ABANDONED Military Bases in Europe

From top secret nuclear silos, to forgotten airfields, these are 7 ABANDONED Military Bases in Europe !

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7. “Forbidden City” | Germany Wünsdorf

A statue of Lenin stands deep within a pine forest in eastern Germany, guarding a lemon-colored building that has hosted everyone from Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Nazis and the Soviets.
In the tranquil district of Wünsdorf, the abandoned military facility known as the Forbidden City sits behind a massive padlocked gate. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain 25 years ago, when the last remaining Russian soldiers left, it has been unoccupied.

Following WWII, the entire base became the Soviet forces' headquarters in East Germany during the communist era. It was the largest Soviet camp outside of the USSR at the time, with close to 75,000 troops stationed there at its height. The military settlement was known as "Die Verbotene Stadt" because locals were not allowed to go in.

Considering that estimates put around 500,000 Soviet Troops in all of East Germany, it makes sense that the secret headquarters would house so many of them. It all came to heel in 1989, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. With German Reunification, it was only a matter of time before all the Russian troops had to leave. By 1994, the “forbidden city” or “little moscow” was completely abandoned, when the last troops left.

Since then, it has been transformed as the Wünsdorf-Waldstadt town, however parts of it remain derelict, with obvious remnants of the Soviet occupation.

6. Veschevo Airfield | Russia

5.Željava Air Base | CROATIA

“HEY YOU MISSED THAT ONE BASE THATS IN ALL THE OTHER VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE”

Alrighty then, here it is, the Željava Air Base

This place was considered one of the scariest bases in former Yugoslavia, it was the largest air base it had, and one of the largest in Europe. It is believed the base held two full fighter squadrons, or 48 fighter jets.

The more interesting part of the base was the underground bunkers, capable of surviving 20kt nuclear blasts, and being self sustainable for up to 30 days.

After it was apparent that the Yugoslav Wars of 91 were not going their way, the air base was destroyed by the Yugoslavian government. Nowadays, it is sometimes used for police training, but its primary purpose is an awesome urban exploration spot.

4. Plokštinė missile base | Lithuania
This place is pretty wild. What we are looking at here are silos for the SS-4 Sandal, known as The R-12 in Russia. This rocket provided the Soviet Union with the capability to attack targets at medium ranges with a megaton-class thermonuclear warhead and constituted the bulk of the Soviet offensive missile threat to Western Europe. Fun Side Fact, the R-12 missiles were deployed to Cuba, causing the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

The location of these silos was perfect, it could reach all of the European NATO members and Turkey. There were no big towns, or even villages around the area. Only scattered farm houses, which were easily taken care of with a 4,500 ruble relocation fee.

The silos and surrounding army bases took 2 years to complete, and some 10,000 soldiers were used during the construction.
The base was considered to be above top secret, and for good reason too, the USA did not find out about it until 1978. Eventually, like everything else in the Soviet Bloc, with the fall of the Union this nuclear silo base was abandoned.

At least they took the nukes with them… I hope. In 2012, after extensive reconstruction, the former base became a Cold War Museum, they even let you go into one of the four silos! I would love to visit one day, how about you ?

3. BRIENNE LE CH TEAU airfield | France

This military airfield was opened in 1913 and was used by the French Air Force until the Nazi invasion in 1940. During and after the war the airfield was barely used. From 1953, to 1965 it served as an operational base of NATO.

Since then, the airport has been used for leisure activities and gawkers. You can find a nice assortment of abandoned military aircraft here.

Including a Fouga CM-170 Magister that has seen better days. Also this beautiful Lockheed P-2 Neptune. Here is the same plane back in 1983, when it was still in use.

Overall, this place is pretty accessible and it seems like anyone can take a peek around the abandoned airplanes.

2.RAF Stenigot : ENGLAND
1. Rangsdorf Airfield | Germany

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