In and around Augsburg existed a number of other noteworthy facilities that marked the presence of the U.S. Forces for a long time. To conclude our photo series of real property and installations, we show a few of these facilities with short particulars. The last master plan of the USMCA Augsburg before base closure listed a total of 17 installations, including Biburg, Holzhausen, Derching and Lechfeld Training Areas.
1) Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ), Bldg 2027, Ulmer Straße 82-92, constructed 1936/37. There are 12 apartments on each floor. The building is still there.
2) Transient Billets (Augsburg Guest House), Bldg 53, Reinöhlstraße 74.
The Army used this former seat of the Wehrmachts Heeresbauleitung (army construction supervision) basically as transient billets for singles and families. Presently, the Augsburg division of the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (Federal Real Property Office) is located in the building.
Back side of Transient Billets with parking lot exit.
3) Augsburg American High School, (Bldg 591) at Bürgermeister-Ackermann-Straße.
(Today a support center for people with defective hearing).
4) Former coal fired heating plant, Cramerton East. (Closed).
5) Vehicle Park, southwest of Sheridan Kaserne, constructed 1955/56.
Official designations: Hardstand for 45 Combat Loaded Vehicles / Augsburg Ammo Vehicle Park (45.669 sq. yards). Officially closed on June 27, 1991. As far as we know, it was probably never used for its original purpose. Later it was a parking lot for empty fuel tankers.
On July 28, 2011, the former access road to the area was officially named “Am Vehicle-Park” per decision of Augsburg’s City Council. Towards south it is now leading to the City of Stadtbergen construction material warehouse.
East gate of Vehicle Park with nearby AFN-antenna.
6) AFN-Antenna near the perimeter of the Vehicle Park. Height: 56 m, weight: 6 metric tons. It was a relay station for AFN (American Forces Network) Munich, mediumwave 1484 KHz. (Demolished during a road construction project).
7) Ammo Depot Stettenhofen. This former Wehrmacht rifle range was used as an ammunition depot by the U.S. Army. An aerial photo, dated August 1963, shows a presumed nuclear weapons storage area at the entrance triangle. A special security area with two separate chain-link fences, embankments and watchtowers indicate that this was not a location for the storage of conventional weapons. Also, the area was illuminated at night and guarded around the clock.
It was, however, never confirmed that there actually had been a depot for nuclear weapons. Anyway, not all security construction details met the standards for such depots. Besides, Stettenhofen is not listed among the 160 former nuclear weapon(s) sites in West Germany. The activities must be seen in the Soviet pressure on Berlin and the Cuban missile crisis (1961/62) context. Obviously, the depot was mainly used by the 24th Infantry Division with its tank battalion that was stationed at nearby Gablingen. The German Bundeswehr later used the major part of the forest located ammo depot area via separate accesses. (Used no longer).
Airborne Sergeant at Stettenhofen Ammo Depot in 1957 (Photo: private).
Special security area with double fence. At right one of the embankments.
View from the interior towards the main gate. Embankment at right.
A remaining watchtower overpowered by nature.
Typical ammo storage hut in the forest area, cultivated around 1950.
8) Radio Relay Facility Bonstetten at Augsburg’s Westliche Wälder (forest). An identical antenna tower was located at Reese Barracks. Bonstetten served as a relay between Hohenstadt / Schwäbische Alb, and Reese Barracks, Augsburg. It was also called U.S. La Faire Vite Radio Relay Facility Bonstetten. (Demolished).
In the 1980s, the Bonstetten antenna tower was safeguarded with two separate chain-link fences like the tower at Reese Barracks.
9) EES Snack Bar & Service Station at the Autobahn junction Augsburg East. The long main building (resting place) was constructed at the same time as the Reichsautobahn (finished 1938). The U.S. drawing is dated February 1966, and shows the U.S. annexes to the Service Station. A similar station was constructed at the Leipheim junction (both demolished). The photo below shows the Autobahn Service Station in the 1950s (due to the location of the access road, the POV is stopping against the Autobahn´s direction of travel and has to turn over for driving to Munich). Walter Elkins of usarmygermany kindly provided this photo which was only discovered 2018.
10) Augsburg Guest Houses at the southwest of Sheridan Kaserne.
One building with 4 floors (Bldg 184), and three buildings with 2 floors each (Bldgs 181-183) served visitors and dependents. The typical high standard of the rooms is shown below: bath rooms with carefully selected tiles and (safety) glass shower partitions, rooms with wall to wall carpet flooring and high quality furniture. The rooms were protected by smoke detectors. (No longer existing).
Translation: Heinz Strüber, June 7, 2012
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