Kummersdorf

Kummersdorf (German pronunciation: [ˈkʊmɐsdɔʁf]) is the name of an estate near Luckenwalde, around 25 km south of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region of Germany.

In 1871, the Prussian ministry of war decided to move the artillery test range at Tegel to the Kummersdorf Forest.

In the 1920s, secret development started in the areas of artillery, armored forces, motor vehicles, signals technology and aviation.

Dornberger, Walter Riedel, and Wernher von Braun tested their first rocket motor on 21 December, using liquid oxygen and 75% ethyl alcohol.

Flight tests (now also supported by the Luftwaffe) were carried out at Neuhardenberg (a large field about 70 kilometres east of Berlin, listed as a reserve airfield in the event of war).

On 3 June 1937 the Heinkel He 112 was flown by test pilot Erich Warsitz, propelled by rocket power alone, despite the wheels-up landing and having the fuselage on fire due to an unpredicted area of low aerodynamic pressure drawing alcohol fumes back into the airframe which then ignited.

[3][2]: 114–116 [1]: 57 In May 1937, Dornberger, and most of his staff, moved to Peenemünde on the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast which offered much greater space and secrecy.

[2]: 56, 60 [1]: 57 Hitler visited Kummersdorf West in March 1939, accompanied by Walther von Brauchitsch, witnessing the test firing of the 650 and 2200 pound thrust rocket motors, and viewed components of the A-3 and A-5.

Kummersdorf was also the location for the analyses, studies and testing of various German-captured Allied tanks and armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs).

Non-mobile equipment, including a VK 4501 (P) took part in combat south-east of Kummersdorf, where they and workers, civilians and other people at the facility were thrown together to make a makeshift grenadier unit.

On March 9, 1945 the commander of Army Group Vistula signed the order for all tanks still at Kummersdorf to be sent away in parts to the occupying defences around Stettin.