Tag: atlantic wall

A tour in Western Jutland through Stutzpunkt Börsmose-Dorf and Stutzpunkt Blavland

Today we did a car tour to the far western tip of Denmark with a stop at Lake Filso and under the lake Stutzpunkt Börsmose-Dorf. The majority of the area has been abandoned and is being used as a military training ground. This gives the whole an extra dimension. Certainly considering the bunkers present (and there are many) that are still in good condition and often just free to enter. Stutzpunkt Börsmose-Dorf was established in the spring of 1943 to protect the intersection 3.5 kilometers inside the coast. It had a strategic position to block the passage to further inland and Germany.

  • Bunker S.t.610 entrance 01
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  • Bunker S.t.610 entrance 02
    bunker_st610_entrance
  • Bunker S.t.610 entrance 03
    bunker_st610_entrance_03

We went to look in the middle of the stutzpunkt and walked a bit into the forest. xactly opposite the S.t. 610 bunker, Danish soldiers were busy with a …

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Atlantic wall, Denmark

Batterie Todt

batterie_todt_canon

At the Straits of Calais were several gun emplacements that could bombard England. One of the most famous is Batterie Todt. This complex consisted of four huge bunkers (Turm’s) with 380mm Siegfried cannons. Originally intended as a naval artillery guns but were later used as railway artillery.

The barrel of a gun weighed 103 tonnes and had a length of 19 meters. It could shoot a projectile of 490 kg 55 km far. A projectile of 790 kg 53 km. The light projectile(490 kg) took about 33 seconds to reach Dover, the heavier took 9 seconds longer(the difference was over 600 meters in depth and 64 meters laterally). 

batterie_todt
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Pas de Calais

Arromanches-les-Bains

arromancheslesbainsmulberry

Mulberry

On Gold Beach in Normandy, the situation of Arromanches-les-Bains was particular : the beach was embedded between two twenty meters height cliffs, where the defences had been built by the Germans. At 7:30 a. m, on 6 June 1944, the British troops – the 1st Hampshire and the 1st Dorset – landed eastward from Arromanches, in Le Hamel, without artillery support.

 
In this area the fortifications of the beach were built up with two strong points : the WN 36 and the WN 37. In a short time the 1st Hampshire lost three commander-in-chief facing WN 37. The breakthrough was achieved in the afternoon with the landing of tanks and reinforcements. Vehicles and infantry quickly moved inland. A company of New-Hampshire liberated Saint-Côme-de-Fresné, after heavy shelling of open sea anchored battleships. The British entered in Arromanches-les-Bains in the evening around 9:00 p. m.
arromanchesbeachfront

Arromanches beach front. Click to enlarge

 

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Arromanches-les-Bains, France, Normandy (D-Day) , ,