OKTOBERFEST 2002 REUNION - MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCT. 3-6, 2002
? WORLD'S LARGEST GATHERING OF INTERCEPT OPERATORS ?

Well the 'Bad Aibling Bandits', Noel Allard (58-60), Alton Flugum (67-69) and Alan Hargreaves (55-57), have done an outstanding job of setting up our next reunion. Here's the scoop on where, when and what's the line-up for the Oktoberfest 2002 Reunion:

Headquarters Hotel: Our Headquarters Hotel is the Ramada Inn, 2500 E. 79th Street, Bloomington, MN 55425. Make your reservations directly with the hotel. Their toll free phone number is 1-800-847-6255 and the local number is 952-854-1771 x-6183. Our rate is quoted as $69.00 plus tax per night with that price being good for the reunion dates and three days on either side of October 3-5. The hotel is located across the 494 Freeway from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The hotel has a shuttle service which will transport guests to the hotel from the airport.  Call the hotel from the terminal upon your arrival.

There are 40 rooms reserved for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and 10 rooms reserved for Sunday night. The block of rooms is reserved under the name of the ALPINERS. Make sure you use this name to make your reservation. You will understand why a little further along in this article. Remember, as with previous reunions, it is always easier to reserve and cancel later, if you must, rather than wait until the last minute and not have a room available. The absolute cut-off for room reservations is July 15th, but if you wait that long you will probably be out of luck. As in the past, should it be necessary to terminate your reunion plans, you will have to cancel with the hotel yourself. Remember - there will also be a national police chiefs' convention in Minneapolis the same weekend.

Thursday, October 3, 2002: After checking in, you can pick up your registration package from Ralph Thadeus (Scheyern 53-56) in the Meadow Room, our Hospitality Room. It is located on the lower level of the hotel. You can also drop off your Raffle items there. The Hospitality Room will be open from 3:00 p.m. Thursday through 5:00 p.m. Sunday.

Afternoon activities and dinner Thursday are on your own. There are numerous restaurants in the area including dozens at the Mall of America, just a stone's throw away, and accessible from the hotel by either walking or the mini-bus at no charge. See the Chamber of Commerce brochures in the hotel lobby for other nearby restaurants.

Reunion attendees interested in gambling at one of the famous Minnesota Native American Casinos, can get a free bus ride to the Mystic Lake Casino if there are from 25-40 persons, and you must stay a minimum of four hours at the casino. Call them from the hotel lobby.

Friday, October 4, 2002: Breakfast and lunch on your own. The Mall of America is available as is the Mystic Lake Casino. If there is enough interest, as indicated by response to the Planning Profile, a tour of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, can be arranged. The tour would depart at approximately 10:00 a.m. and include visits to the Minneapolis City Lakes, Minnehaha Falls, The Art Institute, the State Capitol and the St. Paul Cathedral. The tour would be limited to 40 persons reserving and the cost would be about $8.00 per person. If the Planning Profile indicated enough interest, but actual reservations were not enough, the tour would be canceled and money refunded in your Reunion Package. The Reunion Group will not guarantee full bus loads for this event.

Other interesting local places include The University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The Arboretum would be a 13 mile cab ride from the hotel. It features superb native flower gardens which include every kind of flower and flowering plant that grows in Minnesota. It is extensive, and features several miles of trails with trees of every variety, Dahlia Society plot, a free tour bus circuit of various gardens, trees, shrubs, hedges and waterfall. Entrance is $5.00 per person. There is a luncheon buffet on the grounds which features wonderful sandwiches. No formal plans have been established for this suggested activity.

Also within a cab ride from the hotel is the Minnesota History Center in downtown St. Paul and the St. Paul Science Museum with its large dinosaur fossils. Minneapolis' downtown area features skyways and restaurants, Marshall-Fields Department Store, skyscrapers, the Mississippi River Lock and Dam and Riverwalk. Both city down towns are historic and at this time of the year, very beautiful.

Business Meeting - Whatever your schedule for this day is, make sure you are back at the hotel by 3:00 p.m. for the Reunion Group's Business Meeting in the Hospitality Room. Finances of the Reunion Group will be reviewed and members willing to be the coordinator(s) of the next reunion (Spring 2004 - before Memorial Day) will make their presentations to the attending Supporting Members. The membership will then vote on the reunion site for the Spring 2004 Reunion.

Reunion Banquet - The Banquet will be held in the Ramada Inn's "Hall of Trees". Starting at 6:00 p.m. a cash bar will be available. Featured entrees will be Champagne Chicken with Minnesota Wild Rice, or Minnesota Walleye Pike Almondine (another famous local specialty), or New York Sirloin.  A Vegetarian meal can also be arranged. The estimated price for this function is $30.00 per person.

