Beneath a forest in East Germany, doors, hatches, and pipes conceal vast underground steel chambers. Niederlehme Treib-/Schmierstoff-lager 44, or TSL 44, stands out as one of the most impressive locations I've visited.
Propellant, lubricant, and fuel have all been stored in these submarine- and UFO-shaped tanks since the 1940s. First methanol was stored here in 3 cylindrical tanks and used by the Nazis as material storage of an armaments factory. Then post-war, National People's Army (NVA) took over, added 2 larger round tanks to aparently store jet fuel. Pressurised supply lines linked these tanks to the canals of Niederlehme until the fall of the Berlin wall and reunified German Bundeswehr classified the location as expendable, resulting in abandonment the location.
The numbering of this location seems to hint that there is at least 43 other locations like this spread across Germany. The location of TSL 15 is known, but after some quick research is seems the rest are forgotten.
Jump to photos of the: cylindrical tanks, round tanks.
