Europe
See photos of Grafenwoehr’s military history
Stars and Stripes
April 18, 2025
The Grafenwoehr Water Tower, left, and the Forest House, seen here in this postwar photo from Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, Germany. It survived the bombings on April 5 and April 8, 1945. The Forest House is home to the head of the 7th Army Training Command. (Archiv Gerald Morgenstern)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — On April 8, 1945, hundreds of American bombers unleashed a wave of ordnance over this Bavarian village, destroying much of a sprawling military training base and setting surrounding buildings ablaze.
The war came to Grafenwoehr with American air raids on April 5 and April 8, 1945, according to local historian Gerald Morgenstern’s book “Grafenwoehr Training Area: Yesterday and Today.”
Here’s a look at the past and present of some notable Grafenwoehr locations.
The Grafenwoehr Water Tower and Forest House are seen in a postwar photo and on in an image from April 8, 2025. The buildings survived the 1945 bombings.
The Forest House is now home to the head of the 7th Army Training Command.
Homes on Alte Amberger Street in Grafenwoehr, Germany, lay in ruin following U.S. military air raids on April 5 and April 8, 1945. The Grafenwoehr Water Tower, located today on the U.S. Army’s Tower Barracks, can be seen in the background.
The town hall in Grafenwoehr, Germany, is shown in an archival photo from around 1910. A war memorial stands outside the city offices in Grafenwoehr, Germany, as seen on April 7, 2025.
The Hubertus post office was in ruins following U.S. air raids in 1945.
Today, the site is occupied by a doctor’s office.
A bombed out bank on Alte Amberger Street in Grafenwoehr, Germany, is seen here after the 1945 bombings. In 2025, the site is home to the Rio Restaurant.
A former German military supply building with a dining facility, foreground, and a larger barracks building behind it, seen in this archival photo from the 1960s, survived the Allied bombings in April 1945. The barracks is today home to the headquarters for U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria.
The Grafenwoehr Water Tower, seen here in this archival photo from around 1915, was completed in 1911. Today, it is a main attraction at the U.S. Army’s Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, Germany.