Kummersdorf

Kummersdorf is the name of an estate near Luckenwalde, around 25 km south of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region of Germany. Until 1945 Kummersdorf hosted the weapon office of the German Army which ran a development centre for future weapons as well as an artillery range.

In 1871, the Prussian ministry of war decided to move the artillery test range at Tegel to the Kummersdorf Forest. The new range became operational on 15 October 1875 when it was connected with the Royal Prussian Military Railway. In 1880, the first firing experiments took place on the 12 km southeast-northwest firing range. These experiments investigated the effectiveness of various fortifications, and the effects of weapons and projectiles. Total size of the Kummersdorf Firing Range was 878.1 hectares. In 1913, the dropping of bombs from the LZ 13 Hansa airship and Wright biplanes was investigated. In the 1920s, secret development started in the areas of artillery, armored forces, motor vehicles, signals technology and aviation. On 21 September 1933, Hitler visited for the first time.

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