Hi Woodsy,
As a follow-up to your abandoned places piece, I thought you'd enjoy a couple of 35mm snaps I took in 1997, of an abandoned Soviet missile base in Lithuania.
The base, which was hidden deep within dense forest land, was very small, secluded and completely off the beaten track. When it was active, it possibly housed a single missile on a mobile launch platform.
I believe it was one of a number of remote bases concealed in the area. By 1997, the station was little more than an echoing statement of cold war paranoia, having been gutted and abandoned by the withdrawing Soviet missile troops, following Lithuanian independence in '91.
Pic 1 - Shows a simple Soviet propaganda mural at the outer perimeter checkpoint. What was left of it shows a Soviet soldier advancing with an AK47, as a missile launches over his shoulder.
Pic 2 - Shows a friend stood in front of the heavy bunker doors for scale. The missile (or missiles?) would've been housed behind these doors. There was no electricity, so zero visibility inside the empty bunker.
Pic 3 & 4 - Show the small size of remote station and the dense forest which surrounded it.
Tony K
UK
Up until a couple of years ago, I had never realized my hometown of Milwaukee had a series of six (I believe) Nike missile sites. All of them were right out in the open - not hidden. When my parents took me to the lakefront to view the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus wagons staged there for the big 4th of July parade, I had no idea I was standing on the site of a former missile site.
ReplyDeleteCertainly a bit of cold war history to your hometown, Ed
DeleteThese are amazing photos of a Cold War artifact it was hard to believe was real! SFZ
ReplyDeleteThank you, SFZ 👍
DeleteThere was nothing like that in New Zealand, so it is amazing that in some parts of the world the Cold War was pretty much on your doorstep. Very somber photographs.
ReplyDeleteIt was a compelling place, Paul. The Cold War footprint was still very evident.
ReplyDelete