The "Anlage Mitte" Command Post

A year ago I went with some friends to the Sulejów Reservoir for a walk along its shore. This year too we visited the place. Unfortunately the ice was too thin to walk on, so we quickly headed towards the bunkers. This time we knew where to go, and the lovely voice of Marzena from AutoMapa made the journey more pleasant.

Our destination was the area around the village of Jeleń, and more precisely its railway station. Despite its gloomy look and the deserted surroundings, trains still stop here. In the nearby forest there is a complex of large shelters from the Second World War. These structures were given the general code name Gefechtsstand "Anlage Mitte" (the "Central Area" command post).

A twin complex was built 2.5 km north of Spała, in the village of Konewka. In my opinion Konewka does not have the same atmosphere as Jeleń. It is too popular and visited too often, more oriented towards tourism.

Stepping out of the snow-covered forest, you find yourself in front of huge gates. At first the bunker doesn't seem large, and inside it's fairly bright. Appearances deceive. There's nothing to stop you from going inside.

According to surveying measurements, the tunnel in Jeleń stretches to a length of 354.90 metres. Built with reinforced-concrete walls 2.5 metres thick, it has a pointed-arch cross-section whose base measures 15 metres. The height of the bunker is 9 metres. An entire train could fit inside it without any trouble. The shelter itself has the shape of a gentle, regular arc curving to the left. Only its final 80-metre section is straight.

Inside it's quite warm. The solid 2.5-metre walls insulate well against the frost outside. Walking down the middle of the bunker, you have to watch out for the water that may have collected there. That's why I recommend moving along the wall, on the platforms. The floor there sits higher than in the middle. Next to the main tunnel runs a smaller corridor divided into a series of interconnected rooms sealed off with gas-tight bulkheads. Four side exits led from the corridor to the outside.

The deeper you go into the tunnel, the darker it gets. With every step the light coming from the entrance fades. It grows quieter and quieter, and you hear a beautiful echo. There are no bats there. At least I didn't come across any. No cockroaches either. No spiders or monsters. Only beer bottles.

During the war the railway shelter was covered with camouflage netting and dummy trees. Today it is overgrown with a very thick layer of moss, which was blanketed in snow. The more agile can easily clamber up onto it. The bunker's surface has many cracks, and wires stick out that you can grab hold of. The steel elements were used to fasten the camouflage netting. On top of the shelter, juniper bushes and trees also grew, of which only rotten trunks remain today.

At the rear of the shelter there are trees in concrete planters. The missing part of the forest was filled in by the Germans. Huge trees, planters and all, were sunk into the ground.

Somewhere around the middle of the shelter's length stand further structures, intended to house the boiler room, ventilation equipment and the power plant (generators driven by diesel engines). These buildings were connected to the shelter by three parallel underground service ducts. Two of them served as tunnels for running cabling and pipework. The third was used to force air into the railway shelter from a station of filters and air heaters.

The railway shelter was never put to use, and soon it became downright useless in terms of its original purpose. In the complexes at Jeleń and Konewka, branches of the Tomaszów subsidiary of the Daimler-Benz works were set up.