BRANDIS AIRFIELD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A000700190001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: REPORT

--Approved fort etease 2flOet1 Qt6'6` ?-CIA-Rf3P80"=OIIS1 DK'D7'C0'1 D'ff0'T= ""'"`
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sE;URITY INFORNATIONN
CGUNTRY-
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EVALUA T EOIT-
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DATE OF CONTENT
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DATE OBTAINED
REFERENCES-, .._
PAGES _v., ' -ENCLOSURES
REMARKS_..,~.__ _ .-, ___
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permanently an he learned from a carpenter on 19 January that the unit had
cabinets made. Two Po-2s and 1 Yak-].4 plane were assigned to the ground attack unit.
......PLACE OBTAINED __p_ 25X1
-DATE PREPARED
1 - sketch on ditto
1. The following air activity.and aircraft
27 Deceiiber 1952 and 19 January 1953:
26 February 1953
at Brandis airfield between
27 December. Mere was a 2/10 overcast and good visibility. At 9 a .b, a Pc_2
plane took off from the middle of the away. Pt 9:10 a.m., a parachute j ip,was
made from the plane at an altitude of about 800 meters. After dropping abort
20 meters? the parrehute epened, Five parachute jumps on this daY25X1
All parachutists landed safely on the riddle of the runway. tit, 11 a.m., a local
flight was made by a Li-2 plane ?1
28 to 0 Qecer~b> era There was no air activity. Usually, the weather was foggy.
,11 AcembarL There was a compact overcast and visibility of 3 km. At 9:20t. Qm.q
3 ground attack aircraft? 1. radio truck, 1 tank trz"uck, 1 fire truck, 2 trucks and
1 sedan parked at the east end of the runway. At 9:30 a.m., the
.first to e o was Dade by a ground attack plane which made a local flight of
about 20 minutes. At about 2e30 p.m,, air activity was discontinued. Dives were
made from an altitude of at-out 600 meters down to an altitude of 200 metere
J a n u a r y . and There was no air activity.
2,o 2 Jauasr There was ago air activity during snowfalls or fog. rircraf't
stationed at the field included 30 Li-2s, 36 to 40 attack aircraft, 2 biplanes and
I high -wing, monoplane,?
Q t anwa There was no air activity during mostly foggy 'weather or
snowfalls.
2 ;, In early January 1953, the members of the newly arrived
ground attack unit were easy to discern s om those of the air transport unit.
They wore cleaner clothes, displayed better discipline and behaved more
courteously to the civilian population. All the men. looked like Europeans,,
while the members of the air transport unit seemed to be Asiatics. From the well
performed landings and formation flights that the crews of tha3 25X,1
ground attack unit were trained pilotso acme aircraft a yellow and some red
propeller hubs, F' I the unit was to be stationed at the field
3, In late December 1952, the board fence at the field was trapped by barbed wire
about 30 am high.
CLASSIFICATION SECRET,
REPORT NO..
Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA000700190001-2
 ? Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00810A000700190001-2
SEC r' /
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a On U January, a radio in the nnortiwgstern corner 25X1
Three AA guns were long the fence at Brandis airfield
opposite the toga. of Leuu1itz, They were dug in only slightly
alt Sou h excavation work had been done in this area prior to arrival
of the guns t, On 15 J a~nuar y _. 7 or 8 men stood around each gun.
of the field, directly east of, and about 100 meters south of tine
northern end of, the fence. The radio station included a mast, 10
meters high, braced with eight wires on tops Four bracing wires,
hich were fixed to the top of the mast,, formed a larger angle with
the mast th'n the other four ieLres0 The outer wires were thicker
than the inner wiree, r truck ca ying a power unit was 0 25X1
beside the masts
On 10 January- three officers on the way to Brendia,?
They wore a badge of a lengthy triangle enamelled blue representing;
a black 113" on top of a small parachute, and golden wingse3
7. k inter maneuvers co maenced near Brandis airfield on 13 January and
still continued on 19 January,, The soldiers of a unit involved in t12a
manwavers near Poleax wore red-bordered black epaulets
and gunk insignia. Two tanks were in the wooded area south- 25X1
east of Polenz on the road to A1te ihaln, cording to an ex-soldier
of the German Army. they were T 34 tanks,, On 14 January, four AA
guns of about 76 amn arrived at the edge of the woods south of the
Polenz--Altenhain road and moved into emplacements there. The guns
were towed into revetments made of snow. about 120 men practiced
attacks In the shrubbery on the northern slope of Frauenberg, On 14
January, a general riding in a jeep took part in the maneuverso
According to a forest worker, a, large number of tents was located in
the woods south of Leul i tz a At about 10 a.m. on 16 January, about
500 men wearing red-bordered black epaulets marched on the Trebsen,.
-Pr le road and, later, along the fltenhain road into the woods,.
They were 18 to 21 years old, had close-cropped hair, and carried
rifles, At noon on the same day, two 12-anon squads wearing red-bordered
black epaulets and each commanded by an officer marched to Polenz. Me
ttro officers entered-a restaurant to have some drinks and stayed
there for one hour, while the Ell, had to wait outside0 The size of tho
unit practicing nea:v the airfield 'was estimated to a total of 800 ;mea
who wore red bordered black epavle s and mainly artillery insignia
25X1 Bea en 13 and 19 January. eight tanks involved in the maneuvers 0 25X1
Five of the tanks bore the white 25X1
Motor vehicles t the same time and involved in the
maneuvers which picked up water daily and
ry e^ "n s red-bordered black epaulets; trucks
riven by soldiers we:ring
red bordered black epaulets. I that the flying units 25X1
stationed at the airfield were to take part in the maneuvers since the
raw-my was cleared shortly before and the soldiers of the air base wore
not permitted to go out on the reuver daysa4
SECRET
Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00810A000700190001-2
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Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-0081OA000700190001-2
I Trent,., According? to the number and the models of the
airs: a `'t an air transport regiment and a ground attack
relent, are stationed at Brandis airfield.. While the transport
re meat has been stationed at the field for a fairly long periodg
the ground attack reg.1iient arrived from Dessau airfield as late as
26 Decemnber 1952.
oat ent. Far dketch of the badge, see hex.
~gwentM The tanks of Vnich the
belong to all three divisions of the First
4eez firm; V ICI I 25X1
to the h. Gds ?1ewz Div-, Hence j, it is still undetermined u at unl s
took actually put in the maneuvers o meter information is also
raquired on whether -the maneuve?rs in the Brandis area are connected
with the subsequent ehipments from Brandis to Schoenfeld airfield
on
SECRET.
Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA000700190001-2
 - Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00810A000700190001-2
3a:i?e Observed at Bx,andis Airfield
SLORUETj
Approved For Release 2006/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00810A000700190001-2