Jüterbog military training area

​​ 1. General information

In 1860 a start was made to acquire areas for a shooting range and practice area. First, 249 acres on the side of Chaussee Jüterbog-Treuenbrietzen were acquired by the military treasury. In the next few years, the space was constantly enlarged through acquisitions of further lands in the villages of Bardnitz, Klausdorf, Niedergörsdorf, Pechüle and Zinna, as well as the town of Jüterbog. The first buildings were probably erected in 1864. During the war against France in the autumn of 1870 around 9,000 French prisoners came to a barrack camp to expand the area. Many French died in Jüterbog and were buried there. This first shooting range was given the nickname Old Camp at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1889 it was decided to build a second firing range to separate the field and foot artillery. In addition, the military treasury bought 1,629 hectares south of the previous shooting range for a barrack camp II. This was later given the nickname New Camp. By 1914, the military training area had grown to around 5,000 hectares. After Jüterbog came the shooting schools for field and foot artillery and with Jüterbog II a new, purely military district was created. Shortly before the First World War, new barracks for the foot artillery school were built on the Fuchsberge. Even during the war, the square continued to grow. After the First World War, the military training area was retained as an artillery firing range. At the end of the war, a military hospital was set up in the new Fuchsberg barracks. After the war, the barracks degenerated into a shelter for the homeless. From 1930 the number of exercises on the military training area increased steadily. In 1933, a Niedergörsdorf air base, an air force equipment office and an aviation technology school were built in the old camp. The Adolf Hitler Camp, which was also known as Camp III, or Forest Camp, was set up in the Zinna Forest at the beginning of the 1930s. The camp was set up between the Jüterbog-Luckenwalde road and the same railway line. In 1934 Jüterbog was the largest military training area in Germany. Now the military training area was expanded again. The villages of Zinna, Mehlsdorf and Felgentreu had to be completely abandoned by their residents. After the expansion, the military training area covered more than 11,000 hectares. The infrastructure was also expanded. In 1937 the forest camp received its own train station and a larger provisions store. It also kept growing. In 1939, a small train was also started to be laid over the military training area, but this was no longer carried out because of the war. The artillery school in Camp Jüterbog 2 became the birthplace of new branches of weapon such as assault artillery. In 1945 the infantry division Friedrich-Ludwig Jahn was set up in the Fuchsberg barracks and the Adolf Hitler camp. The barracks were also affected by a bombing raid on April 18, 1945. All camps were taken over by the Red Army after the war. From 1945 to 1994, Jüterbog was the Soviet Union's most important military base in Germany. Their strength is estimated at around 40,000 men - with around 15,000 Jüterbog residents at the same time! Because the old German military infrastructure was no longer sufficient, there was another military training area, various barracks, houses, garages, tank farms and many command bunkers  added. After the GSSD withdrew, the area was no longer used for military purposes.