No such place, again

Last week we looked at places that were erased from the map in order to allow for increased security surrounding nuclear weapon projects.

This week we are going to look at a couple of places that are tangential to the subject while somewhat different.

We start with Wunsdorf, in former East Germany.

Wunsdorf was originally built in the 1870's by the then German Empire, and later on expanded and fortified by the Nazi regime. When the Soviets found it, they made it their main base in East Germany, and restricted all access.

It quickly became known as “Little Moscow” and the “Forbidden City” and was the Red Army's main base in the west, housing between 60.000 and 75.000 personnel, mostly troops in case the Cold War would suddenly heat up. It even had direct train access to Moscow.

Today it's a crumbling ruin, slowly decaying under the gaze of an old statue of Lenin.

In England sits the town of Corsham, and underneath Corsham lies the previously secret town of Burlington Bunker.

A gigantic nuclear bunker system designed to house 4000 member s of government and their staff and families etc.

It had it all, from a hospital to it's own radio broadcasting station to it's own underground lake, for fresh water.

As you can guess, it was designed to be a safe haven for the UK government in case the four minute warning was sounded. The four minutes comes from the estimated time it would have taken Soviet nukes to fly to Britan.

Today it is a sometimes guided tourist attraction and in 2016 it was for sale for £1.5 million. No idea if anyone bought it.

Next up is Camp Century. Doesn't sound so bad does it? Well it's a decommissioned nuclear launch site, built under Greenland...

Constructed under the amazing name of Project Iceworm, it took over a scientific base and expanded it to an incredible 4000 km (2500 mi) tunnel network, leading to dozens of launch bays for ICBM's.

It was designed to be comfortable in the long run with everything from a cinema to a church.

There are more places like this, of course, but to keep listing them would be pointless. If you're interested you can do your own research, I'm sure, as the Cold War left a still seen and felt legacy of ingenuity, fear, paranoia, and defiance.

That's that for this time though, so I'll see you next time, and hope you have a great week!