Soltau-Lüneburg Training Area
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The Soltau-Lüneburg Training Area (SLTA) was a British and Canadian
military training area A military training area, training area (Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom) or training centre (Canada) is land set aside specifically to enable military forces to train and exercise for combat. Training areas are usually out of bounds ...
in
North Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...
from 1963 to 1994. It was governed by the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement (, SLA) between the
Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...
, the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. The area was located in the
Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...
in the state of
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
and was used particularly by
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
s and other
armoured vehicles Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of Fragmentation (weaponry), shrapnel, bullets, Shell (projectile), shells, Rocke ...
.


History

In spite of the establishment of the Bergen Training Area in 1935 and the two training areas in Munster (1893 and 1916), the protected areas of the
Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve The Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve (German: ''Naturschutzgebiet Lüneburger Heide'') is one of the oldest and largest nature reserves (''Naturschutzgebiete'' or ''NSG''s) in Germany, and the oldest and largest in Lower Saxony. It was first establ ...
were initially out-of-bounds for military purposes. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, however, German military installations were built here, including a ''
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
'' observation post on the
Wilseder Berg At , the Wilseder Berg is the highest point on the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany. Due to its position in the middle of the nature reserve Lüneburg Heath it is a popular tourist destination, especially in the period when the Ericaceae, heather ...
, a satellite hospital for the city of
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
in Wintermoor and a military airfield near Reinsehlen. After the Second World War, Canadian forces and units of the
British Army of the Rhine British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked ...
conducted military exercises on the Lüneburg Heath from 1945 as part of their occupation rights. There was initially no defined training area. The site of the former German military airfield became Reinsehlen Camp and was used continuously by British armoured units from 1950. In the early years, the occupying forces continually extended their exercise area until they reached as far as the Wilseder Berg, but they pulled back again in the late 1940s. From 1948 they no longer exercised all year round, but restricted training to eight months of the year. The president of the Nature Reserve Society (''Verein Naturschutzpark'') or VNP,
Alfred Toepfer Alfred Carl Toepfer (13 July 1894 in Hamburg – 8 October 1993 in Hamburg) was a German entrepreneur, owner of the company Toepfer International and founder of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation. He helped to shape the original internal markets of t ...
, fought for the preservation of the reserves, but the British commander-in-chief only offered farmland and grassland areas that were desperately needed to feed the population. In the wake of the integration of
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
into the West, the country joined
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
in 1955, whereupon the occupation statute ceased to operate. The Paris Peace Treaties contained a new regulation for the presence of foreign troops in West Germany, which henceforth became known as "Sending States' Forces", stationed in Germany to help defend the country against possible invasion by the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
-controlled
Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...
. In 1956 the Canadians largely stopped exercising in this area. That year the British withdrew from an area of 600 hectares near Haverbeck, after major protests by the locals.


Agreement

On 3 August 1959 the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom signed a special agreement in Bonn permitting exercises in the area of Soltau-Lüneburg in order to be able to train to defend Germany in the event of attack during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. The agreement was included in Article 19 of the NATO
Status of Forces Agreement A status of forces agreement (SOFA) is an agreement between a host country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. SOFAs are often included, along with other types of military agreements, as part of a comprehensive security ...
(SOFA). Due to its protracted ratification, the law was not published in the statute book until 1961 and it went into force on 1 July 1963 as the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement (''Soltau-Lüneburg-Abkommen''). In 1965 a Standing Committee for the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement (''Ständiger Ausschuss für das Soltau-Lüneburg-Abkommen'') was formed. It handled complaints, strove to balance the interests of different parties and coordinated civilian and military issues. The agreement permitted stationed troops to conduct exercises all-year-round within the specified area. Villages and farmsteads were not to be used as military objectives and armoured vehicles could not move on Sundays or public holidays.


