Concrete Factory Osówka
To construct and dig out an underground facility like the Osówka tunnel complex of Project Riese you need lots of electrical power and more than enough concrete to strengthen the tunnels. Digging out a facility in a solid rock mountain is not a walk in the park. The Osówka Tunnel system lie in a remote area therefore the Germans constructed a concrete factory on the site, on top of the tunnel complex and placed electrical generators nearby. They set up a camp for the forced laborer’s on the mountain as well and kept their workforce nearby in this concentration camp named Säuferwasser.
The map below shows the layout of the structures on top of the mountains and in grey, and with dashed lines, the subterranean tunnel system of Osówka below.
Topside of the mountain, the Concrete factory Osówka – Project Riese
Osówka, part of Project Riese, is the second largest tunnel complex in the Owl mountains in Poland. Forced laborers were provided by nearby concentration camps like Gross-Rosen and Auschwitz to construct this three-story system. Two levels of tunnels are built inside the mountain and one level is on the mountain top. Above ground are foundations of buildings and machinery, a transport ramp and water reservoirs. The main object located on the surface is the bunker named Casino, it is about 50 meter long and 0.5 meter thick, the roof of the building is prepared for planting trees and shrubs to conceal the facility in the woods from aircraft.
Two shaft lead down into the mountain, one looks like a cargo transport shaft straight down into the tunnel system and the other is an angled transporting device from the concrete factory into the lower tunnel system. There even is a complex piping system to be found what could be something like a (floor) heating system for concrete processing during the winter. Narrow gauge railway tracks leads to a nearby town. It was used for transport of men and materials and for mobile cranes, to emptie the cargo trains.
The tunnel system below named Osówka lies directly under the concrete factory, the whole setup, tunnel system, concrete factory and concentration camp Säuferwasser are part of Project Riese.
Visit
You can walk up the mountain from the Osówka tunnel system and wander about. Please be careful, not all the shafts are marked, do not venture to close and the Casino building has seen better days. During our visit it was free to have a look (2015).
