Around Christmas I took a look at an exciting place of recent military history: the GS-31 or "Gefechtsstand 31" of the 1st LVD of the NVA. It was located in the woods west of Cottbus and was built underground between 1963 and 1967. 1/4

#milhist #coldwar

Above ground, it looks like an ordinary barrack. Under the ground, however, was a nuclear bunker for airspace surveillance of the southern GDR with a size of 42 by 18 meters. Particularly impressive is the huge piacrylic site map. 2/4

At the end of the 80s, a new building was started. To camouflage the construction, a warehouse was built above ground which still exists. However, the new bunker itself was no longer built. 3/4

At that time my father was chief of staff of the 1. LVD and he gave me insight into last service diary of 1990. Especially exciting is the note of 13 February 1990 on the "Rumors of takeovers by the West". However, the GS-31 was not taken over - it was closed in 1990. 4/4