Gigantic WWII U-Boat Bunker

In this video we are going to take a tour of the gigantic bunker that was built for the construction of German Submarines or U-Boats. We are going to explore this bunker not just from the outside but also from the inside as we look at why the bunker was built and how they planned to mass produce Type XXI submarines.

Spoiler alert, the bunker was never finished, the Allied bombs damaged it to such an extend that the Germans gave up on it.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:24 Dimensions
00:47 Construction
01:34 U-Boat Construction
02:48 Inside the bunker
03:41 Bomb damage
04:49 After the war

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[TheBattlefieldExplorer]

I've made a small mistake in my video, it was the 617 Squadron that bombed it on March 27, 1945, not the 615 Squadron.

[adamfrbs]

That roof thickness is incredible. Vast resources were just poured into all kinds of things like this. It's crazy.

[myfastcars]

When I was in the US Navy, The USS Miami visited Bremerhaven for a scheduled port call in 1998 and we were offered a tour of the bunker. It was a very educational tour and I really enjoyed it.

[dwant]

in 1000 years in the future, archeologist will say that this was the ancient German religious temple

[SvenAlbertPedersen]

My dad used to live some five or ten minutes away from the bunker in the 90s and when I was in my teens I "visited" Valentin from the outside a couple of times and peeked through and over the fence. When I joined the German army, I got in contact with the commander of the site, if I could visit it (as with your army pass you can/could actually enter 'every' military facility in Germany). To my amazement I could have, but I somehow did not make it to Bremen that year.
Great to hear, that it is open to the public now. Definitely put that on the list for my next stop there.

[MikeT-TheRetiredColonel]

For those looking to find it easier - 53°13'00.81" N 8°30'14.87" E

[barnigerollheimer]

"Valentin" was the second largest submarine bunker in Europe. A million tons of gravel and sand, 132, 000 tons of cement and 20, 000 tons of steel were used to build the bunker. A body found in the foundation of the bunker on June 28, 1957, was apparently one of the deceased forced laborers. The blasting of the bunker was also discussed, but then discarded because the possible damage in the area would have become too great. It was assumed that the large collapsing masses would produce an artificial earthquake, as a result of which the district of Rekum would be largely destroyed and the nearby Farge power plant would be severely damaged. And so "Valentin" will surely be seen for many years over "Rekum". Greetings from Germany.

[lexas]

Very interesting man, never knew about this. Keep it up.

[petehayes]

Thank you for creating one of the best videos about the u- bunkers. Very informative.

[terrelmchenry]

I KNEW OF THE TYPE 21 BUT NOT OF THIS PLACE. I CAN'T BELIEVE THE AMOUNT OF CONCRETE, WOW.

[gesternvorgestern]

I live a few 100m away from this Bunker.I think it will be still there in 3020

[TheHistoryUnderground]

That just made the destination list. Thanks for sharing!

[francisebbecke]

Wow! I was stationed near Bremen 1977-1980 during the Cold War. If I had known, I would have visited this.

[fionabuchan]

I recently visited this site as part of following my fathers footsteps through Europe. It is like a massive mausoleum. So incredibly interesting, and well worth a visit

[Piper]

Nice video. The arrows showing the locations helped. Amazing that even at that late date in the war, they still had plans for more U Boats.

[theautumnalcyclist]

In the UK we made vast concrete towers in the 60s that are falling apart, these were made in the 40s, bombed and still standing?

[stagemuppet]

Well done to the German government keeping it and opening to the public
Something the U.K. really should take note of
I live near cammel lairds and sadly we think it’s ok to raise one of few U-boats from the sea bed then decide to cut it into sections and just display one part of it 😢😢

[Sbr-ch]

Thank you very much for this wonderful video. I'VE never seen such a huge structure in world war 2 era. amazing massive building which still stand like a rock. keep posting them.

[Fischfischfisch]

There is actually another room which you didn't mentioned. It is on the far right of the floor plan. It is used as a storage room for private boats. When I had the chance to look inside, there was also a privately owned German WW2 tank. It's sad that there are no informations about the rooms in the "second" floor and on the rooftop. Even the people who work there were not able to tell me what's up there :(

[michaelbevan]

One of my colleagues, his dad was an Irish merchant mariner in WW 2 and they were captured by the Germans and despite being neutral and operating an Irish ship, they were imprisoned in a Marlag (sailor's POW camp) and forced to work on this monstrosity, despite the efforts of the Red Cross to get them freed as neutral non-combatants. Hundreds died from overwork on a meagre diet and they got sod all in the way of compensation from the Germans after the war. Knock this place....