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