Mysteries of the Brdy Forests (2nd Edition)

When wandering through the Brdy forests, they seem endless. Equally endless is the number of legends and tales that have accompanied them from the time of the trilobites to the present day. Various tribes lived here, and people took on the most diverse professions, utilising their riches. Lantern makers, glass blowers, pitch makers, rafters, and others worked with wood, while miners and metallurgists processed iron ore. Then the soldiers invaded. They practised shooting, built bunkers to create Prague’s defensive belt, guarded European airspace from here, burrowed into the ground like moles, and erected rockets towards the sky that towered over the spruce tops. They too wore a variety of uniforms – Czechoslovak, German, Vlasov, SS, and Soviet.

But the greatest secret of Brdy was hidden underground, behind several six-tonne steel gates, and was so classified that even the highest political and military leaders of our state knew nothing about it. Trains, covered with tarpaulins, brought it to us, and a tarpaulin corridor protected it from prying eyes as the mysterious cargo was moved into concrete hideouts in the dark of night, awaiting its opportunity.

There was so much of it that it could have levelled the whole of Europe. And we walked and drove past, completely unaware of what was hidden a few metres beneath the ground.

What kind of bases were they, what was hidden in them, who were the people who guarded and operated them? And what were the connections between this mysterious underground world and the events that shaped global developments, and how could these bunkers themselves have influenced the course of our planet?

The author, PhDr. Milan Syruček, attempts to answer these questions. He has leafed through dozens of documents, spoken with dozens of experts and eyewitnesses or accidental witnesses, and travelled and walked dozens of kilometres, even within the forbidden military zone, where entry was only granted with the approval of the Chief of the General Staff. Although he has been dealing with international relations for more than half a century, he was astonished by what he saw, heard, and read. Perhaps you will be astonished with him and set out to trace the footsteps of the past, witness the present, and ponder the future of a region that enchants you with its beauty and gives you goosebumps with the mysteries it has hidden.