I shot this video together with Bart. When we finished shooting I spoke to a good friend of mine, Erik (he’s 29 years older than me) that we had been visiting this place. He then told me that they had been training with the KNR on top of the actual mountain when the headquarters was operational at the time of the cold war and they never knew what was inside.
I worked in a different, smaller bunker in the Hague, when I was in Signal Corps (543 VbdBedBat A-cie). But it functioned quite similar. When the first Gulf war broke out, we worked in 12 hour shifts and had regular training on how to enter through the decontamination entrance. I still remember how that telex started rattling just before the first attacks were announced on CNN.
Cool to see you review this. Good memories. In the 90s I had a secret tour here. The complex was still a restricted area at the time, but an acquaintance of my friends dad worked as a groundskeeper of the complex. He wanted to show us, a group of enthousiastic teenagers, around. First we walked around in the tunnelsystem for hours. Most of the cave system (the area behind the three blast doors) was still full with asbestos, so we all had to wear gas masks. All the lights in the system still worked, and the generators were still in operation. They were deliberately kept running because once they came to a standstill they would quickly deteriorate and could not be restarted. The noise in the generator room was deafening. The groundskeeper said that he had learned to sleep with this noise, us teenagers did not understand this at all. The generators ran on diesel and there was a room with gigantic brown tanks full of diesel, that were also refilled when necessary. In the first aid post there was also a kind of golf cart with a stretcher on it, I remember. By the way, there are more entrances and exits in the system than is mentioned here, not 3 but 7. Somewhere in the video the guide also mentions Exit 5. These exits were ofcourse strategic to the bunker. One of the entrances/exits is at the Albert canal. This provided a way to get goods and people from and to a waterway. You reach this exit from within the bunker by going through a very narrow barely man-high corridor of hundreds of meters. As teenagers we were very impressed by this and thought this was one of the coolest thing; this long narrow walkway really gave an impression on how massive this tunnelsystem was. The groundskeeper told us that "cave walkers", now we would call them urban explorers, did the wildest things to get into the cave system. Entrances were broken open and had to be closed up again and again and reinforced with brick walls and concrete. But sometimes they just dug a new hole around them to get in. The exits were also equipped with motion sensors with alarms. As icing on the cake we spent the night with the group of friends in the sideroom to the left of the entrance @5:10. Afterwards we received a plastic bag from the groundskeeper with different sings from the bunker, which we distributed among our group. Echo Street, Bravo Street, Golf Street and warning signs. I always kept these in a box, but the sign "in case of fire" has been hanging in the garage for years. 😍
11:58 Yes Sir. Have been there many times, during my time in the Dutch army. Very weird to see it empty like this. This is kinda comparable to what you lot have in cheyenne mountain and mount weather. I think nowadays you can take tours in Cheyenne.
In Vaals not far from this headquarters there is an old marl quarry where you can take a bike excursion. You cycle in pitch darkness behind a guide who has the only bike with a lamp. The rest follow him by shouting. At moments when the guide turns a corner you suddenly cycle in pitch darkness. Halfway there is a huge cave, where the guide explains about the marl extraction. Fortunately you get a helmet and that is necessary. This tour is a magnificent attraction. I did it a few years ago with my 2 sons. Best regards from the Netherlands, Jacques Dupain
There are still underground marl caves in Maastricht. Some can still be visited today, but you have to make a reservation in advance at the Maastricht Tourist Office. It is also interesting that during the Second World War part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum was hidden here from Nazi Germany. Including the famous painting by Rembrandt the Night Watch. The temperature in the marl caves is approximately between 15-18 degrees Celsius. So it is not that cold. Because of that temperature it is a good environment for growing mushrooms. The corridors were created in the Middle Ages by sawing blocks out of them and building churches for example. So there is more than André Rieu in Maastricht.
i do want to note that all the measurements in teh subtitles are poorly translated, they just changed the unit (ie m2 to sq. foot) not the amounts. That makes them somtimes even full orders of magnitude wrong. for example 1 sq. meter is 10.7 square feet for example. similar for hectare vs acre, or kg vs pound etc.
Hi highly. This moday the 27e it's 80 years ago since the liberation of Auswich! Maybe you can find some information for yourself to follow this very important event.
Some of these marl caves date back to Roman times and they're so vast that without a guide you will get lost and probably die ... They were also used as shelters in WWII, for people and for art works.
I shot this video together with Bart.
When we finished shooting I spoke to a good friend of mine, Erik (he’s 29 years older than me) that we had been visiting this place.
He then told me that they had been training with the KNR on top of the actual mountain when the headquarters was operational at the time of the cold war and they never knew what was inside.
And thank you so much for reviewing yet another video from our channel!
I worked in a different, smaller bunker in the Hague, when I was in Signal Corps (543 VbdBedBat A-cie). But it functioned quite similar. When the first Gulf war broke out, we worked in 12 hour shifts and had regular training on how to enter through the decontamination entrance. I still remember how that telex started rattling just before the first attacks were announced on CNN.
