The Camp du Ban-Saint-Jean is a former military camp near Boulay-Moselle in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Totally abandoned today, it was used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a

stalag In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', a literal translation of which is "War-prisoner" (i.e. POW) "enlisted" "ma ...

(German

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

camp). During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, Boulay and Ban-Saint-Jean were the site of one of two NATO secret bases named "Big Ears", dedicated to listening to radio communications from the East. Giant sophisticated antennas and the most modern radio communications systems were operated under the protection of the French Army's 718th company of transmissions. Hundreds of trained specialists scrutinised the radio signals to detect military manoeuvres from the East, triggering alerts as soon as any alarming message was detected and deciphered. The network was connected by equipment called "Dispatchers" to a radio-goniometry network of antennas located on the German side of the nearby border. The Ban-Saint-Jean camp was a perfect hideout; it lodged teams of specialists out of sight of normal life and away from contact with others in comfortable large houses. Its motto was: "Speed, preparedness and discretion". This vital alert center, which had a direct link to the highest authorities in the Western world, was dismantled in the 1980's with the arrival of new technologies. Surprisingly, in a short time, the land was completely levelled and the "Cité Klopp" shopping centre was constructed opposite it. Few remember its history as an important Cold War site.

External links

* http://www.lipinski.de/menschenleer/ban_st_jean/banstjean_info_iframe.htm
Pictures gallery and additional links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camp Du Ban-Saint-Jean Maginot Line Buildings and structures in Moselle (department)