I think I have read that they were platforms for cranes and winches during the construction of the upper floors. There was a large crane sited between the gun emplacements at roof level, but that was installed after construction, and used to lift supplies and munitions.

Yes funnily I saw that Iron Cross yesterday looking at Google Maps satellite View. I was very surprised to see it even still permitted, and I would like to know a bit more about it's history etc.

neil03152 surprised?? it means bravery

hey michi, on Wikipedia it says they did try to "After the war was lost, the demolition of the towers was in most cases not feasible and many remain to this day."

+michi aha its a national treasure most germans arent proud of what happened but they keep it there as an example

+michi aha They are made of 20ft thick reinforced concrete...that is bunker concrete, bunker concrete has by weight up to 2 to 1 ratio pf reinforcing steel to concrete. It's actually really expensive and dangerous to demolish buildings like this as any shortcut/mistake in the process might make the structure into a fucked up giant maze of chunks of concrete in a jumble of thick rebar.

Manintoga Incredibly strong aye😉

michi aha Supposedly the Russians tried using explosives to destroy some of the large flak towers, but all they accomplished was to damage or destroy nearby buildings.