Easy hikes and walks around Renkenberge

Here on the test site, old tanks serve as training targets for the German armed forces.

The tour around the whole village of Wahn is also recommended. It can also be done easily by bike. You can see numerous widely scattered farmsteads that fell victim to the relocation. In the back area, just outside the tour, there is a tank graveyard. Entry is prohibited and the barriers are not set up and locked for nothing. It is a military testing ground.

Beautiful old restored mill. Delicious coffee and cake

The construction of the Dutch Passageway goes back to an interest group of a total of 38 members of agricultural companies, who had the building constructed between 1860 and 1862 and each "bought in" it with different shares.

The Dutch drive-through mill, where a horse-drawn carriage can drive directly under the grain floor for loading and unloading, was restored so that it milled again as it did on the first day in 1860. After that, the local friends in Wippingen gradually renovated the entire town center, repaired the rectory garden, put the old bakery into operation, built a barbecue area and a village fountain, and finally set up a small museum about the local history.

In the years 1860 to 1862, the construction of the mill was commissioned by an interest group consisting mainly of farmers, but also beekeepers, widows and innkeepers. These came from the districts of Steinbilder-Wippingen and Sögeler-Wippingen. Each interested party in the mill acquired a share of the construction costs, which were divided into 200 parts. After the mill was initially leased, it was sold to the tenant Heinrich Schulte in 1913 for 18,000 marks. In 1924, the wings and the wing axis were destroyed by a lightning strike. The last re-roofing of the cap in 1932 was followed by the mill being taken out of service in 1937 due to a lack of profitability.

The half-day trip of the Garreler Heimatverein now led to the abandoned settlement of Wahn in Emsland. The former municipality of Wahn is located about halfway between Sögel and Lathen. Until April 1, 1941, it was a municipality in the then district of Aschendorf-Hümmling. The settlement was cleared by the Nazis in order to expand the Krupp shooting range in Meppen. All buildings were demolished and the residents relocated to neighboring municipalities. Under the expert guidance of Ulrike Wübbelmann, this former town, which had about 1,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century, was explored. At the time, there were several bakeries, a smithy, a windmill, four restaurants and a construction company in this town. A church choir, brass band and its own shooting festival rounded off the cultural life. The center of the village was the Antonius Church, which was only expanded at the beginning of the 20th century, was then called the "Hümmlinger Cathedral" and had space for almost 800 people.

Nicely described. You can imagine what the village used to be like