The Hochspeyer Munitions Storage (HMS, a.k.a. Ammunition Storage Annex Hochspeyer) was one of the most fascinating and mysterious military installations I visited during my trip to Germany in the summer of 2013. I actually wanted to visit the place two years prior right after exploring of what was left of *Sembach Air Base*, but sadly we ran out of time back then after my buddy Gil and I were surprised by a cloudburst…
Just a couple of weeks ago I came back with my friend Catherine. The Palatine area is perfect to combine long walks with urban exploration, so I chose the forests around K-Town (commonly known as Kaiserslautern) for a little catch up trip. The first location we went to turned out to be proof of Germany’s interesting energy policy and a terrible disaster for fans of abandoned military bases as it was converted into a gigantic solar farm; the next one, Hochspeyer Munitions Storage, on the other hand was kind of a jackpot.
We entered the premises via a road blocked by two concrete barriers – no cars allowed, only bikes and pedestrians. We actually didn’t see a single “Don’t trespass!” or “Trespassers will be shot!” sign, so we felt very comfortable there, despite the fact that there was not much to see at first. Just a single green building, the interior smashed to pieces, and a big asphalted area with only basic foundations left – probably a motor pool half a century ago. Heck, even the fence was mostly gone, with only a couple of concrete posts left. Although I did quite a bit of research on the Hochspeyer Munitions Storage I am still not sure whether or not this area was officially part of it – if it was, it was mostly demolished and abandoned decades ago. But the HMS dates back to the 1960s, so it’s rather likely that both area saw activity at the same time back in the days. And while one part was left deserted, the other got modernized again and again…
Deeper into the forest Catherine and I found a locked gate, part of a really tall barbed-wire fence with a series of lamp posts every 25 meters set 5 meters behind the fence. Despite its location in the middle of the woods this area was carefully deforested and secured – trespassers could be seen easily from large distances. Abandoned or not, the people who planned this area knew what they were doing, eager to keep people out. Everything there was in great condition at first sight: the fence, the gate, the locks, the lamp posts, the security perimeter… only some open doors at a building in the distance indicated that the area really might have been abandoned. So we looked for a way in and indeed found one.
We quickly approached the green building, eager not to be seen from people on or off the premises – with Ramstein Air Base not being far away we saw plenty of stuff flying across our heads. The flat part consisted of a machinery room, restrooms and a couple of office / conference rooms, the rather high part seemed to have been a storage and / garage, probably to de/load vehicles. SIgns were either in English or bilingual, English and German. The most interesting one was just airbrushed onto the wall:
Explosive Limits
1.1 5,000 lbs
1.2 5,000 lbs
1.3 10,000 lbs
1.4 Physical Capacity
Personnel Limits
2 Supervisors
5 Workers
2 Casuals
Okay… this definitely wasn’t the average administrative building you see when entering abandoned military bases, this was serious stuff! And everything looked pretty new, aside from some vandalism. Was this area really abandoned?
Catherine and I continued to explore the area. Next we found the former main gate with the gatehouse. One window open, others smashed – raw violence, because those windows were made from bulletproof glass. Again, serious stuff. When I opened a small door on the back I could feel that it was really heavy, despite the fact that it opened smoothly. The interior of the building was mostly gone, but you could see that once it must have been stuffed with tons of electronic devices. Probably not too long ago, given that you could basically start to reuse the building after a couple of hours of repairs. Nothing too serious, but probably costly.
I have to admit that I felt a bit more more uneasy inside the fenced area than outside in the 60s foundation area, and that didn’t change when finally reached the bunker area, tire tracks still on the ground, low vegetation, filled water reservoirs after a hot summer, the pool liner still in great condition. This site was definitely closed, but was it really abandoned? That thought resounded my mind like spoken words in the open bunkers. The acoustics there were fantastic, especially since I am so used to shut bunkers, sitting there inaccessibly everywhere in forests all over German. Finally being able to enter some of them was amazing, one of those minor urbex highlights you stumble across every once in a while. As was a nearby tool shack, where the silhouettes of the equipment were painted onto the wall, so even Private Paula would know where to put things back. Another minor highlight was that one bunker that was built differently in many ways and had a gigantic safe built in, installed by Garny – founded 200 years ago in 1813. (This was a newer model, of course…)
Usually it takes me months, sometimes even years, to write about my explorations, but the Hochspeyer Munitions Storage was a truly exciting exploration, one that made me write this article while I was still in Germany, taking an afternoon of doing research about what the place really was.
