Humbolthain Flak Tower 2011

In 1940, Hitler commissioned massive, concrete flak towers to be built in key German cities  to shoot down Allied bombers, provide secure military hospitals, and offer refuge for tens of thousands of civilians.   Three of those modern concrete fortifications were completed in Berlin.  And only the Zoo Flak Tower, which famously took part in the land battle of the city by turning its guns on the advancing Russian tanks, was successfully destroyed after the war by the British.

Actually, the first two attempts to demolish the Zoo Flak Tower didn’t go so well.  But after some cheeky Berliners climbed up on the nearly-intact ruins and painted “Made in Germany” on the tower, the British decided to apply themselves more industriously to the job.  On the third and final attempt to destroy it, an astounding 45 tons of explosive were used. A considerable number of apartment windows, which had just been replaced after the war, were blown out in surrounding areas, and many of the evacuated zoo inhabitants didn’t have homes to go back to.

Multiple attempts by the French and Russian occupying forces to blow up the Humbolthain and Friedrichshain flak towers after the war also initially failed miserably (the French only used 25 tons on their third attempt on Humbolthain, but perhaps they didn’t feel they needed to prove anything to the local population).  Although buried by rubble and vegetation, partial remains of both structures  still exist.

Two of the four towers from the Humbolthain structure are still accessible from the outside and, now that members of the Berlin Underground Society have removed tons of debris, from the inside too.  All four towers had huge twin 128-millimeter guns, specially developed by the navy, who knew something about big guns.  37-millimeter single guns,  20-millimeter  quads or anti-aircraft machine guns ringed the ramparts one level down. When the twin 128’s fired the whole huge 5-story building would rock violently under the enormous recoil of the guns.

Each set of quads threw up 20-24 rounds per minute, with sixteen shells exploding in a space of 240 meters.*  Since bombers routinely avoided the towers, their value in shooting down aircraft is questioned.  As bunkers, though,  the towers took direct bomb and Russian howitzer hits with hardly a scratch.

Jay Walker was in a B-17 that flew lead on a mission over Berlin on February 3, 1945, attempting to take out the Zoo Flak Tower, and was on the receiving end of some of those powerful bursts, although he returned to base safely that day.  Others were not nearly so lucky.  In 1944, the gunners even took shots at two long-range American fighters who were pursuing a FW-190.  Both were reportedly shot down.  The Humbolthain Flak Tower gunners, who were often only 17- and 18-year-old students,  claimed 32 kills of Allied aircraft by the end of the war.  Other historians claim all three Berlin towers only truly shot down 17 Allied planes during the course of the war.**

In 2011, it’s a wonderful view of the city from the towers, which have been turned into a climbing wall. A spire-like sculpture adorns one tower. Tight-rope walking artisans show off for the crowds, and young people sit at tables and chairs and talk in the shade of the inner citadel.  But there are no informational signs describing what happened here. The towers and leftover 20-millimeter gun emplacements, accidental memorials to the undeniable engineering genius of the Third Reich, are violated by graffiti and the walkways completely covered with days, weeks, or perhaps even months of broken glass from beer bottles. In that way, the Humbolthain Flak Tower is no different from dozens of other designed memorials throughout the city, even those dating back to the glorious defeat of Napoleon.

Despite the glass shards, the graffiti, and the indifference of the local young people, I still stand on these towers and think of my friend Jay flying over, and the fearsome net of death the gunners on all three massive structures threw up to bring his bomber and other Allied aviators down.  And I think about that night twenty years ago here looking out over the Berlin lights when I let the magic of the city, and of the man who introduced me to it, convince me to stay.

*Source:  “The Flak Towers in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna 1940-1950” by Michael Foedrowitz.

**Source:  Docent from Underground Berlin Society’s tour of the inside of the Humbolthain Flak Tower, June, 2011.