VELVETY ARMAMENT FACTORY NEAR TEPLICE-SANOV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005600020002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 12, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9
INFORMATION REPORT
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
Ing of the Espionage laws, Title 18, U.S.C. Secs. 793
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law.
12 January 1955
Velvety Armament Factory near Teplice-
Sanov
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. The Velvety Armament Factory, occupying underground installations where German
V-2 missiles were manufactured during World War II, is located approximately
10 kilometers southeast of the town of Teplice-Sanov (N50-38, E13-50) on the
main road to Prague. The factory remained undamaged during the war and was taken
over untouched after the German retreat.
2. Part of the factory is fenced in with wire netting approximately three meters
high with two to three lines of barbed wire on the top. Within the enclosed
area, adjacent to the main road, there are eight to ten dome-shaped concrete
structures on grass-covered elevated ground. Each has four large slots approximately
1.5 meters high, probably serving as ventilation outlets. Behind this site are
two concrete buildings which look like warehouses, stacks of empty cases having
been seen in front of them. From each of these buildings two iron pipe conduits,
with a diameter of approximately 50 cm., lead at a height of approximately 3 meters
into a tunnel built in the hill. There is an observation tower at the entrance
to the tunnel.
3. A military unit is stationed permanently at the factory. Three cottages
occupied by officers and their families are located on the left-hand side of the
inner road, which is approximately four meters wide and unpaved, branching off
from the Teplice-Sanov-Prague main road. Further inside are two three-story
buildings which serve as living quarters for the military personnel. The larger of
the two buildings has a small observation room built on the roof, where an armed
guard equipped with binoculars is on duty. The sol~di ers stationed in the factory
come from various other districts and are almost completely unknown to the
inhabitants of Teplice-Sanov and its surroundings..
4. The three officers' cottages are red brick buildings with tile roofs. The military
barracks and the other two buildings have flat roofs and are camouflaged with different
shades of green paint. The dome-shaped ventilation outlets are not camouflaged.
5. Two other dome-shaped structures are located on the hill a few hundred yards from the
main road. They are approximately six to eight meters high and are covered with grass.
STATE X ARMY X NAVY X AIR X FBI AEC EVI X
Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9
 Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9
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On the side facing the main road they have a large concrete door which can be
seen from the road.
6. Numerous signs warning passers-by not to step off the road are posted along
the other side of the road opposite the factory installations, as well as at the
foot of the hill past the fenced-in area. Armed military guards patrol the
area opposite the factory which is partly covered with woods.
7. The factory was put back into partial operation in 1946-47, and was back in
full operation by 1949. It now works round the clock seven days a week. The
estimated number of workers is around 3,000, with a large proportion of women.
The workers come from Teplice-Sanov and the nearby villages. People who are in
need of money and wish to work in the factory during their yearly furlough are also
accepted for work, provided they successfully pass the cadre examination. The
wages range from 1,000 to 3,000 Kcs. per month.
8. Details about the production in the factory are guarded with utmost secrecy by
the authorities and the workers alike. The only remark which is risked by the
people working there is that the production is the same as under the Germans. How-
ever, the same symptoms of the damaging influence of the work on the employees' health
that appeared during the German operation of the V-2 plant are clearly evident again.
They are characterized by the gradual decrease of the red corpuscles and other
serious disturbances. After a period of from one to two years, the workers' hair
gradually turns a yellow-red shade, the same as with those formerly employed in the
German plant.
9. Additional construction work at the factory has not been observed since the time
of the German occupation.
Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9
 Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-00810A005600020002-9
Legend
1. Teplice-Sanov-Prague highway
2. Automobile battery plant
3. Side road to Rtyne
4. Railway track
5. Interurban bus stops
6. Narrow stream
7. Side road to Kostomlaty
8. Private cottages
9. Woods
10. Officers' cottages
11. Inner road
12. Military barracks
13. Military barracks
14. Dome-shaped concrete structures
15. Warehouses
16. Pipe conduits
17. Observation tower
18. Tunnel entrance
19. Hill
20. Underground installations
21. Pasture
22. Pasture
W Wire Fence
Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-00810A005600020002-9
 Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9
SECRET - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
Approved For Release 2007/11/14: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005600020002-9