(Image: Tobias Nordhausen)
A few hundred miles southwest of Berlin sits a field of tanks so massive that it looks surreal. It’s easier to believe they’re Photoshopped instead of a real group of tanks waiting for the end of their lives.
(Image: florida 2014 via YouTube)
The Koch Battle Tank Dismantling Firm was founded in 1991 and specializes in taking apart the fighting vehicles of the world. They have no shortage of projects, either, as damaged and obsolete tanks sit in long, long lines, waiting their turn for the scrap heap. Many of the tanks there are German-made, their identifying marks at least partially scratched off even as they
wait for dismantling. The process started with the fall of the Berlin wall, when Germany’s army underwent some massive cuts. Something had to be done with all the heavy vehicles, and a complete dismantling means that in the end, they’re beyond recognition. Parts are then re-distributed to be recycled, with much of the scrap metal being sent to recycling plants to be processed and given new life as something completely different.
In some places, there’s rows upon rows of parts – tank engines form a landscape of jumbled parts. Tracks lay coiled and abandoned, and some of the tanks that are still functional are occasionally used to tow those that aren’t. The air is filled with sparks and the smell of fire as men cut through armour that was designed to stop enemy fire – back in the days before they were decommissioned.
As of 2012, 16,000 tanks had already been dismantled.