Saturday, October 5, 2002: Again, morning activities and breakfast, lunch or brunch will be on your own. Oktoberfest 2002 - This is the BIG ACTIVITY. Leaving the Headquarters Hotel at 2:00 p.m. busses will take us for a ride down to the colorful river town of New Ulm, Minnesota, where they know how to party German style for Oktoberfest. We will arrive at Turner Hall where we can explore this old German immigrant built community hall with its fine murals and carvings, as well as its nostalgic old bar. The hall was originally constructed in the 1850's but destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 1860's. It is presently on the Historic Register of Old Buildings.

Before we eat dinner, the committee has prepared a short slide show of pictures of the Bad Aibling Station (since your reunion committee were all stationed there). Even if you were not stationed in Bad Aibling, you will be interested in the pictures of the station and the town - remember those honey-wagons, Maypoles, etc.?

At approximately 4:30 p.m. we will partake of our Buffet German Dinner which will include such items as Wiener Schnitzel, Beef Rouladen, Sauerbraten, Goulash, Chicken, Spaetzle, Red Cabbage, Sauerkraut, Kartoffelsalat, Black Forest Torte and beer or wine. We will also be treated to some local German music during the dinner hour.

At 6:00 p.m. the busses will reload to go from Turner Hall to the Holiday Inn, at the other end of town, for the evening's major entertainment. Be prepared for a great evening with imported German and Austrian musical groups, plus the local Concord Singers (the favorite attraction). The beer will flow all night. Music occurs in two different venues at the Holiday Inn. More food available. There will be a big, happy crowd singing and dancing - be prepared. Remember how to Polka? There is a cover charge at the Holiday Inn - last year it was $8.00 and well worth it. The Holiday Inn cover charge IS NOT included in the estimated price of $67.00 per person for this event.

At 10:30 p.m. busses will again reload for our return trip to the Ramada Inn in Minneapolis. Everyone should take the bus and not attempt to drive yourselves. The bus drivers have sworn to have no fun so they will be sober for the long drive home. Sleep on the bus if you wish. You are going to sleep like a baby this night.

Sunday, October 6, 2002: There are no scheduled activities for this day. The Hospitality Room will be ours until 5:00 p.m.

? World's Largest Gathering of Intercept Operators ? Based on sheer luck, fate, or whatever you want to call it, the Chitose Reunion Group (ASA Japan) will be holding their own reunion during the same time as ours and also in the same hotel. This is the main reason why we are urging you to get your hotel reservations in as soon as possible. Also, this is why we ask you to reserve under the name "Alpiners" rather than "ASA Alpiners". These are two separate reunions and we don't want to get the hotel all messed up. Chitose is also the largest reunion group and usually draw 200+ in attendance at their reunions. According to their last newsletter they are planning a Thursday night trip to the Mystic Lake Casino so those of you interested may want to mooch in on their trip. Once we know more about their plans, we will include them in our next newsletter.

Field Post Number 00313
(The Listening Post)
The German Fixed Intercept Station 
in Lauf a. d. Pegnitz 1939-1945

By Werner Sunkel

The Lauf Fixed Intercept Station [Feste Nachrichten-Aufkarungsstelle] was one of the oldest and most secret installations in the Wehrmacht. This is why, during the war years, their work and purpose was never talked about The following article shall attempt to clear up part of the puzzle pertaining to the renamed (since 1942) Fixed Intercept Station in Laufer Haberloh.

It is planned that the original documents and photos of the Lauf Intercept Station, as well as the original radio sets, will be displayed for the first time this September [1995] in the municipal savings bank [Laufer Stadtsparkasse]. Additionally, more information, eye-witnesses and documents are still being looked for.

Through many recent investigations and reports, what happened in World War II depended not only on the intuitive fate and fortune of a few determined Generals but, not the least, also on their knowledge of the opponent. We now know that, also in Germany, many military organizations were busy with the production of intelligence, but the interception of enemy radio traffic played a very special role as a leading intelligence tool.

From the low level coded or clear-text traffic of front line troops, the Army Intercept Companies [Horchkompanien des Heeres] were able to determine the intentions of the opponents and, at a lower operational level, make decisions.

Since the First World War, the General Staff of the German Army had already built over 20 fixed radio intercept stations, mostly along the boarders of the former German Reich.