Sadly not much is known about the Hochspeyer Munitions Storage. At first I thought it was related to the *Sembach Air Base* I mentioned earlier, which it probably was at one point, but since the airfield there was closed it seems like the HMS was part of the famous Ramstein Air Base; some guy in a German internet forum claimed at one point it was a sub-camp of the USAF Depot Morbach-Wenigerath, now known as Energiepark Morbach (energy park Morbach).
The few facts are that the HMS was 88 acres big (about 356000 square meters), had 30 bunkers, was part of the USAFE (United States Air Forces in Europe), that the road there was built in 1957 thanks to a Captain Joseph T. Sampson – and that it was closed in 2007 as part of “Air Force Smart Operations for the 21 Century” (AFSO21) to save a couple of bucks. In early 2007 Ramstein’s 435th Munitions Squadron started transporting material from Hochspeyer to their main base, the last truck leaving on October 12th of the same year. Apparantly most of it were BLU-109 bombs, nasty buggers that are used against HDBTs (Hard and Deep Buried Targets) and can break through 1.8 meters of ferroconcrete before exploding. Which explains the setup of the facility – it’s the kind of technology you don’t want to have fallen into wrong hands… and the kind of technology local civilians shouldn’t know about.
The rest is vague. Some people claim that the area was returned to Germany, others say that it is still under the control of the USAFE. (Since there were no warning signs in German I assume the area still belongs to the US. In cases like that the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BIMA, Institute for Federal Real Estate) usually takes over – and they are pretty good at putting up signs. Making good use of the area? Not so much. Putting up signs? Hell yeah!) Some people claim the premises are abandoned, others say that they are still used for emergency drills and patrolled by security – or in this case rather security police.
Whatever is true, I am happy that I was able to explore the Hochspeyer Munitions Storage without causing trouble for me and my companion. It was a very memorable experience and I did as much research as possible afterwards, but if you know more about the place, having worked there or being a (hobby) historian, please feel free to add facts and anecdotes in the comments section!
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Abandoned Kansai 
Great shots! That’s the cleanest dilapidated building I’ve ever seen 🙂
It easily makes my top 5, too, probably top 3. Sooner or later I’ll write about the missing ones not on Abandoned Kansai yet… 🙂
It was interesting to see something our tax dollars paid for. Relics of the Cold War bring back a not so distant history.
I’m sure building those wasn’t cheap, but closing the site saved only 52,000 bucks a year according to the reports I saw. Still money, but a lot less than I expected.
I never would have been brave enough to go inside the fenced area. Just reading this made me uneasy for you. http://ohtheplaceswesee.com
It was in the middle of a forest from where we entered, so I didn’t have a bad feeling at first. But then I saw the tire tracks, the paved road on the other side of the fence… and then we were spotted by a biker outside just minutes before I started to take the video. Afterwards I was happily leaving. 🙂
Holy shit, quite a risky thing, I mean the stuff you do. Interesting although! Wuerde gerne mehr ueber dieses ganz militaerishes Teil verstehen, obwohl diese Poste die ich schon geliest habe sind fuer mich cool genug so wie so. Keep it going, greets from Poland 🙂
Hey Agnieszka,
Usually it’s a well calculated risk, but in some cases it’s hard to guess how dangerous or under supervision a place really is.
BTW: There are plenty of abandoned place in Poland! Especially factories and bases from the former Warsaw Pact.
Good to know! Maybe I’ll check’em out someday. Normally I live in Gdańsk, were as far as I know, we have mostly some abandoned factories or bunkers only.
Those are great places to start with! 🙂
So interesting!
Thanks, I will write more postings about abandoned military bases in Germany soon.
The “safe” in the bunker is a called “bird cage”. It was usually used for storing the cores of the nukes in times when they still had no “all in one” war head. But also the containments which held one core each, were called “bird cage”. You can see one here http://www.commandposts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Bird-Cage-204×300.jpg this “safes” can only be found in the “early” special weapon depots in germany like Kriegsfeld or Siegelsbach. But also in this time (the late 1950s) those depots were secured by double fences, watchtowers, lights, K9 and MP. What it really makes interesting as no leftovers of such security installations can be found in the HMS. Even the MACE guys whose sites were nearby, do not know anything about nukes stored in HMS. Theirs were stored on site or on Sembach Airbase. Also the east-german HVA does not list it as supposed special weapon depot in their report from 1959 which can be found on the net.
