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Underground City of Osówka (wheel Głuszyca in Poland, in Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, in Wałbrzych poviat, headquarters the urban-rural commune of Głuszyca, by the river Bystrzyca,) is one of the most interesting underground complexes built by the Third Reich in the Owl Mountains as part of the RIESE (Giant) project, open to visitors today. It is a unique tourist facility.
Geographical location: 50 ° 40 ′ 17 ″ N, 16 ° 24 ′ 53 ″ E
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https://www. Klimatyzacja-wakacje-z-dzieckiem.pl/2018/06/podziemne-miasto-osowka.html?m=1
Project genesis
The countries fighting Nazi Germany ("Allies") at the end of 1942 increased air raids by bombing German arms factories and experimental centers in the Third Reich. A few months later, the German troops retreated on the Eastern Front.
After these events, the leader of the Nazi Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, at his headquarters in Berghof, decided to start a gigantic underground construction in the safe, un-bombed area of the Owl Mountains and the Wałbrzych region. Prisoners of the Gross-Rosen camp and prisoners of war, as well as high-class specialists from all over Europe, worked here.
Implementation
Roads and railroads have been connected to the construction site. Adits were dug and bunkers were built on the surface. Up to 20,000 armed German soldiers, a medium-sized city, but underground, were supposed to shelter up to 20,000 armed German soldiers in the concrete, heated, and guarded basements. The soldiers, in addition to performing their duties, were supposed to protect scientists in the field of physics and chemistry inside the underground, working probably related to uranium and heavy water, and therefore perhaps work on an atomic bomb (?) Or a nuclear reactor (?).
Work stoppage
At the beginning of 1945, due to the approaching offensive of the Red Army and Polish troops attacking Lower Silesia, the work that had already been going on for a year and a half was stopped.
The Germans took away prisoners, workers and some machines, and masked the underground (leaving the construction site for a possible return) with hidden deposits from banks and, according to some information from the so-called "The gold of Wrocław".
After the war, in the years 1945-1947, the Red Army, local enterprises and the local population removed everything that could be developed.
Contemporary development of the underground
Empty tunnels scared, but at the same time became a destination for brave, young people. They were looking for treasures, gold and the "amber chamber". These valuable items have not been found, but much has been said about dangerous expeditions and mysterious underground explorers.
In the mid-90s of the twentieth century, the underground was secured and developed, since then it can be visited while learning the history of World War II. In one of the chambers there is a commemorative plaque with the names of people who prepared and made the object available for sightseeing.
You can see underground workings of various stages of construction, guardhouses with shooting windows, grenade launchers, mining lutes (ventilation pipes), communication walkways with upper technological channels, flooded sidewalks with water backlight, tools and devices, remnants of weapons from the war period.
The underground and the overground part are visited.
In one of the halls there is an exhibition of weapons of various armies on the fronts of World War II.
You can also see a unique facility in the Sowie Mountains - a 10-meter-high hall carved 50 meters under the gneiss rocks of the Osówka Mountain (716 m above sea level), with original formwork, established at the end of 1944.
In the middle of the forest there is a reinforced concrete building, probably a ground central command post, a railway ramp, a building materials storage (including fossilized cement bags) and an underground tunnel leading towards the shaft. A goods and passenger elevator was to run in the shaft.
In the same forest, there is a concrete monolith with cellars, pipes of various types, which is said to be a prototype of a nuclear power plant (?).
Sightseeing
Currently, the facility is available to tourists of all ages and conditions. In order to learn the history, various underground and above-ground hiking routes have been created: historical (visiting time approx. 1 hour), extreme (about 1.5 hours), educational (especially for children, approx. 2 hours), "Riesie Expedition", terrestrial.
The underground can be visited all year round thanks to modern tourist facilities.
In the building of the tourist service center there is a restaurant serving "home" dishes, desserts: cakes, coffee, ice cream and drinks.
Tourists from other countries will be guided by guides who speak their language.
Being in the area, it is definitely worth spending a few hours to discover the secrets of this unusual underground city.
Tourist information
Underground city OSÓWKA Tourist Service Center Świerkowa 29 d, Sierpnica, 58-340 Głuszyca [email protected] tel. 74 84 56 220 www.osowka.pl (there also price list and visiting hours)
More photos can be found in commons in the "Hitler's Underground City" category.
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