NORTHAG War Headquarters Cannerberg

On April 15, 1954 an agreement was closed by the war Department, Stichting Limburgs landscape, freule Louise E.M. Poswick (1947 to owner of the Château Neercanne) and the Jesuit fathers from Maastricht that the Cannerberg from then on was used by the armed forces.

November 20, 1980 in the edition of weekly magazine Vox of the Belgian Armed Forces was reported on this secret underground NATO Headquarters: "somewhere in the region of Maastricht".

As a result of the construction of the Iron Curtain got the bunker also from 1 July 1963 in peacetime a permanent (24 hours a day, all year) military occupation.

From that time there were during the day such a 300-400 Dutch, Belgian, German, English and American soldiers about 40 persons, active at night and at multiple-day exercises up to 1000 people.

Should the war break out, then could the regional headquarters of the 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force (2ATAF) immediately from the German Rheindahlen (near Mönchengladbach), where it was housed in peacetime, be moved to this location.

This command covered the Dutch, British, Belgian, German and possibly American country units in the North of West Germany.

In the event of war it would be Joint Operations Centre (JOC) with forward command posts and their units by means of the communication system of the NATO Air Defence Ground Environment (J).

In this headquarters was via a heating system/air conditioning a constant temperature of 18 degrees Celsius reached with the desired humidity level.

In the mountain was a present so that excess pressure at a weapon of mass destruction - nuclear, biological or chemical attack outside the hazardous substances were held.

The work with the name N8W8 is a reference to The night watch by Rembrandt that along with other world-famous paintings during the World War II was hidden in the Sint-Pietersberg.