In spite of the establishment of the Bergen Training Area in 1935 and the two training areas in Munster (1893 and 1916), the protected areas of the Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve were initially out-of-bounds for military purposes. During the Second World War, however, German military installations were built here, including a Luftwaffe observation post on the Wilseder Berg, a satellite hospital for the city of Hamburg in Wintermoor and a military airfield near Reinsehlen.