Stutzpunkt Steinan

In the Heia/Steinan area of Storfosna, the Germans established a network of trenches, small bunkers and defensive positions. It was probably built in a supporting role to the much larger HKB Storfosna located close by. Although very overgrown, the area is largely untouched and these remains can still be clearly seen today. These two videos are from two underground bunkers connecting machine gun nests, mortar positions etc.

Undeground bunker just outside of Oslo

Just south of Oslo lies this quite large bunker. It’s not quite clear what it’s original purpose is but the most likely theory I’ve heard so far is some kind of secure archive. It’s a fairly interesting and remarkably undisturbed bunker considering it’s proximity to heavily populated areas. Definitely worth a look.

HKB 31./979 Justöen

HKB Justöen, also known as Birkenstrasse, was a coastal fortress built by the German army during the occupation of Norway during world war 2. The building commenced in 1941 but even though it soon became operational, it was never completely finished before the surrender of Nazi Germany in may 1945. The fortress was equipped with 4 x 10.5cm K332 (f) French field cannons with a range of approx. 16000 meters. The fortress was spread out over a large area with a multitude of smaller machine gun positions, flame throwers, mortar positions as well as being completely surrounded by a barbed wire blockade and a mine field.

MAB 9./504 Nordfjorden

At Rugsundøy, by the inlet to the fjord Nordfjord in Bremanger municipality in Norway, lies this coastal fortress, built by the German wehrmacht during the second world war. The German invaders arrived at this small desolate island already during the fall of 1940 and started the construction of what was to become MAB 9./504 Nordfjorden. This fortress was organized under the Kriegsmarine M.A.A. 504 division, located in Bergen.

Julneset and Julholmen

The establishment of MKB 1./505 Jul at Julneset outside of Molde, was started as early as the beginning of may 1940, only one month after the invasion of Norway. To begin with, it was equipped with 3×10.5cm Uto c/16 L/45 canons with a range of 15400 meters. These came from the German vessel «Albatros» which ran aground in the Oslo fjord during the invasion and was later declared unsalvageable. In 1943 the battery was reinforced with an extra canon in addition to the 3 it already had from «Albatros».
The battery was also equipped with 13×20 mm AA-guns and 2×7.5 cm Belgian field guns in addition to a number of machine guns, flame throwers and flood lights.

Just 1 km north of Julneset lies Julholmen where the Germans built a torpedo battery, “Torpedobatterie Julholmen”. This battery was initially equipped with a Norwegian torpedo canon with 2x45cm torpedo tubes. In 1944 this torpedo canon was replaced with a German one, having 2x52cm torpedo tubes.

The battery at Julneset, now a nature reserve, shows clear signs of being easily accessible, with quite a lot of graffiti and other vandalism so I didn’t spend much time here, but it’s well worth a visit, not the least due to it’s unique command bunker.

The torpedo battery at Julholmen is not quite as easily accessible and what little remains inside it is in surprisingly good shape with little rust etc. Although it’s a 1-2km walk from the road through quite dense forest, there is a path leading most of the way out to the battery, if you can find it (which I didn’t on the way out, thus spending twice the time getting out there as was strictly necessary). The building looks massive from the outside, yet is surprisingly small on the inside. A reasonable explanation for this, is probably the 2 meter walls of reinforced concrete.

The front of the R636a command bunker at Julneset

Command bunker at Julneset from the side

Backside of the R636a command bunker at Julneset

Inside the fire controll room in the command bunker at Julneset

Position for the rangefinder on the top floor of the command bunker at Julneset

Crew bunker at Julneset

Gun position at Julneset with a marvelous view of the fjord and mountains outside

Foundations of the barracks at Julholmen.

Smaller bunker at Julholmen

Flak or flood light position at Julholmen

The torpedo bunker from the outside

Entrence and stairs up to tobruk position on top of bunker

The torpedo bunker from the outside

Command position in the torpedo bunker

The entrance/exit for the bunker

The torpedo hall from the rear

The torpedo hall from the front

Position of the torpedo canon and the gate infront of the launch opening

Front of the torpedo hall with doorway and stairs up to the sentry position on the right

embrasure in the sentry position

Pulley for the gate lifting mechanism

Lifting mechanism in the roof

Doorway to the generator room

Torpedobatterie Nordlandet

This torpedo battery which is located on the cliffs just outside of Kristiansund was built by the Germans during World War II as part of Hitlers Atlantic wall, an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by the German Third Reich in 1942 until 1944 along the western coast of Europe to defend against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland from Great Britain.

It is an interesting and huge structure, partly built with concrete (St, meaning a minimum wall thickness of 2 meters) and partly built into the rock and cliff face itself. The battery was finished in December 1944 but never saw any action before the end of the war, only six months later. After the war it was briefly in use by the Norwegian coastal artillery, but was soon abandoned and stripped down. The armament consisted of Dutch torpedo canon with four 53 cm torpedo tubes and a number of flak-positions.

First sighting. Flak positions. Obviously getting close 🙂

The bunker where the torpedoes was loaded into the battery

The bunker where the torpedoes was loaded into the battery

Entrance to the bunker

Better be carefull. That’s a 20 foot drop. Those stairs doesn’t look too inviting either. Better try another route to get in, I guess.

The evil eye… Let’s see where this leads

The doorway leading into the bunker blasted into the rock face

This looks more promising…

Large hall at the bottom of the stairs. The stairs themselves can be seen in the top middle of the picture.

Continuing into the facility. Luckily the water isn’t too deep

Possibly room for ammunition storage. This room is through the doorway of the previous picture, and at the bottom, off to the side of the stairs seen previously

Launch ramp. The bolt ring where the torpedo tubes used to be can still be seen on the floor

Launch ramp. The bolt ring where the torpedo tubes used to be can still be seen on the floor

The room where the torpedo tubes was located, from the front. Stairs up to the leitstand to the left.

Back outside. Inside a VF bunker?

The leitstand from the outside

And, as a parting image… the torpedo battery from the business end

View from the shoreline just 50 meters down from the battery