One morning the guards were gone – only barking dogs and silence remained. Then the Americans arrived.
Herbert RömerOriginalsprache: EN
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Liberation and Allied Intelligence
In spring 1945 American troops reached the Walpersberg. They found a vast, unfinished armaments plant – and immediately began documenting it. Their goal: understand the Third Reich’s technological secrets before the Soviet Army took over the area.
The Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub‑Committee (CIOS)
While the war was still raging, the Allies prepared to investigate the German war economy. In 1944 they created the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub‑Committee (CIOS) – a special unit tasked with locating and assessing factories, laboratories, and research centres.
Its mission was clear: comprehend, secure, and reuse the military and technological advantages of the German Reich for the post‑war era.
To that end the CIOS produced “black” and “grey” lists of high‑priority sites. Among them was the underground aircraft plant REIMAHG at Walpersberg, codename “Lachs”.
By the time it was dissolved in summer 1945, CIOS teams had inspected more than 3,000 facilities – from rocket factories and fuel plants to aircraft bunkers.
Eyewitness accounts on liberation
Keine Zeitzeugenaussagen gefunden.
Allied Investigators in the Tunnel System
After taking Kahla, a CIOS team entered the Walpersberg site. It documented construction status, production halls, and remaining materials.
Production manager Dr. Helmut Steinmann was interrogated. He described the project’s structure, organisation, and problems – and blamed Thuringia’s Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel for delays and grievances.
Representatives of Dyckerhoff & Widmann, the company in charge of the tunnel works, also testified.
Team 163 produced technical sketches and plans. Black lines marked tunnels that had actually been driven, grey ones the original designs – making visible, for the first time, how far the plant had progressed by 1945.
The First Images from Inside
Photographers of the US Army Air Forces captured hundreds of images of the plant. One of the most famous shows a Messerschmitt Me 262 fuselage in bunker 0 – a symbol of the attempt to build high‑tech weapons underground.
The photographs, now held at the National Archives in Washington (NARA), show deserted halls, machinery, and unfinished aircraft. They form the visual memory of the Walpersberg shortly after liberation.
US Air Force photo, NARA (Fold3), spring 1945.
US Air Force photo, NARA (Fold3), spring 1945.
From CIOS to BIOS, FIAT and JIOA
After the summer of 1945 the victorious powers split the CIOS tasks among themselves: in the British zone the BIOS (British Intelligence Objectives Sub‑Committee) took over, while in the American zone the FIAT (Field Information Agency, Technical) did the same.
Both continued to analyse German technology. Under FIAT the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) emerged, interrogating scientists as well. Its “interrogation reports” recorded the know‑how of German industry and had a lasting impact on post‑war technological development.
When the Gates Opened
For the forced labourers at Walpersberg liberation came suddenly. Many guards fled before the American troops arrived.
Eyewitness voice on liberation
What followed was both chaos and relief. Former workers searched the camps for missing relatives, others tried to make their way back home. For many, liberation marked the beginning of a long road back to life.
Historical Documents and Archives
Original CIOS reports and photographs are now accessible in international archives:
These sources underpin current research. They document not only the technical analysis but also the human stories tied to the site.
From American Findings to Soviet Control
Just weeks after the American investigations, the situation at Walpersberg changed fundamentally. In June 1945 US troops handed the area over to the Red Army, ushering in a new phase of use and destruction.
Soviet units took over the underground facilities almost intact. Machinery, aircraft parts, and files still lay in the tunnels. In the following months engineer units demolished many entrances and bunkers to render the site unusable, while specialists secured remaining technology and documents for analysis.
Until 1948 the area remained under Soviet control. Afterwards it was demilitarised and partly backfilled. For the region this meant a completely closed mountain – a place that would only become accessible and researched again decades later.
Aerial photo (1953)
Image note:26 May 1953 – blast craters and the destroyed runway clearly visible. © GDI‑Th
Walpersberg as a Site of Remembrance
What began in 1944 as a secret aircraft plant became a place of exposure in 1945. Allied work revealed the full scale of the armaments project and preserved a unique testimony to the industrial madness of war.
Today Walpersberg stands for technological hubris, for the victims of forced labour, and for the significance of liberation by the Allies.