Soviet Command Bunker 172 ОБВП
This relatively small abandoned bunker is located north of Parchim Airport. It was built around 1965 and initially served as a command post for the 20th Guards Fighter Regiment stationed at the airfield.
The airfield itself was built as part of the rearmament of the Wehrmacht in the mid-1930s and was opened in 1937.
The US Air Force destroyed the airfield in April 1945.
Four years after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was stationed at the rebuilt airport, which was later reorganized as a fighter-
bomber aviation regiment and replaced by the first helicopter units in 1970. The airfield was subsequently used by the 172nd independent combat helicopter regiment from 1973, which remained until 1992. The 439th independent helicopter regiment was added in 1987.
The command post was used to coordinate air operations and was a central hub for the Soviet air force in the region in the 1980s. The design of the bunker is monolithic, which means that the building consists of a single, continuous block of material or a homogeneous structure without being composed of separate elements or modules.
The bunker occupies an area of roughly 40x15 meters and has a usable area of around 150m². There is also a small service building for the bunker crew and a guard building in the vicinity.
After German reunification, the military use of the site was abandoned. Parts of the airfield were converted to civilian use, while the bunker remained abandoned and partially fell into disrepair.
Visited: October 4, 2020
Location: Parchim, Germany
Status: Abandoned