Pictures of the 2007 cleanup of HMS can be found here http://www.ramstein.af.mil/photos/media_search.asp?q=hochspeyer&btnG.x=0&btnG.y=0
There was also a document on the web where the BIMA presented the HMS to potential customers for using a part as solar park, but nothing happened till now. Just the nearby former Mace site “Enkenbach 2” was converted to a solar park. So it seems still be owned by the BIMA.
Thanks a lot for all the additional information, Horst!
Great photos. I was posted at the Site 8 Hochspeyer site from 87 to 90 as a missile inspector and maintenance tech. First, the initial site yoou came to that had no fence was a missile launch site dating back to the late 50s and early 60s. It is ironic that my dad was stationed there in the late 50s. The (bomb-dump) storage facility was used to maintain those missiles but when the ballistic missiles were moved out the Sembach used the storage facility to house conventional munitions and abandoned the launch site. We had MK82s and AGM65s stored there during my time. During desert storm most of those munitions were shipped out (including me) and I don’t know what happened after that. The large bay you mentioned in the main building was the maintenance bay where we worked on munitions.
Thanks a lot for all the additional information, Rick – it’s always great to hear from people who knew the places I visit(ed) when they were still active!
The abandoned missile site is where I was stationed in 1971-1972 with Det 28 601 TCS. It was a mobile radar site and we left it in late 72 for Gruenstadt abiut 20 miles away.. I was back there in 96 and by then it was probably much as you saw it –mostly torn down and only recognizable by someone that was stationed there.
According to some locals I’ve met over the years while stationed here, the site in Grünstadt that you speak of (which has since been well abandoned and torn down for all, but the fence line surrounding it and the gate) was also used as a site for mobile missile defenses in the 80s/90s before being decommissioned. As it goes, apparently was a prime position which overlooks the valley and wine country for detecting and infiltrating a Russian threat before said threat could make it’s way through to military installations surrounding Kaiserslautern.
I was in the USAF and worked at that site. The armament for the Matador and Mace missiles was stored in those “igloos”. The site was made operational in spring 1957. The large green building was used for maintenance and classrooms etc. It was called “Metro Tango” by the USAF. The personnel were stationed at Sembach Air Force Base. The original outfit was the 11th Tactical Missile Squadron.
I was in the USAF and stationed at Sembach AB from 68-70. I actually worked at HMA during that time. 46 years later and after changing hands a number of times it looks pretty run down. Sad to see
Me too!
I helped empty that bomb dump out in 2002 when we loaded everything into iso containers bound for Turkey to support the second Iraq war. I dont think we ever filled it after.
Was the row of iso containers still lined up the road after the entrance? I was stationed at Site 8 from 89-91 and we installed all of those containers and built the wooden walkway behind them. Many days spent with a weed trimmer standing on those igloos!
I was assigned to Sembach and worked at Hochspeyer in 1980-81. What a great place to work, beautiful, surrounded by forest. Hochspeyer was Site 8. The main bomb dump on base was site 5. We supplied site 5 which supplied the flight line. The single small green building was probably the fire station. It was about a mile from the bomb dump.
In the aftermath of 9/11, I was ordered to augment the Air Force Security Forces. One of the locations that I frequently guarded was the Site 8 complex. A place that was that was reputed to be haunted. Local legend has it that an Airman had committed suicide on the premises by hanging himself.
Now, I’m not certain of the existence of ghosts, but an event that happened in the middle of the night defies reasonable explanation. Normally, the site was guarded by two security personnel. On this particular night, the shift supervisor came by to check in on the two of us. As the three of us were BSing inside the dark entry control point, a bright orb appeared in the room, hovered for a few minutes, and took off through one of the windows and into the night. The room remained quiet for what seemed like an eternity, before one of us asked out loud if what they witnessed really happened.
I was station at Sembach from 92 until late 93. I was part of the 601st Security Police. I will never forget having duty at Site 8. Usually there was 4 of us during that time. Every hour I had to walk the fence line. Never forget the spade games that we played there at night.
It must be so strange for you to see the site like that! You’ve been security police there… and now shmocks like me roam it and take pictures of everything.