Barracks Ambiorix Tongeren

The new barracks, which had only been inaugurated in 1939, were requisitioned by the Germans and further completed during the occupation from 1940 to 1945.

The specially trained snipers of the Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Ausbildungs-commando West were trained there.

The barracks were miraculously saved from the heavy war bombardments during the Second World War.

The military domain covered an area of ​​125 ha.

Shortly after the war, the barracks were used as a prison, hospital and shelter for Hungarian refugees. . . .

Prison: The Tongeren prison was overcrowded and a few other buildings, such as the boarding house in the Kielenstraat, where collaborators and alleged "blacks" were held, could not cope with the influx. That is why the Ambiorix barracks were set up as a temporary prison.

Hospital: The Allies set up a hospital in the barracks with about 1000 beds.

On August 8, 1948, a fire destroyed a large part of the Air Force Technical School in Saffraanberg. The city of Tongeren then became the garrison town of this training school for four years.

On January 17, 1950, a monument was erected in the courtyard of the Ambiorix barracks in honor of the fallen technicians of the Air Force.

The barracks were closed in 2010. Only the radar unit CRC had its administrative and logistics department with about thirty people until the last, but centralized its personnel in Glons.

Currently (April 2021), the local police is housed in the D block of the complex.



Overview :

Military Hospital (after WWII -....)

Prison (after WWII -....)

Air Force Technical School (replacement for Saffraanberg 1948 - 1952)

3rd Line (3Li) 1952 - 1956 (disbanded)

9th Line (9Li) 1951 (transferred to Leopoldsburg / reserve unit)

43rd Artillery Battalion (43A) 1960 - 1961 (disbanded)

3th Joint Signal Center (1963) NATO unit)

Place Command (1977)

Defense Information Office (INFOSERMI) (1963 - 1977)

Control and Reporting Center (CRC) (1957 - 2010)



In the 1970s, in the full period of military service, so many soldiers stayed that the conscripts from Tongeren and the surrounding area were allowed to sleep at home.

During the NATO period, British, German and Dutch soldiers were permanently posted here. They gave a tattoo on the parade square once a year.

Besides the presence of the local police, there is also a drinking establishment in the A-Blok. You can get to the courtyard of honor / parade square through the entrance gate of the police and soak up the atmosphere of yesteryear. At the moment, the whole is somewhat in disrepair until the renovation works start.

The pedestal with an F104 Starfighter and the MIM-14 Nike Hercules missile has also been removed.

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Source

• Text: Rudi Triki
• Photos: Rudi Triki (1, 3, 4), Het Belgisch Militair Vastgoed (2)
• Het Belgisch Militair Vastgoed sinds 1830 – Ludo Michielsen