Due to D-Day we’ve all heard of the Atlantic Wall built by the Germans throughout France/Channel Islands etc but I didn’t realise they had been so busy in Norway.
See site below for more details.
http://www.atlantikwall-research-norway.de/Artilleriegruppen.html#Anchor-Beispeilhaf-47719
Thanks for posting. I’ve always had an intrest in the bunkers costal defences. I didn’t know that the Norwegians used them after the war for so long!
If somebody visited the parts of alantic wall, would the person find anything in the bunkers?
I doubt it very much!!!
Even in the UK there are a few ex - WW2 bunkers (nothing on the scale that the germans built). I think they were built in the late 30’s and early 40’s when the UK faced invasion. The ones I have seen were largely brick construction with a thin 6"-12" concrete roof and a few 6"x6" windows to fire rifles through. They were largely located near airfields or possible paratrooper landing sites and I think were manned by local home guard or perhaps Army units.
I used to play in several of these as a kid and anything that could have been taken was taken a long time ago. I expect the bunkers in Norway, France etc are all exactly the same - empty.
Out of interest someone on this site posted this link a few weeks ago http://www.serpentswall.com/ This site suggests that there are still some bunkers near Kiev (Ukraine) that are still sealed from the war. If so I would love to investigate a few of those - though probably very dangerous too - but I’d take the chance!
Finally there are a few old abandoned WW2 airfields in the UK where the living quarters still contain the original funriture and beds etc - albeit not in good condition an dsome have been used as cow sheds etc, but they give a feel for what they looked like at the end of the war.
In fact here are some examples of Britain’s WW2 mighty defensive works!
http://www.century20war.co.uk/page8.html
The German bunkers up near me are empty – many of them are bricked up, although in a few cases people have broken into them again.
The Atlantic wall was a graet idea but also had its problems. Here are a few pictures.
Can any one tell me anything about this picture from WW2incolor’s pictures?
Henk
The Atlantic wall’s major fault was that it didn’t work.
I’ve got a bunker near me which used to have the loopholes plated up, but when I was a kid (about 13-14) we got a sledge hammer and knocked them out. We also had to dig a couple of feet down so we could slide through the door. When we got in there there was just old paint pots and tools, we came to the conculsion that it was a used for storage when our estate was built. We used to pretend we where fighting in the Ardens as the area has quite a few trees surrounding it!
It did not reach it full potesion at the time of D-day. It would have a been a great fort but it was also to big to man fully. The structures was also sabutaged by the French resistance.
So yes I have a gree with LargeBrew there.
Henk
In 1944 the Germans had a huge amount of men in Norway.
http://odin.dep.no/odin/english/norway/history/032005-990466/dok-bn.html
I’m sure they would have been better employed elsewhere.
Good for the Allies though.
Yes, Fireflyi must agree with you there, but Hitler knew the Allies wanted to invade from that area and thus by crushing the invasion there the Allies would not have had a chance, but the Allies had Navel and airpower to help them in doing so.
Henk
I would disagree, Norway is no real place to stage an invasion of Europe, but of course the Allies tried to make Hitler believe that it was a prime target. And it worked.
No firefly, I do not personaly think it is a great invasion spot. Hitler was like a spider spinning a big web, but protecting that big web is very difficult.
Henk
I believe that the allies made a fake base near the england shoreline and that as HQ,surrounded by hordes of dummytanks and real encampments of GI’s
and the conclusion is for the germans to take that bait, and the invasion is somewhere else.
There was also a British version in Scotland to make the Germans think we were going to invade Norway, I read about it the other day. If I can find the reference later on, I will.