Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: Truppenübungsplatz Bergen-Hohne) is a NATO military training on the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of 284 square kilometres (70,000 acres) which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.

It was established by the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, in 1935. At the end of the Second World War it was taken over by British occupation forces and some of its facilities used as a liberation camp for survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which was located a few miles away. Under British control, the training area was steadily expanded and, since the 1960s, has also been used by the German Armed Forces (the Bundeswehr) and other NATO troops.

Geography

Location

Bergen-Hohne Training Area is situated on both sides of the boundary between the districts of Soltau-Fallingbostel and Celle, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Hanover, roughly 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Bremen and around 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Hamburg. It is located between Bad Fallingbostel in the west Bergen in the east and between the towns of Soltau a few miles to the north and Wietze to the south. The terrain is between 28 and 150 m above sea level (NN).

Landscape

The central part of the training area consists of two areas of heathland (Heide) known as Lohheide und Osterheide, which have not been under any local administrative control since 1945. Surrounding this are a number of areas of marsh known in German as a moor. In the northern part of the training area is the small Wittemmor. Just beyond its eastern boundary is the larger Großes Moor, in the south is the Ostenholzer Moor and on the southern boundary the Bannetzer Moor which adjoins the Meißendorf Lake. The remaining areas consist of woodland.

Current Use

The multinational troops on the base carry out regular joint manoeuvres. These include ground operations, include exercises with tanks such as the Challenger 2 and Leopard 2, as well as close air support operations, mainly using helicopters. In 2003 the British Army tested their new WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters at Bergen-Hohne.

Hohne Barracks

Hohne Barracks on the eastern edge of the training area, is the headquarters of Hohne Garrison, a large British military garrison for the 7th Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) which is part of the British Forces Germany.

Hohne Barracks still houses a large number of British troops and their families. Hohne has two Service Children's Education schools: Gloucester Secondary School and Montgomery Primary School, both schools for children of personnel stationed at the garrison and elsewhere in Germany. Not far from this base is the village of Belsen.

The Roundhouse building located in the barracks was formerly used as a ballroom and a hospital but is now used as a social gathering area, being located next to the NAAFI, the base shop.

Command

The current German commandant of Bergen-Hohne Training Area, Colonel Gerd Ahrens, is also responsible for Munster Training Area. He also has command of the training areas at Ehra-Lessien and Lübtheen.

Cultural monuments and places of interest

In and around Bergen-Hohne Training Area are the following cultural monuments and places of interest:
In the area of Lohheide and its neighbourhood:

• near Belsen:
  • Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial site
  • Bredebeck Castle at Liehlbach (part of Bergen-Hohne camp)

In the area of Osterheide and its neighbourhood:

• in Oerbke (to the west):
  • Cemetery of the unknown soldiers Friedhof der Namenlosen, a war cemetery in which about 30,000 Russian prisoners-of-war from the Second World War were buried in mass graves
• In and around Ostenholz (to the southwest):
  • Timber-framed church with wooden tower dating back to 1724
  • Hoher Stein, a monument to the evacuation of the local communities in 1936 in order to create a Nazi military training area
  • Sieben Steinhäuser, large stone graves from the New Stone Age in the south of the training area
• in Wense (to the northwest):
  • Gutskapelle, a splendid church from the year 1558

Literature

• Olaf Mußmann: Geschichte des Truppenübungsplatzes Bergen. Münster 1996; ISBN 3-8258-2753-4
• Die Heidmark. Wandel einer Landschaft. Die Geschichte des Truppenübungsplatzes Bergen, Hinrich Baumann, Walsrode 2005, ISBN 3-00-017185-1
• Judaslohn, Andree Hesse, Kriminalroman, (spielt auf dem Truppenübungsplatz und in Eichendorf [= Meißendorf]), ISBN 9783805208000

See also

• British Forces Germany
• British Army of the Rhine
• Sieben Steinhäuser

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References

• "Hohne - A witness to infamy". Helen Mathews. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "About Gloucester School Hohne". GSHA. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "Montgomery Primary School". Service Children's Education. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)