Baltic Sea watchtower

The Baltic Sea watchtower in Kühlungsborn is an old East German border troops watchtower that was manned by the Coastal Brigade or GBK. As a maritime observation town of type BT 11 it was one of a series of originally 27 towers of this type on the coast of East Germany, of which only two survive.
The tower was built in 1972 and is located in Kühlungsborn Ost immediately next to the beach promenade, not far from the pier. The border defence soldiers of the Coastal Brigade had the task of observing shipping movements on the Baltic Sea and identifying escape attempts. By means of a fixed telescope with high magnification, the four-man crew could observe a wide area up to 12 nautical miles from the observation platform. At night the vicinity could be illuminated with a searchlight on the roof of the tower. The basic equipment on the observation deck included a radio station, a stand-by generator and heating. Below the windows were sealable embrasures for weapons. The guards recorded every apparently suspicious movement. The radio equipment was part of the border reporting network, so border patrol vessels and land-based units could be alerted immediately.

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| | Public | German