Augarten Flaktowers

Augarten Flaktowers - darkometer rating : 2 - Huge tower-like bunkers, originally built for anti-aircraft gun batteries and as public air-raid shelters. Now these big grey monsters are Vienna 's (and Austria 's) largest WWII relics … brooding, colossal giants oozing dark atmosphere (but not accessible inside). > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: "Flak" is short for "Flugabwehrkanonen" in German – i.e. 'anti-aircraft guns'; and "Türme" is 'towers'. And indeed they are kind-of tower-like gigantic bunkers, between 7 and 13 stories high, primarily built towards the end of WWII as bases for heavy anti-aircraft gun batteries on the roof. The lower floors also served as additional air-raid shelter space for the city's population. These towers always came in pairs – one for the actual gun batteries, called the "Gefechtsturm", the other, the "Leitturm", was for radar and other tracking devices, which needed to be separate from the guns in order to work properly. Three cities in the Third Reich (on the territory of today's Germany and Austria ) were thus supposed to be better protected from the increasing Allied bombing campaigns during the second half of WWII : Hamburg , Berlin and Vienna . The latter two had three pairs each, Hamburg only two, so there are eight in total. Only in Vienna, however, do all towers still exist. The guns didn't do much to prevent the large-scale destruction from the air. In fact, the number of planes shot down by these Flaks was negligibly low. But they did serve their second role well – that of providing air-raid shelter space for the densely populated cities. In addition they housed emergency hospitals and broadcasting stations.