In This Issue...!

This is the time for a new newsletter because we have some very interesting information to announce regarding the ongoing Charlie Battery history and its continuing popularity in the collective memory of the people around the Heuchelberg, and the greater Heilbronn area as well.

As I have previously stated a great source of the ongoing information and history about Charlie Battery are the plethora of articles by Local and regional newspapers like the Heilbronn newspaper called "The Heilbronner Stimme", and Zaber-Neckar Post. Our battery has been well documented by these newspapers that have been writing articles since the Battery was first proposed back in mid 1950's, and it still continues.

A great example of this may be viewed in the "Beginning and the End" articles that have been combined into one PDF. Both articles are by the Zaber-Neckar Post, local Zabergäu paper. So please “Click Here” for a local point of view. As I am sure you remember the Zabergäu is the valley that goes from the Neckar River at Lauffen, and it runs all the way up to and past Brackenheim, Haberschlacht " Stockheim, Guglingen, Pfaffenhofen, up to Zaberfeld. You can view Uli Pfingstler's excellent PDF about the Zabergäu (pronounced Zabergoy), so please “Click Here” to update your memory and a great overview.

Included here are events that have led to even more recent activities that continue to document Charlie Battery's presence and history on the Heuchelberg.

The Installation of Information Kiosks Around Charlie Battery

After the kaserne was no longer used for Nike Guided Missiles, it continued to be used by the U.S. Army for other guided missile purposes. For a while there was a Hawk Unit, and later a Pershing Tactical Nuclear Mobile Missile Unit used the base. The Pershing was a tracked missile that was truly a mobile and self contained weapon, so barracks and launching areas were not necessarily required. So, with no fixed equipment required, all of the areas like the launching area, the barracks, and the IFC basically fell into an ever increasingly state of disrepair and degradation. Finally the Kaserne was deactivated and returned to Bundes Republic, or German Government.

There is a wonderful newspaper article by Claudia Kostner about 3 gentlemen who were very much involved in Charlie Battery in one way or another. Günter Walter, Robert Böckle, and Werner Kümmerle are featured in this piece and I highly recommend that all will read and honor their efforts, and stories about their experiences, which are directly related to this discussion. Please “Click Here” to open this document.

For the most part the base languished and was forgotten and over grew , returning to nature. But the base was never forgotten by the local people, and it always visited by people who were out for a walk or their flying model airplanes over at the IFC Model Airplane Aerodrome.

The Launching Area was completely torn down, including the revetments, missile hangers, concrete pads... Everything. After everything was removed it was discovered that the area was seriously toxic and polluted, so it was decided to turn it into a construction waste landfill, and the rest is history. Interesting information can be read about the state of the landfill by selecting the link available in next few paragraphs below. Three short, but very interesting stories come in this three part article that reveal new information, so “Click Here” to open this document.

The entrance to the landfill is from the new road that was cut through the woods, just around where the Gasthaus in The Woods is. The road runs from Brackenheim where it just by passes Haberschlacht, which there is an exit to, up the hill, over and down to Kleingartach to Schwaigern road. A right turn goes to Stetten and beyond. However, just as you come off the hill just before that road is a left turn off that leads to a very well organized recycling depot, or in German, deponie. This recycling depot is for the general public, opposed to Launching Area landfill, which is for commercial construction only.

Also, I think this website helped with the historical reconnect ion, as it offered photographs that reignited memories of the "Good ole Days". Those who were interested, and later became good friends, contacted the website, offered historical documents, and news of events, as well as interesting photos which helped local folk see their history in a new light.

In 2011 the area celebrated the "Year of the Forest". The event included food, music, children's games, and a display tent that featured history and information about Charlie Battery. You can read stories and view photos of the event, so “Click Here” to visit that PDF.

It was about that time the local Forester Jochen Rüb got the idea that it would be a helpful to install Information Kiosks in each of the Charlie Battery areas, so that people who visited the former Kaserne would have accurate historical information about activities of each area. He asked for help in the project from Thomas Schulz, who has long been our good friend, as he was a great person who could really contribute to the effort.

There was a long pause in the project until the end of 2015 due to other important issues that the Forestry Service had to deal with. Climate change has put many forests under extreme pressure. So, attention to these kinds of problems, which many Forest Services are            >>>

Kiosk Installation Continued...

having, forces them to devote serious attention to try and understand them. But then the Kiosk project began to speed up resulting in many phone calls, e-mail, and early morning meetings in Eppingen and on the Heuchelberg.

Jochen and Thomas selected photos, information text, and created designs for the sheets of each area. However in 2017 the Breitenbach Company, the company chosen to create those sheets for the Kiosks, rejected their designs due to technical problems, so the company redesigned them and after the 3rd or 4th version.

So, Breitenbach finished the sheets in June 2018, however, because of the really hot and dry weather in 2018, the Forestry Service had deal with dying trees and other wood damages happening in the forests, so they could not install the finished Kiosks.

In Germany every process has its own time, progress, and finality. But finally in October 2019, the Charlie Battery Information Kiosks were installed.

Here is a brief timeline provided by Thomas Schulz that really illustrates just how involved and detailed the project was, but like fine German Wine, it takes time, effort and commitment that each step along the way to completion.