Marine Flak Batterie Fanoe Nord

Esbjerg port was under the german occupation, the largest port on the west coast of Denmark. It was therefore important for the delivery of supplies, if the Allies had gone ashore in Denmark. The whole area including Fano, was as part of the German Atlantic wall, heavily fortified. At the northern tip of Fanoe entered the Germans a combined anti-aircraft and coastal batteries to protect the entrance to Esbjerg.

Canon battery was equipped with four 105 mm. guns mounted in pivoting armored turrets on top of each of their bunker. In the middle a ranged fire control bunker with a distance gauge also mounted in a revolving armored turret. Canon battery was then equipped with the most modern equipment and therefore extremely powerful. There was more bunkers for ammunition and men and sanitation.

The entire gun battery was fenced in with barbed wire, trenches, mines, equipped with machine gun and mortar positions to close combat.

Sperrbatterie Graadyb / Sperrbatterie Gneisenau

The German battleship Gneisenau was badly damaged during an allied bombing raid at Kiel in 1942. Subsequently, the main arnament, which consisted of 283 mm. guns, triplets mounted in turrets, moved out to the amplification of Germans Atlantic wall. One of these towers were moved to the island Sotra in Fjell west of Bergen. Another was located at the Marine gunbattery Oerlandet, to protecti the antrance to Trondheim. The third and last turret broke duing the bombing, but the guns were set at Hoek van Holland.

At Fanoe the germans began in 1943 construction of a gun battery, for which two of middle guns from Gneisenau was used. These were 150 mm. guns, twin mounted in armored turrets. The range was 22 km. and the guns should on Fanoe protect the entrance to Esbjerg. For the guns, there were built two gun bunkers and a fire control bunker and several ammunition and personnel bunkers.

After the war, the gun battery was taken over by the Danish navy and remained operational on Fanoe until 1952. Subsequently, the guns was moved to Stevns Fort and remained here operational until the millennium. There is today a museum in the old guns.