(Image: via YouTube)
These scenes of withdrawn battle tanks, lined up row upon row in a scrapyard immediately west of Rockensussra, Germany, are almost surreal to behold. At a glance the old fighting vehicles appear to be in reasonable condition, certainly by comparison to the decaying Soviet hulks of the Kharkov tank graveyard in Ukraine, which Urban Ghosts recently featured.
(Image: Spiegel TV via YouTube – full video below)
Situated 186 miles southwest of Berlin, the withdrawn vehicles line the compound of the Koch Battle Tank Dismantling Firm, which specialises in the recycling of obsolete military equipment. The company, which is managed by Peter Koch, employs around 35 specialists at its 125,000 square metre site.
(Image: Tobias Nordhausen)
According to the Telegraph, around five tanks arrive daily in a dismantling process which takes up to three days. The site has witnessed up to 500 withdrawn battle tanks awaiting recycling at any one time, lined up in seemingly endless rows which almost appear to have been Photoshopped.
(Image: Spiegel TV via YouTube – full video below)
Founded in 1991 as the Cold War drew to a close, the Koch Battle Tank Dismantling Firm processes withdrawn fighting vehicles from across the world, though most of the abandoned tanks passing through the facility are veterans of the German armed forces.
(Image: Spiegel TV via YouTube – full video below)
In addition to the large numbers of battle tanks silently awaiting their fates, rows of engines already removed from recycled vehicles are also stored on site. Useful parts are salvaged for reuse on the country’s operational fighting vehicles, while the remainder is sold as scrap.
(Image: Tobias Nordhausen)
The process began in earnest with the fall of the Berlin Wall. By 2012, some 16,000 tanks are understood to have been dismantled on the outskirts of Rockensussra.
(Image: Tobias Nordhausen)
The video below from Spiegel TV features an interview with plant manager Peter Koch and shows the dismantling facility in full swing.
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