#flak tower

Descend into darkness inside an abandoned flak tower in Vienna, Austria,

• Flak Towers

Flak towers (German: Flaktürme) were complexes of large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed by Nazi Germany in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna from 1940 onwards.

After the RAF's raid on Berlin in 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of three massive flak towers to defend the capital from air attack. Each tower had a radar installation with a radar dish which could be retracted behind a thick concrete and steel dome for protection. Hitler was interested in the design of the towers, and even made some sketches. They were constructed in six months. The priority of the project was such that the German national rail schedule was altered to facilitate the shipment of concrete, steel and timber to the construction sites. With concrete walls up to 3.5 m (11 ft) thick, flak towers were considered by their designers to be invulnerable to attack by the standard ordnance carried by RAF heavy bombers at the time of their construction. The towers were able to sustain a rate of fire of 8,000 rounds per minute from their multi-level guns (albeit mostly smaller-caliber shells, such as the 2cm FlaK 30), with a range of up to 14 km (8.7 mi) in a 360-degree field of fire. However, only the 128 mm (5.0 in) FlaK 40 guns had effective range to defend against the RAF and USAAF heavy bombers.

The flak towers had also been designed with the idea of using the above-ground bunkers as a civilian shelter, with room for 10,000 civilians and a hospital ward inside. During the Battle of Berlin, occupants formed their own communities, with up to 30,000 Berliners taking refuge in one tower during the battle. These towers, much like the keeps of medieval castles, were some of the safest places in a fought-over city and so the flak towers were some of the last places to surrender to the Red Army, eventually being forced to capitulate as supplies dwindled. The Soviets, in their assault on Berlin, found it difficult to inflict significant damage on the flak towers, even with some of the largest Soviet guns, such as the 203 mm M1931 howitzers. Soviet forces generally manoeuvred around the towers, and eventually sent in envoys to seek their surrender. Unlike much of Berlin, the towers tended to be fully stocked with ammunition and supplies, and the defenders used 2 cm Flak cannon to defend against assault by ground units. The Zoo Tower was one of the last points of defence providing cover fire to the nearby districts, German armoured units rallied near it at Tiergarten, before trying to break out of the encircling Soviet Red Army.

(commission for Skornie)

The Castle.

Isometric view.

Profile view.

Top view.

A tower.

Missile Tower.

Cannon Tower.

Commander Tower.

A WWII flak tower looms large over Hamburg, Germany, 2011.