Many years ago, after I was back in Texas, I was talking to a man who was in the Army at the time Germany was surrendering. He wasn't sure the town, but they had a secret airplane factory on the base they captured, and his best friend was snooping around when he set off a booby trap that killed him. He would discuss it no further and later on I put two and two together and came up with Goeppingen! He's dead now, so what knowledge he may have retained is now lost. I was wondering if anyone actually who might have been there at the time the doors were welded into place, actually knew what was behind them
Cooke Barracks was a Luftwaffe training base during the war. I talked to a former flight instructor,that came to GA week, he worked in hanger out by control tower. The fire dept. chief said there are underground hangers, accessible through HG. building. That was concreted over to prevent an accidental trip of booby traps.
The war I understand it is that there are tunnels running all over the place underground at Gurp. From the old Infantry Barracks, thru the Infantry Motor Pool, to Div HQ and the Hangers, up to the off post housing, all the way down to the place off post where we signed for our personal gear, TIF I think it was called. Even to the O Club off post. I know in the old Infantry Motor Pool there was at least one entrance. We tried on more than one occasion to get in there with no luck.
I heard the airfield story too. I heard that it was one of the last operational fields in Southern Germany at the end of the war, and was found by a recon plane because there was a cow standing out in the middle of this huge lake. That is how they figured out where the fighters were flying out of.
But if that is true, that is one heck of a lot of water to store until needed. But it makes a good story.
The main door I remember sealed was in the big hanger 144th Signal used in 1962 before they moved to the one they were using in 1964. How many entrances were there on post?
Rumor was aeroplane factory, hospital beds. But it would stand to reason since the Army posted a guard on the front gate, that was the only way they accepted traffic on or off the post. Booby traps or no booby traps, sealing the door (s) to the tunnels was only good security.
I've talked with one who was with the "liberators" and said office space, food, motorcycles, and all sorts of equipment was found in tunnels with rooms some of which ran as long as three miles.
I remember hearing about the tunnels when I was stationed there in 85-87. I worked in the A Co. 299th motor pool. They said there was a entrance in the corner of the motor pool which they closed in when they put that heater or vacuum unit in back in 86 I think. We were told there were 3 levels below that motor pool/hanger that they knew of. I was once on detail at the O club and one of the civilians told us some stories about the tunnels and that there once had been a book about that part of Gerp at the public library at one time. Apparently even Hitler had visited Gerp once. At least that is what she told us.
Was up at the hq building for some reason or another and was fasinated by all of the photographs there. Running along the wall of the main corridor were shots of gurp when the germans were constructing the base... between the location of the hq building and the csc/hq 1/26 building down by the rifle range was a ravine type landscape and well about 4 stories in height difference. where the nco club and movie theater stood, all the way to the hq building was right on top of it all. the germans had eventually dug into the side of the hill, laid foundations, constructed their facilities from there up and then just covered it all up as to what goeppingen looked like when we were there. From the battalion motor pool(csc 1/26) all the way up to the hangers was one big complex... from the photos at least 4 or more stories high and that little creek running in front of the post (by the front gate) was actually about first floor level.
My dad was stationed there from 77-80. I remember there being tunnels there. The ones I knew of where between the off base housing and the base. If my memory serves me correctly, if you were heading into the base they were on the left hand side of the road just before you got to the base in a small wooded area. My older brother and his friends would crawl into them all the time. He actually has small pieces of plates that he found in one of the tunnels. I think at the time there were steal bars over the small tunnels. They ended up getting caught by the MP's and I think they put solid steal plates over the tunnels.
Hey There! I talked to a old man he was Stationed in Göppingen in 1935 he was a fighter pilot he is now 91!I told him about this tread!He told me that there where no Tunnels but they had a factory in the upper small hangar close to the tower.They had engine parts and plane equipment in it.He also told me that when they had a Air Raid they flooded the Air Field so it Looked like a Lake from high above!He also told me about the Big Eagle buried in the Woods close to the range!For my self i can say that this keeps me searching!I check the hangars for doors and stairs .Non but in the small hangar you can see a old door frame in the con creed wall!Best to you!! Ralf out
I have been in one of the tunnels and there is no doubt about their existence!I had a Sergeant visiting me almost daily in the Photolab developing pictures around 1978-82. He loved it and he chose it as his hobby. He became good at it and they made him the company photographer. To be independent of my opening hours they installed him a tiny developing room for film developing and printing b&w prints for Army purposes. This room was in the basement of the end of building 161 up the road to the Ware Circle where the officers had their houses. The building was used at the time temporarily as Library and Ceramic Craft Shop and was on the right side of the road going uphill. In this basement he also had a bed to sleep when he processed film at night. In this room he showed me the entrance of one of the tunnels. It was an opening into the wall in the size of about 60 cm square. We crawled inside with a torch but turned back after about 15 meters because it was dark, dirty and dusty and there was no end in sight. I think I remember red brick walls, not concrete. I think there are no “real secrets” about them. My own theory is that they were getaways to the airfield for officers or bunkers for explosives in case they needed to blow up the airfield for an enemy. If you want to see the building I am telling about, go to the photo album Horst Mueller – MSA, which stands for Morale Support Activities. There is the entrance shown to the temporary Library. I heard there is a book in preparation about the history of the former Kaserne and I let you all know more about it as soon as it appears. Also check out the 5 historic shots now posted in the album Horst Mueller – Diverse ohne Thema.
