Bunker visit (Diogenes) - Aircraft of World War II

Marcel · 10-26-2009, 06:12 PM

:Last weekend I visited this bunker, the Diogenes bunker at Deelen, which was the main command center of the German nightfighters over North-west Europe. I thought you might like some pics

B-17engineer · 10-26-2009, 07:16 PM

How'd I miss this? Awesome!!!!

RabidAlien · 10-26-2009, 08:44 PM

Gnomey · 10-26-2009, 08:46 PM

Excellent stuff Marcel. I'm sure you have some more to share as well

vikingBerserker · 10-26-2009, 09:06 PM

Very cool!!!

Vassili Zaitzev · 10-26-2009, 10:41 PM

Awesome Marcel!

Maximowitz · 10-26-2009, 11:09 PM

Fantastic!

Njaco · 10-26-2009, 11:35 PM

Great pics Marcel!

Aaron Brooks Wolters · 10-26-2009, 11:53 PM

Wow Marcel!!! Great material and shots!

Marcel · 10-27-2009, 05:25 PM

Thanks guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnomey

Excellent stuff Marcel. I'm sure you have some more to share as well

Of course I have but not that much. It's very difficult to get good pictures in those corridors within the bunker. In fact there's not much left of the interior. During Market Garden, the Germans panicked (Deelen is just a few miles from Arnhem). They tried to blow up the bunker by detonating 2 1500 pounders in the great hall. Unfortunately the building was too well build and hardly suffered any structural damage. The interior however was smashed to smithereens. This included a 15m by 9m big glass panel containing the map of Europe. After the war, the Dutch bomb squad used it for storage of unexploded bombs which they found on the Deelen aerodrome. In 1948 the bunker survived an explosion of a 5000 poind tallboy bomb without any significant damage.
Most of the bunker is now used to store the Rijks-archief. The great hall is divided by floors and now functions as a depot for the Arnhem's museum. We could not visit that unfortunately. So most of the bunker is now clean and white, with metres of bookshelves, containing boxes with papers, not very interesting at all. Few things remain, like the diesel generator you see in the pictures in my earlier post. It was covered by debris for 60 years and recently re-discovered. They also re-discovered the warning "Rauchen bei fliegeralarm verboten" (Don't smoke during air-raids) and several escape routes (like the one below. All discovered within the last few years.

Marcel · 10-27-2009, 05:29 PM

Some more pics...

Messy1 · 10-27-2009, 05:33 PM

Cool stuff Marcel. Thanks for posting.

BikerBabe · 10-27-2009, 05:39 PM

Neat stuff and cool pics. Thanks for sharing.

Wayne Little · 10-28-2009, 07:02 AM

Thanks for sharing Marcel!!

109ROAMING · 10-28-2009, 09:29 AM

Thanks for posting these Marcel , most interesting to see

10-26-2009, 07:16 PM	#2
B-17engineer Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 5,682	How'd I miss this? Awesome!!!! __________________ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe36UMRkRbk

10-26-2009, 08:44 PM	#3
RabidAlien Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Hurst, Texas Posts: 2,825	__________________ Pillage, then burn. Argue not with dragons, for thou art crunchy and go well on toast.

10-26-2009, 08:46 PM	#4
Gnomey "World Traveller" Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Royal Deeside/St Andrews, Scotland, UK Posts: 15,218	Excellent stuff Marcel. I'm sure you have some more to share as well __________________ "Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts" Sir Winston Churchill "To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today" Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London WW2 Talk: A WW2 Discussion Forum My Photo Collections on Flickr

10-26-2009, 09:06 PM	#5
vikingBerserker Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: South Carolina Posts: 3,732	Very cool!!! __________________ "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it" "Those who dwell in the past, condemn the future"

10-26-2009, 10:41 PM	#6
Vassili Zaitzev Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stafford Springs, Connecticut Posts: 2,221	Awesome Marcel! __________________ "Never was so much owed by so many to so few"- Winston Churchill.

10-26-2009, 11:09 PM	#7
Maximowitz Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: London, England. Posts: 839	Fantastic! __________________

10-26-2009, 11:35 PM	#8
Njaco The Pop-Tart Whisperer Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: South Jersey, United States Posts: 10,228	Great pics Marcel! __________________ "If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it's English, thank a soldier!" http://www.njcacoa.org/

10-26-2009, 11:53 PM	#9
Aaron Brooks Wolters Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Abingdon, VA. Posts: 2,287	Wow Marcel!!! Great material and shots! __________________

10-27-2009, 05:33 PM	#12
Messy1 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Ankeny, Iowa Posts: 1,411	Cool stuff Marcel. Thanks for posting. __________________ Bryon O P-61 Black Widow-Mistress of the Night! "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." George S. Patton "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government." "Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away."

10-27-2009, 05:39 PM	#13
BikerBabe Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Denmark. Posts: 962	Neat stuff and cool pics. Thanks for sharing. __________________ Kein Anderer als ein Jäger spürt - Den Kampf und Sieg so konzentriert, Das macht uns glücklich, stolz und froh - Der Jägerei ein Horrido! "

10-28-2009, 07:02 AM	#14
Wayne Little Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Adelaide Sth. Aust. Posts: 12,511	Thanks for sharing Marcel!! __________________

10-28-2009, 09:29 AM	#15
109ROAMING Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 4,994	Thanks for posting these Marcel , most interesting to see __________________ "When all else fails read the manual"

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