Location

The Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement designated an area, 40 km long and 10 km wide, between the towns of
Soltau Soltau () is a mid-sized town in the Lüneburg Heath in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has around 22,000 inhabitants. The city is centrally located in the Lüneburg Heath and is known nationwide especially for its touri ...
and
Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...
, with an area of about 34,500
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s, in which some 26,000 people lived. The federal government rented about 12% of the area, of which the stationed forces were given about 4,600 hectares as red areas ''(Rote Flächen)'' for their continuous and unrestricted use. 3,700 hectares of red area belonged to the present-day county of
Heidekreis Heidekreis ("Heath district") is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Celle, Hanover, Nienburg, Verden and Rotenburg. History Hist ...
, the remaining 900 ha to the county of
Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...
. Before the agreement the military had been using 48,000 hectares for training purposes. The red areas were set aside purely for the stationed troops, the
Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...
were not permitted to exercise on them.


Impact

Around 1,800 landowners were required, under the agreement, to make their property available for military purposes. With over 1,600
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s, the Nature Reserve Society was one of the landowners affected and they refused to accept the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement from the outset, although their opposition came to nothing. Another 1,600 hectares belonged to private landowners. In 1970, several landowners were allowed to return their estates to agricultural use. In the mid-1970s, the VNP unsuccessfully sued, citing the unconstitutionality of the agreement before the county court in Lüneburg. As a result of armoured vehicle training, the heathland of the red areas increasingly resembled a desert. The areas were not, however, placed out-of-bounds like a normal
military training area A military training area, training area (Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom) or training centre (Canada) is land set aside specifically to enable military forces to train and exercise for combat. Training areas are usually out of bounds ...
and the public could enter them. In a few cases there were accidents as a result of visitors tampering with training munitions. No live firing was permitted in the area, however. During the 1970s, an average of 1,500 armoured vehicles and 30,000 soldiers exercised in the training area each year under the terms of the agreement. As a result, traffic on the local roads was heavy due to troop movements and there was an increased risk of accidents. The local population had to put up with noise, dust and vibration. In addition, the harvests were sometimes affected and roads damaged by the movement of heavy military loads. However, significant compensation for the damage caused was regularly paid by both the British and German governments in accordance with the SOFA.


Protests

In
Schneverdingen Schneverdingen (; Low Saxon ''Snevern'') is a city in the northern part of the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the area known as Lüneburg Heath. Geography Location Schneverdingen is situated approximately nort ...
a citizen's initiative was begun in 1986 to reduce the military impact in the Lüneburg Heath. They gathered 13,000 signatures demanding the end of the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement. Its members organised many protests. In 1988 they collected around 100 oil drums from the red areas and protested to the Lower Saxon parliament in Hanover. In 1990 they obstructed the railway ramp at Reinsehlen Camp to prevent the off-loading of tanks. In 1991, the blockade of an underpass near the camp was set up to prevent tanks entering the heath. In another citizen's initiative was started in Amelinghausen in 1988 to reduce military exercises. In 1992, both movements, together with other environmental organisations, demanded that the minister president of Lower Saxony,
Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...
, put an end to the exercises and the agreement.


End of the Agreement

In 1989, at the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement was renegotiated by defence ministers,
Gerhard Stoltenberg Gerhard Stoltenberg (29 September 1928 – 23 November 2001) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as Minister-President ...
, and Tom King, in order to reduce the impact of exercises on the local population. In 1990, a break in training of several weeks was agreed during the time when the heath was in bloom during the peak tourist period of August and September. In addition no tanks were permitted to use the red areas on Sundays and public holidays. Villages were given a 400 metre wide buffer zone from armoured exercises and tanks were not permitted to drive through them at night. After
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
, the two defence ministers, Stoltenberg and King, reached an agreement on 17 October 1991 for the cessation of training in the heath. On 31 July 1994 the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement ran out and the last red areas were returned to the VNP. They have subsequently restored the areas with the assistance of the Federation.


Literature

*Reports by the NNA: ''Einer trage des Anderen Last - 12.782 Tage Soltau-Lüneburg-Abkommen'', 4th year/1993, special issue


External links


Military use of the Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve under the Soltau-Lüneburg Accord...
Report and references on the nature reserve's website

("Everything is permitted"), article in SPIEGEL dated 11 October 1976

article in SPIEGEL dated 12 July 1971 {{DEFAULTSORT:Soltau-Luneburg Training Area Treaties of West Germany Lüneburg Heath Soltau Lüneburg Military history of the United Kingdom Military history of Canada