In 1937, it was directed that another radio intercept station should be constructed in Lauf. It was assumed that from here the military radio traffic of Czechoslovakia would be monitored. However, the planning and construction work dragged on for a long time, because of Change Orders, so much so that after the German invasion of Prague, on 15 March 1939, a new "target" had to be found.

So it came about that the Lauf Intercept Station took over part of the mission being handled by the Treuenbrietzen (Southwest of Berlin) Intercept Station of which nothing has been previously written about. With the help of the former Director of Analysis for the Lauf site, and a few of the remaining radio operators and female analysts [Nachrichtenhelferinnen], we have managed to gather information about their work. With their assistance, one of the last secrets of Word War II may be solved, over which only a few vague references may be found in existing archives.

Listening to Diplomatic Traffic

The intercept sites at Lauf and Treuenbrietzen, with out-posts in Madrid and even at the Canary Islands, were subordinate directly to the Cryptographic Bureau of the Armed Forces Operations Staff  of the Armed Forces High Command [Amtsgruppe Chiffrierwesen im Wehrmachts Fuhrungsstab Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht] with the function to intercept, and pass on to Berlin for decoding, short wave diplomatic radio traffic.

The intercept site at Lauf only became operational around Christmas of 1939 so the first interceptions were performed at a radio station located in the Tennelohe military intelligence training area. After the move to Lauf the radio operators and support personnel occupied a four unit city owned apartment, which still exists, living quarters on the Haberloh and the former Customs School on the Hermannstrasse, below the Kunigundenbergs, which were both torn down in 1983. During the war they built a Direction Finding site 200 meters [from the Haberloh] towards the city and, in one of the barracks, added more intercept positions so that 20 positions worked around the clock, in six hour shifts. In the Spring of 1943 some drafted female typists were added. In March and again in October of 1944, females replaced numerous radio operators and DF operators that had been transferred to the front lines.

20 Intercept Positions Around The Clock

The radio intercept workstations in the Operations Building and the barracks next to the DF site were usually equipped with three radios and two Morse tape strip recorders for recording of the encoded traffic. The Morse tape strips were transferred by Technicians into number and letter groups and passed on by teletype, or courier, to Berlin.

In the previously mentioned Cryptographic Bureau the coded intercepts could be partially deciphered and then were distributed in the form of so-called "reliable messages" ["Verkálicher Nachrichten"] to the highest levels of the Wehrmacht Operations Staff. Monthly, some thousand decoded messages were distributed and mostly ignored as were the other interceptions of the Navy and Luftwaffe. The information contained in them was minimal and usually had no direct influence on the German war effort. However, there was one exception: the Lauf Intercept Station (originally known as H-Site and beginning in 1942 as Fixed Intercept Station) copied the messages of the American Military Attache in Cairo, Colonel Bonner Feller, which revealed the intentions of the British 8th Army. Until July of 1942, when the American codes were changed, these messages were passed on to Berlin, decoded there and transmitted to Rommel, who then received valuable information about the intentions of his English opponent, Field Marshal Montgomery.

At first, there was hardly any contact with the civilian population. This was remedied by public lecture meetings, the distribution of Christmas gifts to the soldier's children and musical gatherings. According to an original poster of "Soldiers and the KdF County Sport Group" [Soldaten und der KdF-Kreissportgruppe] on June 24, 1944, an entertainment evening was organized in the White Horse ["Weiáen Roá"] Gasthaus, with the motto "With music everything goes better", during which the Mayor was presented a model of the city built by the soldiers of the "Listening Post" [Horchstelle]. Today the model is located in the entry hall of the City Hall.

The end of the Lauf Intercept Station came on 8 April 1945 when the Americans were already in Bad Mergentheim, Crailsheim and near Schweinfurt. At noon, an American bomber destroyed the barracks beside the DF Site and killed the Analyst Ursula Polzin (she is buried with honor in the Lauf Cemetery). On the same day most members of the intercept site were transported in railroad freight cars to Schliersee, by way of Amberg and Passau, where they arrived ten days later. Other soldiers transported a large part of the equipment there by truck.

Technical Radio Experimental Station

During the American occupation, up until approximately 1950, there was no activity at the site. Supposedly Polish forced laborers lived in the site for awhile, after 1945. After the American occupation, the buildings were converted to a radio laboratory which was operated, until the late-70's, by a business from Munich-Pullach [*]. Today the former intercept site is used by the Technical Training Factory and Workshop [Technische Hilfswerk Betriebsgebeude und Werkstatt].

Not only during the whole war, but even today, nothing is talked about the work that was done at the intercept site. The R”thenbacher Museum for Historical Military Technology will organize, at the Lauf municipal savings bank, in September of this year [1995], an exhibition about the intercept site, compiled from City archives.

