UNDERWATER ESCAPE TRAINER

This mock-up tank hull and turret rig was located in a motor pool bay of the main kaserne in Meiningen.  The large steel reservoir atop the turret held enough water to completely flood the hull and turret when the drill was triggered.  The crew entered via the door in the side of the hull and took their positions.  The door was then sealed and the "commanders hatch" was sprung to initiate the drill.  As water from the reservoir plunged thru the hatch the crew had to take holding positions in the prescribed order of escape and keep their heads above the rising flood.  In the last seconds before the rig became completely flooded they took a final breath, held it and when the flooding was complete climbed one after the other through the commander's hatch to surface in the water that remained in the reservoir above. Talk about a confidence course.

If one of the crewmen panicked and blocked the escape route the drill controller, IF he detected the trouble in time, could release the hatch in the side of the hull to abort the test.  Nevertheless it is reported that there were some fatalities in this training.

(The source of this account is a former East German soldier who was on the kaserne security detail when the Russian troops departed in 1992.  We would appreciate hearing from someone with first hand knowledge of how the system worked - or failed to work.)