Secret Yugoslavian underground radar site deep in the mountains of Croatia

[The Lost Trails]

In one of the most remote areas of the former Yugoslavia lies a forgotten radar base. As tensions arose between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, the country started preparing for war. A vast network of radio relay sites was build to serve as the backbone communication for the Yugoslavian national army. These sites were mainly located on mountain peaks, surrounded with landmines and guards patrolling around the clock.

A mountain house was constructed to conceal the huge blast doors leading to the underground part, where all essential communication equipment (radios, amplifiers) and backup generators were protected from air attacks. Each site had optical visibility with at least 3 others, forming a spider web like communication structure across the country.

All the doors of the underground part were made of thick steel and rubber seal on the edges. Some people say such locations could survive a nuclear strike, but that is debatable. The outside house was used as living quarters for the troops stationed there, with a kitchen, running water and conference rooms.

After the war in the 90s, such sites were abandoned, but the surrounding mines pose a deadly threat to this day, with new ones found yearly by hikers (mainly the PMR-2A type). If you are interested in the video exploration of the place, complete with the underground part, you can check it out here:

 

[night crawler]

Can see what that place remained hidden. I'm not sure I would want to come across mines while I was out hiking

 

[BikinGlynn]

Another nice little find that, thanks for sharing

 

[Hayman]

Seeing that the PMR-2A mines were anti-personnel, and able to be set off by someone's leg catching a trip wire, the risk of it happening at this site seems to be quite high. Against this is the age of the mines now. How did the hikers find them? The nature of the area means that there has not been a lot of subsequent vegetation growth to hide the wires. What happened to the found mines? Although the area of the radar base itself is not large, there is no saying how far out the mines were placed.

 

[The Lost Trails]

@Hayman The terrain is very mutinous, so you are right, not a lot of vegetation is growing, but there are enough small bushes to hide such mines. If somebody finds one, they can contact the police and they will take it from there. As for the mine on the picture, I don't know the details because it was shared by a forum user who spotted it looking outside the site's fence. Lucky, the mine had a missing top part where the trip wire would be attached. As for the mine placement, nobody really knows. Some people say that only the road leading up to the site is mined, others that the entire site is. You can only be sure after a full demining of the site is performed. The story goes that after the army withdrew following the collapse of Yugoslavia and subsequent civil war, a local hunter stepped on a PMA-2 mine near the complex (PMA-2 mine - Wikipedia) and lost his lower leg.

 

[Hayman]

@Hayman The terrain is very mutinous, so you are right, not a lot of vegetation is growing, but there are enough small bushes to hide such mines. If somebody finds one, they can contact the police and they will take it from there. As for the mine on the picture, I don't know the details because it was shared by a forum user who spotted it looking outside the site's fence. Lucky, the mine had a missing top part where the trip wire would be attached. As for the mine placement, nobody really knows. Some people say that only the road leading up to the site is mined, others that the entire site is. You can only be sure after a full demining of the site is performed. The story goes that after the army withdrew following the collapse of Yugoslavia and subsequent civil war, a local hunter stepped on a PMA-2 mine near the complex (PMA-2 mine - Wikipedia) and lost his lower leg.

Thanks for the extra info. Yes, the shrubs could well conceal mines. And it seems very likely that a local hunter may have caught the trip wire of a PMA-2 soon after the area had been abandoned by the military.