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2012 Sharkhunters "Patrol"
in Berlin, Germany!

1 through 8 September 2012

Berlin is a great cosmopolitan city and filled with history - and we are here again!  We have prepared quite a tour.  Here are just some of the highlights of this EIGHT DAY "Patrol"

We visit many places - some are really OFF LIMITS..........but not to Sharkhunters.

 

In this mansion in Berlin, Jodl and Keitel thought they were signing the unconditional surrender of Germany and all German forces.  They were unaware they were also signing their own death warrants along with those of so many German military men.  It is now a museum and we are there.


Just outside the city of Berlin.............
KORALLE

 

After the Allied landing at Normandy and their push across France, the U-Boat bases on the Brittany coast were all overrun.  The flotillas themselves moved to Norway while the OKM (Ober Kommando der Marine or Naval High Command) moved to facilities near Berlin.  It was in this top secret compound where Großadmiral Karl Dönitz and his staff controlled the Kriegsmarine.  It was code-named "Koralle" (it means 'Coral') with false houses and four man-made lakes so that from the air, it appeared to be a simple farm with no strategic value for the bombers.

It was intact when Germany surrendered and the Soviet Union took control of this area.  When the Soviet Union pulled out of what was then East Germany, in an agreement with the West, they blew up this bunker compound.


the KAISER'S ESTATE

 
     
 
     
 
We are pretty sure that this means;
"Sharkhunters Welcome Here!"		   The swimming pool, now abandoned, was part of the
recreation and physical training.  It now sits abandoned.

Around the turn of the last century the Kaiser built this magnificent, massive estate which became the home for his cavalry regiments.  In World War Two, the 5th Panzerregiment was housed here.  At the end of the war, the Soviet Union had control of the place.  The Soviets did nothing to maintain this estate and with the fall of the Soviet Union and the evaporation of East Germany, the estate has been allowed to deteriorate at an ever increasing speed.  We spend a great deal of time in this estate - walking in the footsteps of history.


BOGENSEE!

 
     
 

BOGENSEE........the Third Reich built a nice home for Dr. Josef Goebbels outside Berlin so he could get away from the hectic pace of city life, but it was not enough for him - he wanted bigger and better, and so he had the house at Bogensee built for himself and his family.  As he was also in charge of the film industry, many of the aspiring starlets visited him, especially when his wife was not there, for their turn on the 'casting couch'.  German film beauty Lida Barova had such a torrid affair with him that her fiancé broke off their engagement. 
     Whereas Adolf Hitler had one large window that completely retracted, Goebbels had TWO windows that retracted (upper right) to let in fresh air AND to allow people to walk in and out to the patio.  When we were there a couple years ago, these windows still operated perfectly.  The huge coolers for vegetables and meat in the cellar still operate and once past the working areas of the cellar, we see the entrance (lower left)  to Goebbels' bunker and tunnel complex.  Like everything else that had been under Soviet control, this estate is falling into disrepair.  About three years ago, the German Government was going to offer to sell this estate to the highest bidder - then quickly changed their minds because they were afraid that some wealthy neo-Nazi might buy the place and hold meetings there.

 
OKW Headquarters - and Operation VALKYRIE

 
One of the six hardened buildings   Into the 90 meter deep tunnel system
     
 

When the Soviet forces left, they abandoned a great deal of
books, blueprints and anything else they couldn't carry
Deep, deep underground    

OKW HEADQUARTERS - OKW was the Ober Kommando der Wehrmacht or the High Command of the entire German military and here they had a command complex with six hardened buildings that were made to look like suburban houses from the air, and with a massive tunnel complex below.  Operation VALKYRIE, the planned assassination of Adolf Hitler, was plotted in one of these six buildings.  With the end of the war, the Soviet Union took control of this area and as with all other hardened sites, they blew up these six houses when they left.


More Historic Places

 
     
 
It says Panzer Regiment 5; Wunsdorf   Horse stables under the Kaiser in WW I;
Tank facilities of the 5th Panzers in WW II

The odd shaped structure (upper left and right) was an air raid shelter and while all but this one were destroyed by the Soviets when they departed this area, this one still stands and we go inside.  Some of these former stables; former tank facilities - are now museums of everything from weapons to motorcycles over the decades.


Back in Berlin


Getting our passports 'stamped' at Checkpoint Charlie by some beautiful German
girls in American uniforms  Sounds like the beginning of a spy movie.		  
     
 
     
 

Deep beneath the busy streets of Berlin

  

in the air raid bunkers
     
 

High in the Berlin sky atop a giant flak bunker

  

then deep, deep into the insides of the flak bunker

In this Flakturm (Flak Tower( there were mounts for the famed 88mm anti-aircraft guns, 3.7cm and even 2.0cm automatic guns.  This must have been an impressive wall of fire when it was in full operation.
 

Send an email to us at sharkhunters@earthlink.net
with your name and address and we will mail the
brochure to you.  There is no cost or obligation

CLICK HERE to get an idea of what we did, where we went, what we experienced etc. on previous "Patrols".

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