In 1934 two sites were selected in Germany for Army communications and command centers. These centers were to be built by the German Postal Service (Deutsche Reichspost), which operated the national telephone system. One site was to be in Zossen and its communications center was code named “Zeppelin.” The other site was to be in Ohrdruf, and its communications center was code named “Olga.” Zeppelin became the main Army communications center. In early 1937, all efforts were concentrated in construction of the site at Zossen, which is a short distance south of Berlin.
The site at Zossen included Zeppelin, and an Army command office bunker code named “Maybach 1.” An Army command office bunker code named “Maybach 2” was completed at a later date. All bunkers were huge and were entirely under ground. Zeppelin and Maybach 1 were next to each other and were connected by a tunnel. The above ground entrances to the bunkers were disguised as residential buildings. Underneath the facades, the buildings were made of thick, reinforced concrete.
On August 26, 1939, the Army General Staff arrived in Zossen for the opening of the bunker complex. One officer remarked, “I can’t believe my eyes when I see this massive underground facility. The whole area … has a basement of up to 20 meters. The entire office space is under the earth; the individual floors with corridors one below the other tied together. But the most powerful are the enormous technical facilities: The repeater office, the pneumatic tube system, the automatic dialing frames, a long-distance and local exchange with 40 long-distance switchboards, a telex exchange, …. machine rooms, diesel systems, fresh air rooms, kitchen, laundry, and bath rooms – just enormous.”
In the beginning, Zeppelin was the center for Army telephone communications within Germany, Austria, and the Sudatenland. After the start of World War 2, it became the center for Army telephone communications throughout all Axis territories and all conquered territories, including Poland, parts of the Soviet Union, Norway, and France.
Very few photographs exist of Zeppelin in operation during the war. Other than a few architectural plans and telephone cable general maps, not much documentation exists. The complex was captured intact by the Soviets in April, 1945. The Soviets stripped it clean, blew up some of it, and occupied the rest as a cold war base.
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WW2 German Field Telephone Equipment 