line together with a friend.
We took the metaldetectors with us in the hope to find some relics, unfortunately we did not find any, but we had a good time with nice weather.
We found several demolished bunkers and some anti-tank barriers.
Also we came across a abandoned military base / camp.
We took some pictures of the buildings including a church.
Later on the internet i found out the camp is called Astra, but i coulden't find any other info!



Bunker wich original camo:









Camp Astra:













A WWII relic (we left it where we found it):





Bunker hill:





Anti-tank wall:

Nice pics, as always mate, I am surprised that they left the dragons teeth there.

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They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget

Yes, excellent as always, Aru!

The dragon's teeth were especially cool

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"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." - Cicero

Nice pictures! Funny how nature always has a way to reclaim lost territory.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Nice ones Edwin.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Nice pictures, I'm surprised some wooden buildings seem to be in a relative good shape. Were thye used up to recently? It's a shame they are vandalized now. The dragon teeth are cool.

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Well, ya have to think, in order for them to actually stop tanks, they probably had to be pretty heavy, and are more than likely firmly settled into the ground, so the cost of removing them probably stymies any effort to remove them.

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"One asks oneself; Why not me?
But a bullet does not ask about me or you"

~Leutenant Alfred Regeniter, 3rd Battery, Sturmgeschutz, Brigade 276, holder of the Knights Cross

Fantastic shots Edwin!
I am fascinated by the Dragons teeth; One of these days I am going to get over there to see then in person.

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"One asks oneself; Why not me?
But a bullet does not ask about me or you"

~Leutenant Alfred Regeniter, 3rd Battery, Sturmgeschutz, Brigade 276, holder of the Knights Cross

Hey Ed!

Those are great pics! That wooden structure reminds me of my first house, which was a Captains quarters from Ft Sheridan, IL. All great pics!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

Thanks to you all!

I do not know when this base was abandoned, i could not find any info on the internet, but i think it must be a couple of years back!
I think it's also used by the Dutch army, some signs on the buildings are written in Dutch.

Obviously they are heavy, what are about cranes, bull dozers, or earth movers.

So you are saying that they could afford to clean up the entire of europe, including military wreckages, wrecked cities, Rural areas, as well as the many bunkers, mines, barbed wire, trenches and other defenses, they couldn't afford to move these dragon teeth, I doubt that.

I would say the reason that they are there are the probably the same reason the Normandy defenses are still there, although I am surprised that there are so many left.

__________________
They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget

Excellent photos - many thanks for posting them !

Often the only way to effectively demolish reinforced concrete structures is to use explosives - which is expensive. So demolition comes down to cost/benefit. That's why so many old airfields in the UK were left relatively untouched for many years until the UK roadbuilding programme created a boom market in 'hardcore' - then it became worthwhile financially to demolish the runways.

In remote, forested areas it's just not worth someone's while to go to the effort and expense. Luckily for us, for only now is the historical value of these relics being recognized.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

It would be interesting to find when the Dutch used this area after the war. I know they got some small war compensation territories that were bought back by Germany in the sixites. I wonder if these building were part of that agreement.

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I love this shot.
It's almost like a piece of modern art.
Thanks for the photos .

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You know, you are a little bit right about this, and not to be rude, but who do you think cleaned all that up? Things got cleaned up where people lived becaue they needed it to be so, to avoid disease not because it was unsightly. Moreover, noone had the money to pay for this clean up operation at the time, so I kind of doubt that dragons teeth out in the countryside were a high priority. I mean, I have pictures of my Dad sitting at a Cafe in Dresden, with a 3 story high pile of war rubble behind him, and that was taken in 1957! So why would we waste money, man hours and power to get rid of over 392 miles (630 km) worth of bunkers, machine gun nests and dragons teeth in the rural parts of Germany? the only reason any of these were ever removed was so our tanks could plow on through.

Now in 1997 the project known as "Der Denkmalswert des Unerfreulichen" was started (it means "The value of the unpleasant as a memorial"), but that was only 10 years ago.

The rest of this is all from Wikipedia, but I thought I'd include it for everyones pleasure.

"The unpleasant as a memorial"

In North Rhine Westphalia, about 30 bunkers still remain intact; most of the rest were either destroyed with explosives or covered with earth. The tank traps still exist to a large extent; in the Eifel, for example, they run over several kilometres, giving an impression of what was probably the greatest Nazi propaganda success.
Since 1997, with the motto "The value of the unpleasant as a memorial" (Der Denkmalswert des Unerfreulichen), an effort was begun to put a preservation order on the remains of the Siegfried Line as a historical monument. This was intended to stop propagandistic use of the Siegfried Line by radical right-wing groups. The idea was furthermore to take away the myth of the line's impermeability: if it is a memorial everyone interested will be able to visit it and judge matters for themselves.
At the same time, state funding was still being provided to destroy the remains of the Siegfried Line. For this reason, emergency archaeological digs took place whenever any part of the line was removed, for example for road building. The archaeological activity was not able to stop the destruction of these sections but furthered scientific knowledge and revealed details of the line's construction. It is still a very controversial question whether or not it is justifiable to preserve these military structures – similar to the Roman Limes – given that they were built by the Nazis.

Nature conservation at the Siegfried Line

Nature conservationists consider the remains of the Siegfried Line valuable as a chain of biotopes where, thanks to its size, rare animals and plants can take refuge and reproduce. This effect is magnified because the concrete ruins can not be used for farming or forestry purposes.

Trivia

Billy Joel wrote a song called The Siegfried Line as a demo in the 1970's, but it was only recently released, as part of his My Lives album. The song describes the period during the so-called Phony War, where neither side attacked the other.

All the guns are silent on the Western wall
And we clean the rifles that we never use at all
And we're writing letters just to pass the time
And the days go by on the Siegfried Line.

Oh they say the English have given up the war
And we've heard the Russians won't last through '44
But a long-time soldier has an open mind
And a man grows old on the Siegfried Line.

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"One asks oneself; Why not me?
But a bullet does not ask about me or you"

~Leutenant Alfred Regeniter, 3rd Battery, Sturmgeschutz, Brigade 276, holder of the Knights Cross

That could be possible, but i'm not sure!

I know that the US army blew up most of the German bunkers during the war because they where affraid they could be used again by the Germans for defense should they ever recover some terrain on them.
These dragon teeth where of no treath, so they where left unharmed.
After the war the buildup of Germany began, and that was the main priority.

Do you know I can't see any washing lines.

YouTube - (We're gonna hang out)The washing on the Siegfried line

Can you give GoogleEarth co-ords?
I'd link to see if the dragon's teeth can be seen on GE.

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orsum pitchers there .ed.thanks for leting us seing them to see them in real life only a dream ... best krieg

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for thow . will be ours someday.we shall have it all
... und mear.......

Your welcome!