Taken for the SS : The Establishment of the Military Training Area Bohmen in the Years of the Second World War
Abstract
In 1939, the SS had already shown interest in a space along the Vltava and Sázava Rivers and cities of Benešov and Sedlčany. However, the construction of the military training area started as late as 1942, and the expansion of needed areas continued for an additional two years.
Protractions originated from differing views among high-ranking Nazis, primarily surrounding problems financing the projects and efforts to calm the situation in the protectorate. These factors hampered works on the military training area, which was first called Beneschau (and later named Böhmen after its expansion in 1943).
The creation of the military training area augmented military needs, but was also a consequence of Czech and Moravian Germanisation, and a sign of reinforcement of German power on the occupied territory. By late 1941 or early 1942, the local people became aware of the upcoming plans.
Locals were alarmed by this, and rightly so, but they hoped that a quick defeat of Germany and an early end of the war would halt the German plans. But the war continued for another three years, and enabled gradual vacation of all relevant territory, the expropriation of properties, and displacement of inhabitants.
These "unsettled people" were strained and sought new living and work. From a total population of thirty thousand people, more than half of whom originally populated the exercise ground territory, were forced to find new homes.
The others, who could or had to stay, were employed as staff. Later, most of those who remained were ordered to be removed by an exercise ground director.
The Military Training Area Böhmen became one of the most important facilities for the Waffen-SS, offering multiple uses for military training. There were four specialized schools for different branches, utilized by a large number of units from most SS-divisions.
The training had to prepare soldiers both in practice and theory for battlefield duties.