And still so many stories tell… 🧡
Working was it called? These guys had the time of their lives. Darts ,pool ,golf sure why not!😂😂😂
Cool to see you review this. Good memories. In the 90s I had a secret tour here. The complex was still a restricted area at the time, but an acquaintance of my friends dad worked as a groundskeeper of the complex. He wanted to show us, a group of enthousiastic teenagers, around. First we walked around in the tunnelsystem for hours. Most of the cave system (the area behind the three blast doors) was still full with asbestos, so we all had to wear gas masks.
All the lights in the system still worked, and the generators were still in operation. They were deliberately kept running because once they came to a standstill they would quickly deteriorate and could not be restarted. The noise in the generator room was deafening. The groundskeeper said that he had learned to sleep with this noise, us teenagers did not understand this at all. The generators ran on diesel and there was a room with gigantic brown tanks full of diesel, that were also refilled when necessary.
In the first aid post there was also a kind of golf cart with a stretcher on it, I remember. By the way, there are more entrances and exits in the system than is mentioned here, not 3 but 7. Somewhere in the video the guide also mentions Exit 5. These exits were ofcourse strategic to the bunker.
One of the entrances/exits is at the Albert canal. This provided a way to get goods and people from and to a waterway. You reach this exit from within the bunker by going through a very narrow barely man-high corridor of hundreds of meters. As teenagers we were very impressed by this and thought this was one of the coolest thing; this long narrow walkway really gave an impression on how massive this tunnelsystem was. The groundskeeper told us that "cave walkers", now we would call them urban explorers, did the wildest things to get into the cave system. Entrances were broken open and had to be closed up again and again and reinforced with brick walls and concrete. But sometimes they just dug a new hole around them to get in. The exits were also equipped with motion sensors with alarms.
As icing on the cake we spent the night with the group of friends in the sideroom to the left of the entrance @5:10.
Afterwards we received a plastic bag from the groundskeeper with different sings from the bunker, which we distributed among our group. Echo Street, Bravo Street, Golf Street and warning signs. I always kept these in a box, but the sign "in case of fire" has been hanging in the garage for years. 😍
11:58 Yes Sir.
Have been there many times, during my time in the Dutch army.
Very weird to see it empty like this.
This is kinda comparable to what you lot have in cheyenne mountain and mount weather.
I think nowadays you can take tours in Cheyenne.
Awesome I got to visit this. He has an awesome channel btw.
What's also interested in my hometown Maastricht is .. the underground Maastricht ..
In Vaals not far from this headquarters there is an old marl quarry where you can take a bike excursion. You cycle in pitch darkness behind a guide who has the only bike with a lamp. The rest follow him by shouting. At moments when the guide turns a corner you suddenly cycle in pitch darkness. Halfway there is a huge cave, where the guide explains about the marl extraction. Fortunately you get a helmet and that is necessary. This tour is a magnificent attraction. I did it a few years ago with my 2 sons.
Best regards from the Netherlands, Jacques Dupain
Thankyou for the reaction, keep up the good work! Gonna watch the video.
There are still underground marl caves in Maastricht. Some can still be visited today, but you have to make a reservation in advance at the Maastricht Tourist Office.
It is also interesting that during the Second World War part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum was hidden here from Nazi Germany. Including the famous painting by Rembrandt the Night Watch. The temperature in the marl caves is approximately between 15-18 degrees Celsius. So it is not that cold. Because of that temperature it is a good environment for growing mushrooms. The corridors were created in the Middle Ages by sawing blocks out of them and building churches for example. So there is more than André Rieu in Maastricht.
My younger brother worked there, sitting behind one of those telex machines, back in the seventies.
i do want to note that all the measurements in teh subtitles are poorly translated, they just changed the unit (ie m2 to sq. foot) not the amounts. That makes them somtimes even full orders of magnitude wrong. for example 1 sq. meter is 10.7 square feet for example. similar for hectare vs acre, or kg vs pound etc.
Small translation at 4:39. 7 hectare = 20 acres (not 7 acres)
Almost everyone in Maastricht knew of it existence in the 60's 70's and 80's
And imagine....this entire complex is only the tiniest fraction of the entire mine system
Hi highly. This moday the 27e it's 80 years ago since the liberation of Auswich! Maybe you can find some information for yourself to follow this very important event.
This bunker is now a verry nice musea that whil tell you the hole stroy how the workt there
In Valkenburg 's gemeente grot kan je ook nog een atoombunker zien. Ook een kleine stad in een berg.
Some of these marl caves date back to Roman times and they're so vast that without a guide you will get lost and probably die ... They were also used as shelters in WWII, for people and for art works.
Long before Roman times, because flint-stone, for tools, was mined here, during the stone age.