The time of the Imperial Navy (from 1892)

As early as 1892, the Imperial Navy used the Altenwalde Heath area in Prussian territory to carry out maneuvers for its own troops. However, planning already required additional land by the sea and in the mudflats for future expansions and tasks, which even then largely belonged to the city of Hamburg. The Imperial Navy Office planned to build another test site with an unrestricted field of fire towards the North Sea next to the existing firing range in Meppen. The decision was then made to build the Cuxhaven site with its heathland to the northwest and its sparse population. This is where the Altenwalde naval artillery firing range was built, with the Altenwalde firing base on the eastern edge of the area. From 1912 onwards, large-caliber naval guns began to be fired into the Wadden Sea, but only into the Prussian, western part. It was hoped that the Hamburg area around the island of Neuwerk could be used for weapons tests in the short term, but this turned out to be a lengthy process. After years of tough negotiations with the Senate, despite great concerns and the expected high level of noise pollution, it was finally agreed in the last quarter of 1918 that the Hamburg mudflats could also be used. However, the contract only allowed shots south and west of Neuwerk on a few days a month, and the Elbe fairway was not allowed to be hit. Approval for a firing lane across the Wernerwald was also approved, including all the necessary safety measures. The center of this test facility was primarily the area of the former Panzergrenadier Battalion 71/73 in what was later to become the Hinrich-Wilhelm-Kopf barracks (German Armed Forces, finally disbanded in 2014). A camp was already built here at that time with appropriate equipment for firing the cannons into the mudflats or at close-range targets (armor plates) for fire analysis. All calibers of the Imperial Navy of the time up to 30.5 cm were fired from there. From July 23, 1917, the long-range gun "Wilhelm", better known as the "Paris Gun" of the Krupp company, was also fired in Altenwalde. After the end of World War I, the firing range continued to exist for the Navy. In the period that followed, further land was purchased for possible future use in order to round off the overall concept of the area. This posed a problem, however, because the neighboring farmers were reluctant to purchase any more land. In the end, however, an agreement was reached. In the 1920s, guns for several units of the Imperial Navy were fired. The target area for heavy guns (38 cm) was in the "Jade Bay". During the same period, there was also a powder combustion facility for nitrocellulose powder at the site, which was in operation until 1922.

From 1932 onwards, the use of the firing base was significantly reduced due to Brüning's emergency decree and the associated austerity measures, and it was placed under the control of the Cuxhaven Artillery Arsenal. But in 1937 the facility was returned to the service of the Navy, which partly manufactured the ammunition for firing operations on site and carried out special tests. New developments in warships, railway guns, other artillery weapons, the various gun types and ammunition associated with them, also required a test field. The High Command of the Navy (OKM) was responsible for this. In addition to several other acceptance offices in the country, there was now also the Naval Acceptance and Firing Command Altenwalde on the firing range of the same name. In addition to general test firing with the various calibres, the corresponding ammunition was also certified here. The annual output in the test facility was up to 150,000 shots. There was a large firing rack for large ship guns, into which the barrels could be inserted. Among other things, the barrels of the two battleships Bismark and Tirpitz are said to have been fired here. Some of the test firing was carried out at very short distances, for which so-called firing positions were built on the site to represent the target. These were a large number of massive reinforced concrete blocks that were built in the northwest area of the firing base. The test field was surrounded by a bullet trap made of earth and sand that was several meters high. The aim here was to test the penetration power and effect of different types of ammunition. The practice ammunition used for direct fire was usually filled with tar. The area up to the mudflats was used as an impact area for medium firing distances. In the second half of the war, another field with firing positions was built west of the existing facility. The Altenwalde firing base was further expanded until 1940. According to their function, the buildings can be divided into the areas of "shooting and measuring operations", "shooting operation supply facilities", "general supplies" and "supply and disposal facilities". The buildings belonging to the "shooting operation" were: the main bedding in the northwest of the firing base, which consisted of a concrete foundation up to 6 m thick, around 30 m wide and around 35 m long. Directly next to this was a slotted bedding in which different types of guns could be swapped out relatively quickly for tests. In gun sheds I, II and III, maintenance and cleaning work was carried out on the artillery guns that were to be fired. Other buildings for the "shooting operation" included a 160 ton gantry crane system in the area of the main bedding, an earthen wall and numerous earth-encased concrete blocks that served as bullet traps, as well as the track systems.

For the “measurement operation” there were two lattice mast tracks (measurement of speed, spin, deviation, etc. of the artillery shells), three bunkers or observation posts, a bedding house in which the results of the firing tests were probably evaluated, a weather center, a balloon hall and a measuring house (maintenance and storage of measuring equipment) on the site.

The buildings in the southeast of the firing base, which were surrounded by earthen ramparts, are classified as "supply facilities for the firing operation". Ammunition was stored and probably also prepared in the cartridge house, the powder warming house, the hand magazine for black powder and the ammunition storage house I.

The ammunition storage building II was not surrounded by earthen ramparts and was probably only used for storing ammunition. Other facilities include the forge with locomotive shed, the oil shed, the material house, the benzene storage facility and the vehicle shed with battery room.

The "supply and disposal facilities" area of the firing base includes the water tower, the fire water tank, the pump house, the sewage treatment plant and pit and the transformer stations. For general "supply and administration" there were the welfare building, the workers' accommodation building with heating and coke room, the administration building, the telephone workshop and the accident assistance station on the firing base. There was an extensive rail network for the standard gauge railway across the entire area, which was connected to the Reichsbahn network. The heavy gun parts could be driven directly to the beds of the test facility on this. It was also possible to drive railway guns directly to the firing base. There was also a narrow-gauge railway for transporting goods, and a track (colloquially known as the 'Wattenbahn' at the time) ran across the entire firing range to Arensch.As an extension to the site, a secret test facility was built in the south-western area of the facility in 1943, including launch ramps and an assembly hall for cruise missiles, under the strictest secrecy.There was also a ring-shaped blasting site in the central heath area, where ammunition could be detonated to determine its effect. As part of the demilitarization and the end of Operation Backfire, all military objects on the site were blown up or rendered unusable by the British occupying forces.At the beginning of the 1960s, the concrete cubes of the two firing positions were blown up and disposed of. Among other things, to make room for the future Bundeswehr barracks.

The aerial photograph below shows the current area of the former Hinrich-Wilhelm-Kopf barracks. If you move it, you can see the same area with the cover from 1944.

Dank für die Hintergrundinformationen und Unterstützung zu diesem Thema gilt vor allem :

Gerd Wildfang - Military buildings of the Cuxhaven Fortress

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