The Atlantic Wall by the Wadden Sea

Mette Bjerum Jensen, Museet for Varde By og Omegn & Bente Bjerum, Naturcentret Tønnisgård

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Translation: Nanna Mercer, sirius Translation of 4

The remains of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall stretch along the whole of the Wadden Sea coast. The many bunkers were once pieces in a defense puzzle that stretched from the North Cape to the Pyrenees. In the Wadden Sea area, you will find many different positions, especially on Rømø, Fanø, around Esbjerg and by Blåvand.

The Tirpitz-position by BlåvandNear Blåvand, with a view of the approach to Es-bjerg, lies the Tirpitz-position with two huge cannon-bunkers. The Hansted-battery in Hanstholm and the Tirpitz-position were meant to be the biggest coast batteries in Denmark. The bunker complex should have been operational by September 1945, but was unfinished by the time the war had ended.

Tirpitz and the many positions on Fanø were inten-ded, together with other positions on Fanø, to pro-tect the approach to Esbjerg, which was a strategic nerve-center for the German occupational force. The position with its four big ship-cannons with a range of 55km were meant to cover the area from Nymin-degab to Fanø, but at the capitulation, the enormous cannon bores were still at Guldager station near Es-bjerg.

After the war, the bunkers were cordoned off and used by the armed forces for test detonations. In 1991, the southern bunker was excavated and made into a museum.

The headquarters in esbjergDuring World War II, Esbjerg and Fanø were the most heavily fortified areas in Denmark with appro-ximately 1,200 bunkers. Esbjerg had the only harbor that could be used in case of an Allied invasion and was therefore an important strongpoint for the oc-cupational forces.

In Strandskoven near Esbjerg lies a huge bunker six meters below ground. During the occupation, it func-tioned as a command center for the air defense and all German artillery in the area. Above ground there is a 15 meters high tower with a telescope. All air, navy and troop movements in the west Jutland re-gion could be monitored from the bunker. The men in the command bunker lived in six bunkers, each with room for 20 men, situated around the underground command bunker.

The German navy headquarters in Esbjerg were initially set up in the now demolished Hotel Royal, and later moved to a bunker complex in an area bet-

Tirpitz were intended, together with other positions on Fanø, to protect the approach to Esbjerg.

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ExpEriEncE thE AtlAntic WAll in ..

AUTUMN WINTERSUMMERSPRING

Foto: Museet for Varde By og Omegn




ween the city and the harbor. The largest of these bunkers lay deep below the harbor administration, protected by masses of earth. In the room with the central telephone switchboard, the wall was painted with phosphorescent paint so even if the light went out, the switchboard could still be seen. All marine traffic was plotted on charts in this bunker.

The air defense command centre in Strandskoven was central to the Civil Defense in Esbjerg up until 2003, while, today, the marine headquarters func-tions as Marinestation Esbjerg.

Batteries on fanøTo protect Esbjerg harbor, 300 bunkers were built on Fanø. The coast artillery on Fanø comprised five po-sitions, of which three were situated on the northern part of the island. Aside from cannon positions to protect the approach to the harbor, positions for he-avy air defense artillery (10.5 cm) were also built on North Fanø.

The Fanø North battery was part of the defense of Esbjerg harbor. The battery was in action when for-mations of Allied bombers flew on their way to and from their targets in Germany. The biggest action took place on August 27, 1944 when 61 American B17-bombers, part of a fleet of ca. 1,200 heavy bom-bers and 871 escort fighter planes, having given up attacking Berlin because of bad weather, attacked

the airfield in Esbjerg and the German military com-plexes on Fanø. Meanwhile, 63 of the fighter planes attacked trains and vehicles throughout the west Jut-land area. Fifteen Danes were killed and 14 were wounded, mainly train passengers, on what DSB christened Bloody Sunday.

A long concrete road goes from Fanø Bad and north to Battery Grådyb. The four very modern, at the time, 15cm cannons came from the battleship Gneisenau. The battleship’s secondary armoring was moved to Fanø when Gneisenau was damaged during an Al-lied bombing attack. The cannons were used as coa-

Command Bunker for the German air defense and artillery in Esbjerg. The photo was taken after the war.

Most of the bunkers along the west coast were built from 1943 - 45 and are jointly termed the Atlantic Wall. Together, they comprise a defense line of 2,685 km. Along the west coast of Jutland, starting from the Ger-man border at Nymindegab, 1,734 bunkers were built.

