# Rzeczka - Poland - October 2014



## Derelict-UK (Nov 11, 2014)

Rzeczka was one of the smaller of the seven Project Riese underground complexes in South West Poland. This complex was less than a mile from our hotel in Walim and in winter months is in prime ski holiday territory!

The complex has three entrances, two of which are open to the public. One of the halls underground is 110m x 10m x 15m and is the largest of all the discovered halls. Some of the areas are partly finished off with concrete. The total length of the galleries and halls is around 700m.

Here is my history of Project Riese:



> In WWII at the start of 1943, in the Sowie Mountains, Lower Silesia, the Germans started the largest underground project of the Third Reich. It was codenamed ‘RIESE’ which means ‘A Giant’.
> 
> Thousands of prisoners of war were worked to death constructing the tunnels, many only lasted a couple of months as the German guards worked them 24 hours a day. Children as young as 10 years old were put to work hauling the mining carts with the spoil out of the tunnel systems. Some of the huge tunnel networks were constructed in 6 months, my images may not show the scale of the networks, it was hard to get a photo of everything in a short space of time, there are many tunnel branches that went off into the distant darkness, seemed to go on for ever. For the time frame it was an amazing feat for the progress but at a truly horrific human cost.
> 
> ...



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3. Project Riese played its role in the development of the V1 & V2 rockets. 





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8. A mock up of the V1 'Doodlebug'... 





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12. If you look close, you can see a mining cart, this hall was huge!





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17. Showing the complex in use, a layout and during its excavation...





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20. A memorial to 'Victims of Fascism'...






*D-UK*
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## flyboys90 (Nov 12, 2014)

Really interesting collection of images,and thanks for sharing.


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## hopehash (Nov 12, 2014)

Wow what an interesting place think it's now on my list, great pics


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## DirtyJigsaw (Nov 12, 2014)

Awesome, i like this. Nice one


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## UrbanX (Nov 12, 2014)

Nice write up, and lovely pics, I bet that was a bugger to light! 
Thanks for sharing


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## Derelict-UK (Nov 12, 2014)

UrbanX said:


> Nice write up, and lovely pics, I bet that was a bugger to light!
> Thanks for sharing



It was alright, F5.6-6.3 for most and ISO 500 with however many seconds (usually about 10), apart from the big halls, everything else was lit well. My flashlights worked with the rest, the hardest part was waiting for no-one to walk in shot lol.


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## Paulytwotanks (Nov 13, 2014)

Impressive yet haunting place. I couldn't help but think of all the wrecked prisoners of war who died helping to make this place a reality. But even so, a very interesting place so thanks for sharing.


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## Derelict-UK (Nov 13, 2014)

There's a couple more to come


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## daz5254 (Nov 15, 2014)

What a place to visit! Really jealous!


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## Scattergun (Nov 15, 2014)

Interesting place that.


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