German bunker re-appears after 63 years

Spitfire · Jun 27, 2008

After a storm on the westcoast of Jutland, a geman bunker from the Atlantic wall suddenly re-appeared. Museumpeople opened it and found the bunker almost intact as left by the gemans wehrmacht in may 1945.
Ofcourse water and wet sand had taken its toll on the interieur, but everything was there. Even the bunks for eight soldiers.
See pictures here: http://midtjyskemedier.dk/media/multimedia_2008/bunker-ss/

Why the bunker has not been pillaged after the war - like so many others - is still a mystery. One reason could be, that it was placede in a minefield, so nobody darede to walk in there, and then the bunker was covered in sand and water.
But here it is - after 63 years - back again.

dhermann1 · Jun 27, 2008

Wow, amazing. This sort of reminds me of Battery Harris at Fort Tilden, on the beach in Queens NY. Ft Tilden guarded the entrance to New York Harbor, and had two 16 inch guns, taken from decommissioned battleships, that commanded a 25 mile plus range out into the ocean. The guns were melted down, but the concrete remains, and the support buildings around it are slowly crumbling. There is another one in Waikiki, in Honolulu. Same thing, very spooky.

Fletch · Jun 27, 2008

Spitfire said:
After a storm on the westcoast of Jutland, a geman bunker from the Atlantic wall suddenly re-appeared.

A few moments later...

"Ve surrender! Ve surrender!...Vat year is zis anyvay? Did ve vin? Hast du Zigaretten?"

cookie · Jun 27, 2008

dhermann1 said:
Wow, amazing. This sort of reminds me of Battery Harris at Fort Tilden, on the beach in Queens NY. Ft Tilden guarded the entrance to New York Harbor, and had two 16 inch guns, taken from decommissioned battleships, that commanded a 25 mile plus range out into the ocean. The guns were melted down, but the concrete remains, and the support buildings around it are slowly crumbling. There is another one in Waikiki, in Honolulu. Same thing, very spooky.

The took away the (similar) Sydney Heads guns in the 60s and now they want to bring some replacements from RSA

John in Covina · Jun 27, 2008

I remember in 1974 visiting relatives in Denmark with my parents. My Uncle Preuben and Tante Mimi took us to the beach for a picnic. Wandering around the beach area i was able to go in a similar bunker and found a small piece of genuine Nazi barbwire.

Curious what a storm can turn up.

Spitfire · Jun 27, 2008

dhermann1 said:
Wow, amazing. This sort of reminds me of Battery Harris at Fort Tilden, on the beach in Queens NY. Ft Tilden guarded the entrance to New York Harbor, and had two 16 inch guns, taken from decommissioned battleships, that commanded a 25 mile plus range out into the ocean. The guns were melted down, but the concrete remains, and the support buildings around it are slowly crumbling. There is another one in Waikiki, in Honolulu. Same thing, very spooky.

There are several hundreds of small and large german bunkers all along the westcoast of Jutland.
Here are just a few: (From different danish websites)

Maguire · Jun 27, 2008

Fletch said:
A few moments later...

"Ve surrender! Ve surrender!...Vat year is zis anyvay? Did ve vin? Hast du Zigaretten?"

that may be a joke, but if this was southeast asia, it may be not far from the truth. There are quite a few stories about japanese soldiers who ended up hiding out fighting WWII into the 1960s and 70s (and beyond?) because they were not told it ended.

Its not a surprise when some ancient fortification is unearthed or grave, but when something relatively recent is actually covered over and exposed in such a short time its kind of odd. I mean this was only what? 60, 70 years ago? We aren't discussing pompeii yet the way they describe it, it sure sounds that way.

RudyN · Jun 27, 2008

There are stories of Sherman tanks and other armored vehicles being buried in the California Desert where there were manuvers during WWII. Don't know if these are urban myths or not, but it would be fun to find a nice Sherman.

Mr.Microphone · Jun 27, 2008

I keep expecting to find some hidden treasure out in the central valley. There were a number of AAF training fields out here. One can always wish right?

Spitfire · Jun 28, 2008

The story goes on:
A danish newspaper has found one from the last group of soldiers manning that bunker. He voluntered at the age of 17 into the navy - in order not to be drafted into the SS like so many of his comrades. He celeberated his 18 years birthday in the bunker.
And walked all the way home when the war ended.
But he survived - unlike many of his comrades, who were sent to the eastern front.

(Photo: Berlingske Tidende)

Twitch · Jun 29, 2008

Quite interesting! There is more that was covered after the war that still waits to be re-discovered all over. Those bunkers will stand for hundreds of years and more for future generations to marvel at.

The Führerbunker is largely intact under a Berlin parking lot. It is so massive the Russians couldn't demolish it. In the east, in Poland and elsewhere are several underground facilities that have not been explored since the end of the war and they were used in advanced weapons development.

While the Reich did not last 1,000 years it is probable that some of the construction of it will.

Smithy · Jun 29, 2008

Thanks Søren, fascinating stuff.

Obviously here is absolutely chockablock with bunkers and German fortifications. We are currently staying up in Bodø and the hill where we are was a huge gun emplacement with a lot of it tunnelled out for the magazine and various bunkers and command posts, all still here.

Down in Trondheim there are the U-boat pens quite near to where we live. They tried to demolish one and gave up, just too difficult to do so. The walls in places are 12 feet thick and still have shrapnel damage from where the RAF attacked them. Quite haunting to walk around.

Heaps of people have small bunkers and in their backgardens, which to them is no big thing but exciting for a Kiwi who never grew up with such things!

David Conwill · Jun 30, 2008

dhermann1 said:
There is another one in Waikiki, in Honolulu.

My dad talks about that fort all the time. When he was on his way to Japan in the middle 1950s, he and his mom stopped there and he played in the fort. Any idea what the location was called? He'd love to know, I'm sure.

-Dave

dr greg · Jun 30, 2008

fort the battles

When I was a kid we used to play war games while on holidays at the beach here;
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ozatwar/fortbribie.htm

German bunker re-appears after 63 years

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