563rd Combat Engineers Stuttgart

563rd Combat Engineers Stuttgart Germany 1980 1981

ACTUNG! ACTUNG! ACTUNG!

Ludendorff Kaserne, Kornwestheim Germany.
563rd HHC, Engineer Companies 503rd and 38th Bridge Co.
535th Engineer Company (Combat Support Equipment) was up in Grafenwoehr.

Battalion Commander the honorable Col. Pointer Commanding 1980
Battalion Commander the honorable LTC John G. Moravac 1981
LTC Sam Raines took over in May 1984. Capt. Manzo took over the 38th in 1981.
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Switch Yard Kornwestheim

Remember that big sign on the other side of the tracks at the Kornwestheim train station it said “Salamander AG.” It’s still there. The shoemaker Jakob Sigle, in 1885, founded the shoe factory J. Sigle & Cie. In 1898 added the machine factory followed by the iron foundry firm Kreidler in 1939. Together with his merchant partner Max Levi it became nationally known as the Salamander AG.

There was some confusion on the history, I'm not sure when the Kornwestheim Kaserne was named Ludendorff? The original Ludendorff Kaserne was in Fulda known as Downs Field for the air strip. The Kaserne was originally named in honor of Gen. Erich Ludendorff. World War I hero General Ludendorff was an early member of the Nazi Party. Ludendorff was one of the major participants in the 1923 Munich putsch, in which the early Nazi Party attempted to take over the Bavarian government. General Ludendorff marched with Hitler to the Feldherrnhalle, where he was the only marcher to advance against the line of police without retreating.

I found a book called,"The First Nazi" didn't you always wonder who was thee very first Nazi? It was him! General Ludendorff. How come the Army never told us this, Erich was a very bad man. No wonder today nothing exists of Ludendorff Kaserne no sign no plaque nothing at all. Not even an empty Hofbrau bottle any military presence there has been erased.

HISTORY CLASS FOR TODAY

The First Nazi: Erich Ludendorff, The Man Who Made
Hitler Possible

by Will Brownell

General Erich Ludendorff was one of the most important military individuals of the last century, yet today, one of the least known. One of the top two German generals of World War I, Ludendorff dominated not only his superior—General Paul von Hindenburg—but also Germany’s head of state, Kaiser Wilhelm II. For years, Ludendorff was the military dictator of Germany.

Ludendorff not only dictated all aspects of World War I, he refused all opportunities to make peace; he antagonized the Americans until they declared war; he sent Lenin into Russia to forge a revolution in order to shut down the Russian front; and then he pushed for total military victory in 1918, in a rabid slaughter known as “The Ludendorff Offensive.”

Shortly after losing the War in 1918, Ludendorff created the murderous legend that Germany had lost this war only because Jews had conspired on the home front. He soon forged an alliance with Hitler, endorsed the Nazis, and wrote maniacally about how Germans needed a new world war, to redeem the Fatherland. This savage man had staggering designs to build a gigantic state that would dwarf even the British Empire. Simply stated, he wanted the world.

Train Yard Kornwestheim Germany

In 1846 Kornwestheim got itself a train station. None of us were there at that time. We were back home in America trying to decide if we like Democracy, or not. We still do that today. Meanwhile over in Germany . .. . to accomodate increasing Frieght traffic in Kornwestheim a Frieght Shed was built in 1865.

To relieve pressure on Stuttgart Central Station a Frieghht bypass was built in Kornwestheim with a Frieght Yard. By 1907 the Yard was overloaded and had to be expanded. With the construction of the railroad line Stuttgart - Ludwigsburg - Heilbronn and the national switch yard in Kornwestheim in the years of 1913-1919 made Kornwestheim thee railway node in southern Germany.

Kornwestheim became a City in 1935 and Suburban Service Line soon followed. After WWl as part of the German re-armament starting in 1934 the Ludendorff barracks were built as tank units and Kornwestheim became a garrison town in 1935. On April 21 in 1945, the US troops took over the Ludendorff barracks, up until 1993. The new train Station Building was inaugurated in 1992. It houses shops, offices and apartments. It would be really cool to live there now.

I was on a active duty tour in Belgium in 2017. One fine day I drove a rental car through Luxembourgh and then over to Stuttgart and I went to Kornwestheim, looking for Ludendorff. Unfortunately Ludendorff Kaserne was torn down, without a trace. It is now apartment buildings. Nobody remembers me.

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