More about this article

The previous article was translated from the original German by Ralph and Eda Thadeus with help from the Military History Research Office of the German Army. Because of compound words and sentences used in the original article, the translations are based more on 'meanings' of the sentences rather than a literal translation.

The father of Werner Sunkel (the author of this article) worked as an "analysts" at the Lauf Intercept Station. Mr Sunkel is a contributing author to several books pertaining to the telecommunications technology used in the Hitler's Wolfsschlucht 2 and Adlerhorst Headquarters. He also maintains the Museum for Historical Military Technology at Rothenback an der Pegnitz which is located directly East of Nurnberg. One building is dedicated to the Lauf Intercept Station and can be previewed at his web site: http://www.wehrtechnikmuseum.de/Rundgang/Bau_4/bau_4.html

In the article mention is made to a location called the "Haberloh". This is part of the City of Lauf and is a small area (clearing) on the edge of the forest that boarders on the town.

When the Lauf Intercept Station opened in 1939, the Director of Analysis [Auswertungsleiter Regierungsrat] was Wilhelm F. Flicke. Mr. Flicke was in the "business" for thirty some years both before and after the war.

In a monogram written by Erich Schmidt-Eenboom and published on the web site of the German peace group 'Research Institute for Peace Politics', more information about the Lauf site is published:  In 1946 the American CIC 'invited" experts of the Wehrmacht's Intercept Service to Bad Vilbel. The invitation's aim was to persuade them to create and operate intercept sites. [*] Starting in 1952 the CIC operated the updated Lauf site with former veterans of the German Intercept Service. According to Schmidt-Eenboom the Lauf site dedicated 14 positions to the coverage of the Czechoslovakian border guards and state security radio transmissions. Two other positions covered the Polish Army and Internal Security while another two positions covered Hungarian military traffic.

RETURNED MAIL

The following individuals have been deleted from the mailing list because of returned mail - no forwarding address or forwarding address expired. If you live in the area, try to locate the individual and let them know that they are no longer on our mailing list:

Harlan Beal - Backus, MN; Larry Beham - Hilton Head, SC; Wayne Bowerman - Williamsburg, MI; Fred George - Rockville, MD; Rex Lindblom* - Park Rapids, MN; Carl D. Peterson* - Aurora, MN; Keith Solt - Libertyville, IL; William Wise Jr. - Stauton, VA.

If this newsletter has been forwarded to you by the Post Office, please contact us and let us know your new mailing address.

AS MN

114th/Herzo Vets from 1949-51 are having a reunion in Nurnberg, Germany, at the end of September, 2003. If Len Bittner (Herzo 50 Hof/Giessen 51-52) hasn't contacted you yet, or your name has somehow dropped through the cracks, give Len a call at 412/364-4176 if you are interested. Len says that so far there are 25 guys going and he didn't want to forget anyone.

Ed Wagner (Herzo 49-52) contributes another little tidbit about Herzo. Ed met up recently with a retired Colonel named Carrolle Letellier who, it turned out, was the engineer that built the antenna field at Herzo. Any confirmations on that?

Bill Statts, Chuck Edler, Pat McFerren and Joe Strock dropped in on Harry Coryea (all from the Wels Contingent) in late October. Traveling with their wives, they spent the weekend in Middlesex, PA and are planning another get- together after the snow melts. Any of you other guys from Wels that want to join in, contact Joe Strock. Judging from the picture that they sent along, Harry is back in the saddle again.

Bad Aibling Station Closing. For those of you who don't already know, INSCOM has announced that on 30 September 2002 current operations there will cease. According to the INSCOM news release, there has been a US presence in BA since 1947. The Army took command of the station in 1952. In 1971 the station became a predominately civilian operation managed by NSA. In 1994 BA was transferred from NSA to INSCOM.

There seems to be a lot more to this story than a simple closing of the station. According to British and German newspapers, the German Government was/is worried that BA was using Echelon for industrial espionage purposes.

Miss that German Radio ? Well for you guys and gals on the Internet, there is 24-hour-a-day German music available. Just punch in this address:

http://www.vomu.de/sites/_mainframe.asp

Once there click on "Radio starten" - the boombox icon. Give it a couple of minutes and it will start playing if you have RealPlayer, or some other similar software, installed. Most of the music is current but a couple of hours per day are the alten Schlager.

