Flak Trains at Linz, Austria

Analysis of reconnaissance imagery flown over Linz, Austria between September 1944 and April 1945 revealed two Flak trains deployed around the city. The trains, with anti-aircraft (AA) guns deployed on special railcars, supplemented fixed anti-aircraft sites defending the city and a large steel complex, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring. The trains, each with four heavy anti-aircraft guns, were deployed at sidings in the Wegscheid and Schweigau quarters southwest and east of the city center, respectively (Graphics 1 & 2).

The map below shows anti-aircraft defenses around Linz in March and April 1945 as well as major targets in the vicinity. It is not clear when most of sites (light, AA 1 - 5 guns) and complexes (more than one site with heavy AA) were constructed; most appeared to be fairly new and one near a flak train deployment was unfinished. A few of the unoccupied complexes were clearly older and two of those were vacated after October 1944, indicating repositioning had occurred. The complex near the barracks in the center of town was occupied between 15 March and 1 April, following possible mobilization of the garrison on the 15th.