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The bunkers were made in reinforced concrete. The walls and the ceilings are from 2 - 3. 5 meters thick. It is a difficult, almost impossible job to detonate a bunker of 1,500 m3 made from armored concrete. So, most of the bunkers are left behind layers of sand, hidden in dune plantations or eroded by the wind and the waves.

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stal defense and had a reach of 22 km. Another of the batteries, Fanø Plantage, was equipped with four cannons from the Danish Coastal Defense ship Pe-ter Skram that was sunk by its own crew on August 29, 1943 while at Holmen. After the war, the battery was taken over by the naval defense that maintained it until 1951, when the cannons were transferred to Stevns fort south of Copenhagen as part of the mili-tary buildup during the Cold War.

Positions on rømøThe ocean surrounding Rømø is very shallow, and during the war the dyke to the mainland had not been built. An Allied invasion on Rømø would have been difficult and the defense was only sparingly de-veloped.

On the other hand, it was important for the Germans to discover Allied air strikes as early as possible.

Consequently from 1942 and until the end of the war, one increasingly effective radar station after the other was built on Rømø. When the war ended, the-re were at least eight different radar masts on the is-land, some with names such as Søelefant, Mammut and Freya. By the end of the war, the radar stations on Rømø were the biggest and most advanced radar positions in Denmark. All told, 50 bunkers were built on Rømø Island.

The most unusual radar on Rømø was Søelefanten, the only one of its type used during World War II. Among other things, it was used to locate the point of impact of the V-2 buzz bombs in England. Under good conditions, the radar system could follow air-craft at a distance of up to 600km.

recreation on MandøOn Mandø there was an air reporting unit to observe and report Allied aircraft. The observation post was a wooden tower and a pair of binoculars, and the men lived in barracks. Mandø island was also a place of recreation for soldiers serving on the Eastern Front. One the German Army’s coast batteries was situated on the mainland at the school in Vester Vedsted.

after the war When the Second World War ended in May 1945,

Many bunkers still remains in the plantations, as here on Rømø.

The bunkers were built after the Regelbau-system, which meant construction sets with shutter board and draft drawings for each type of bunker. This way, it took hardly any time to pour a bunker. Each bun-ker had a Regelbau number. Today, the price for just one personnel bunker of the type R622 would be ca. DKK 4 million.

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As a guest to the Wadden Sea, you can explore the different types of bunkers in the landscape. A few are open for you to take a look inside. On Rømø, it is recommended to visit the Robbe Nord position to see the bunker related to the Mammut ra-dar mast. Please contact Tønnisgård Naturcenter to arrange for a tour of the bunkers. On Fanø, most of the bunkers are closed and some are completely inaccessible. However, on the north point of Fanø is a well preserved bunker complex and it is possible to go inside some of the bunkers.The Fisheries and Maritime museum in Esbjerg has an exhibition in a staff bunker arranged just as it was during World War II.In Blåvand, the Tirpitz-bunker functions as a year-round exhibition. By Blåvandshuk Lighthouse you will find a position with flight radar and a commando bunker. Please be aware that some bunkers lie within the Army’s training area and access is limited. Guided bunker tours are available during the summer.

things to do

The Tirpitz position Tane Hedevej Dk- 6857 BlåvandT: +75 27 84 27E: [email protected] W: http://vardemuseum.dk/dk.php/museer/tirpitz

NaturKulturVarde Gl. Skovfogedbolig Roustvej 111 DK-6800 VardeT: +75 22 22 50E: [email protected] W: www.naturkulturvarde.dk

The Fisheries and Maritime museum Tarphagevej 2-6 DK- 6710 Esbjerg VT: +76 12 20 00E: [email protected] W: www.fimus.dk

Naturcentret TønnisgårdHavnebyvej 30 DK-6792 RømøT: +74 75 52 57E: [email protected] W: www.tonnisgaard.dk

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the German soldiers left the bunkers. The Allied troops held a huge training drill, ”Post Mortem”, where they tested the Germans’ radar stations and afterwards took away all the technical installations. All items of equipment, especially those made of iron, were dismantled, removed from the bunkers

and reused. Nearly all of the bunkers were bricked up and left to the west wind and sand drift.

The Atlantic Wall by the Wadden Sea

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