German military builds training ground for civil war
By
Johannes Stern
30 October 2017
Beginning next year, German soldiers will be able to undertake house-to-house fighting and preparation for domestic Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) operations “in the most realistic environment” (Defence Ministry), on a mega-property costing more than 140 million euros. “Schnöggersburg”, as the urban environment is dubbed, “presents typical elements of an urban conurbation in order to optimally prepare soldiers for deployments in built-up areas,” said the Bundeswehr in its official invitation to the press.
The Bundeswehr took possession last Thursday of part of this artificial town north of Magdeburg, which will form the “Army Combat Training Centre” (GÜZ). Schnöggersburg is an “urban conurbation” with more than 500 buildings, 300 cabins, sports facilities, bridges, an industrial area, an old town with a marketplace, a government district, a slum and a sacred building. In addition, it includes an airfield, a sewage system, a two-lane highway and a 350-metre-long underground line, the only subway system in Saxony-Anhalt.
“What is being created here is certainly unique,” boasted the parliamentary secretary of state of the Defence Ministry, Markus Grübel, in his welcome speech about the enormous dimensions of the project. “These first parts of the urban conurbation, which today are being handed over to the Combat Training Centre of the Army on schedule, find nothing comparable in the type of construction and size, certainly in Europe.”
Lieutenant-General Frank Leidenberger left no doubt as to what the Bundeswehr is preparing in Schnöggersburg: “The missions of the past have taught us that the environment in which we may have to fight is no longer open space but…