Facilities & Installations

Luftnachrichten Radio and Radar Intercept Units

The Luftwaffe’s signal intelligence agency, known as Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350, operated in all theaters collecting communications and electronics intelligence against Allied air activity. The Abteilung’s mobile intercept (funkhorch) companies were widely deployed in key areas. The units were equipped with communication intercept systems and modified radars to monitor electronic emissions. Imagery of two important collection sites on the Eastern and Western Fronts was available.

aerial photo of Luftnachrichten Intelligence Collection Site at Wissant France

aerial photo of Luftnachrichten Intelligence Collection Site at Minsk Belarus

aerial photo of High-Frequency Direction Finding Antenna HF/DF at Minsk, Belarus

A company-size element of Luftnachrichten Funkhorch Abteilung West was deployed near Wissant, Pas-de-Calais, France. Coverage from December 1943 shows the site had widely-dispersed positions with a number of different types of equipment (Graphic). Some of the positions and associated buildings were protected by blast walls.

On the Eastern Front, and elements of Luftnachrichten Funkhorch Abteilung Ost was identified at Minsk in February 1944. The Abteilung arrived at Minsk from Smolensk in September 1943 and operated through June 1944, when it relocated to Warsaw. An element of the Abteilung was identified on 23 February 1944, 9 km south-southeast of the city center, roughly midway between two major airfields (Graphic). The site, which was set up sometime after June 1943, had six separated antenna positions connected to a group of buildings; as at Wissant the equipment and buildings were protected by blast walls (Graphic). A newly-constructed telephone line ran to the facility from the east.

An Adcock high-frequency-direction finding (HF/DF) antenna was constructed 1.5 km to the east of the site before the unit's arrival. The antenna was nearing completion in June and finished in February 1944 (Graphic).The antenna's location suggests it might have been an intelligence-related radio direction finder, but the fact that it was situated between Minsk Süd and Minsk Machulishi airfields could indicate it was a navigation beacon. The antenna site is now occupied by a group of buildings, but an outer marker beacon for Minsk Machulishi is now located in a field 700 meters to the east.