Nelson Bump (Frankfurt/Scheyern 55-57) holds out hope for us olpharts yet. After getting out of the Army, Nelson joined the Naval Reserve where he retired as a Command Master Chief in 1994.  On September 14th, 2001, Nelson volunteered to be recalled after the events of September 11th. To his great surprise, and after passing his physical, Nelson's age and length of time since retirement were waived and he's off to active duty again. Needless to say, he is the envy of many of us.

Advertising Help Needed. If you are a member of the VFW, American Legion, or if your local newspaper publishes military reunions, send our reunion information along to them. Ralph Thadeus is the POC and his phone number is 314/367-9577 or 107 West Pine Place, St. Louis, MO, 63108.  There are still comrades out there who may not be aware of our Group.

Alan Hargreaves (Bad Aibling 55-57) is getting up a "Return to Bavaria" tour from May 5-18, 2002.  This two week tour will cover Bad Aibling, Salzburg, Passau, Regensburg, Oberammergau, Marktoberdorf and Munich. Highlights of the trip will include Hitler's Eagles Nest. St. Stephens Cathedral, Residenz Square, Nottau, Weitenburg Monastery, Linderhof, Neuschwanstein, Dachau and Nymphenburg Palace. The tour price is $2,500 which includes: air fare from Minneapolis, hotels, breakfasts, and all but one or two dinners. Those of you interested, or for more complete details, contact Alan at 612/869-1360.

Len Bittner (Herzo/Coburg/Giessen/Hammelburg/Hof 50-52) and his wife Rose will be off this coming September for a return trip to Germany to visit Rose's folks.

Don Cooper (Berlin 53-56) in his book C Trick: Sort of a Memoir (ISBN 0-9670176-1-0) offers insight into the lives of Vietnam-era soldiers who didn't go to Southeast Asia. The members of C Trick did not carry rifles; their weapons were radio receivers and tape recorders in a war they fought 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year in and year out. Don's book is an affectionate and humorous recollection about the scruffy, unruly and often profane members of C Trick, how they looked at the world around them and their place in it. You can order the book through Amazon.com or directly from Don ($20.00 post paid) at 401 S. 25 Mile Ave., Hereford, TX 79045

TAPS

Ray L. Kovar* (Herzo/Baumholder 49-52) passed away quietly at home on October 9, 2001. Ray loved sports and played basketball. In honor of his memory his wife Patricia has made a very substantial contribution to the Mail Fund. Patricia now resides in Bryan, Texas.

Charles "Scoot" Broach* (Scheyern 50's) passed away 30 September 2001. Scoot played softball with FS 8608 and for years, along with his family, attended our reunions. His wife Annie resides in Monroe, GA

Walter T. Brzycki (116/8608 Alumni) passed away in April of 1996. No other information is available. Walter's last address was in Newton Square, PA.

Harold L. Pond (Herzo 49-52) passed away in August, 2001. Hal was the Pitcher for the championship Herzo baseball team. This sad news was passed along to us by Frank Keleher (Herzo 49-52).

M. Paul Slater* (Scheyern 52-53) passed away in his sleep on January 13, 2002, as reported by Joe Evans (Scheyern 52-54). Paul, who had been living in Florida, was moved back to Pennsylvania where, under the care of his sisters and nieces, he passed away. Paul last attended the Charleston, 1995 reunion.

Please complete and return the Planning Profile

ADVANCE PLANNING PROFILE

Complete and return to ASA Alpiners, c/o Ralph R. Thadeus, 107 West Pine Place, St. Louis, MO 63108-2111 Mail no later than April 15, 2002

_______No, I do not plan on attending this reunion but please keep me on the mailing list

_______Yes, I would like to donate to the (Mailing) (General) Fund.

Enclosed is my donation of ____________

I have reserved, or plan to reserve, a room at the HQ Hotel for the following nights (circle all that apply)    THUR      FRI       SAT      SUN

For each tour or dinner, please enter the number of people attending and/or their dinner choice

Friday Banquet Entree: _____Champagne Chicken _____Pike Almondine _____New York

Sirloin _____ Vegetarian

The estimated cost for the banquet is $30.00 per person

Saturday Oktoberfest Party: _______In our party will attend

The estimated cost for the Oktoberfest dinner and party tour is $67.00 not including the Holiday Inn Cover Charge

Number in your party that would be interested in going on the Friday Twin Cities Tour (Estimated

at $8.00) _______

Number in your party that would be interested in going to the Mystic Lake Casino Thursday night

_______

Number in your party that would be interested in some sort of a "mixer" with the Chitose Group on Thursday night _______

This is for planning purposes only.

Our next newsletter will contain the Reservation Request for the dinners and tours.