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 kilolima
Location: middle of the Pacific
Gender: Male
 |  |  | Festung Istein
< on 7/9/2012 2:55 AM >
|  | | | I wanted to share a bunker-spelunking trip to http://de.wikipedi...iki/Isteiner_Klotz. This was done a few years ago but I didn't see any mention of it on this forum.
The fortress was built near the SW corner of Germany along the Rhine and the French and Swiss borders before WWI. It was then blown up by the French after the war (who seem to make a habit of blowing up German fortifications, punks) and then partly rebuilt by Germany in the 1930s. And then blown up again after the next war!
The first time I went there it was mostly just to find what was left, and finally along the awesomely-named "Festungwaldweg" (Fortress Forest Road) many of the old casemates were visible. Not much was left except huge blocks of concrete scattered through the forest and some mostly collapsed underground galleries.
1. View from one of the casemates directly over the railway tunnel of the town of Istein.
2. Remnants of blown-up artillery block. There were semi-accessible spaces underneath most of the blocks probably with some entrances to the rest of the works.
3. Another one
4. Collapsed gallery tunnel, went back about 200ft.
After reading more about the site on a German Westwall exploring forum, I went back a few years later and found a hidden entrance that involved a bit of crawling along the ground and then led to what may have been one of the personnel entrances to the fortress. The forum site (can't remember which one) also mentioned that the festung had several km of tunnels, on multiple levels, but that recently railway tunnel construction may have disturbed some of the site. Also there was a local rumor that the tunnels were used for emergency medical storage. Another rumor was that some of the festung tunnels were accessible from the main train tunnel, but as that line sees traffic about once every 3 minutes, it didn't seem like a very safe entrance!
1. Entrance in an area closed off as some sort of bird sanctuary. Whatever.
2. Seems to be an actual moat with drawbridge over it into the fortress! Wild. Note tunnel zig and MG embrasure covering approach.
3. Looking back from other end of drawbridge.
4. Close-up of MG embrasure.
5. Tunnel
6. The end for us. Multi-level shaft with various tunnels going off in different directions...
7. There was a rope ladder, but without any climbing gear didn't think it was a great idea!
If anyone has been into this site or knows more about it I would love to hear it!
Cheers,
kilolima
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The FNG
  
Location: Lurking in the mountains
Gender: Male
Whoops, didn't see that on the way in.
| |  | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 1 on 7/9/2012 10:48 AM >
| | | | This is pretty kickass!
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Steed
      
Location: Edmonton/Seoul
Gender: Male
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Race Traitor
| | | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 2 on 7/9/2012 11:10 AM >
| | | | It is. I'll let you choose whether you want this thread moved to UE Photography or World.
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bornmilitia
Location: SoCal
Gender: Male
Never Be Found
| | | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 3 on 7/9/2012 11:53 AM >
| | | | Orbz.
"Happiness and sanity are an impossible combination." - Mark Twain
I have a thing for dusty old buildings. |
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unlighted-zero
Location: Hamilton, ON
Gender: Male
havin a time
| | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 4 on 7/9/2012 12:50 PM >
| | | | Awesome, wish you could have gotten farther. It's a shame that these things were blown up after wars. They would have made interesting pieces of history.
/flail it til ya nail it |
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The FNG
Location: Lurking in the mountains
Gender: Male
Whoops, didn't see that on the way in.
| | | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 5 on 7/9/2012 2:19 PM >
| | | | I'd say World would be the best place.
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kilolima
Location: middle of the Pacific
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 6 on 7/9/2012 9:29 PM >
| | | | Sorry for putting it in the wrong forum. Can a moderator move it please?
Somewhere out there I remember seeing a 3-D flythrough of the Istein tunnels done in some sort of caving mapping software. I'll see if I can find it. It looked massive.
I hope to go back to Germany soon, this time with some climbing gear/friends, so we'll see if we can get back to this place if the Germans haven't already destroyed it with their ongoing railway improvements.
There's a brief mention of the festung in Kaufman's "Fortress Third Reich". Also on the deutsch internet there's actually a lot of interest in West Wall structures, but these sites seem to be a little off the radar- not only is it UE but also German military history, god forbid! 
edit : Please move to whichever forum is more appropriate.
[last edit 7/10/2012 12:12 AM by kilolima - edited 1 times]
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Shawn W.
Location: Niagara Falls, NY
Gender: Male
Optimistic Pessimist
| | | | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 7 on 7/9/2012 9:53 PM >
| | | | Posted by kilolima
Sorry for putting it in the wrong forum. Can a moderator move it please? |
Um, you got an offer this morning from a mod to choose to which forum you want it moved.
That said, very nice find.
What is a rebel? A man who says no. - Albert Camus |
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ue20
Location: Ontario
Gender: Male
| | Re: Festung Istein
<Reply # 8 on 7/10/2012 11:06 PM >
| | | | This is really cool!
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