Fiemel: flying over an old anti-aircraft battery of the Second World War

@ElentirENG ES 7·12·2022 · 22:49 0

During World War II, Germany built a very long line of coastal fortifications in the occupied countries: the Atlantic Wall.

Maisy: the German Normandy battery that was mysteriously buried by the US
The interior of two well-preserved Third Reich batteries on a British island

This defensive line stretched from the southwestern coast of France to northern Norway, and was primarily intended to prevent an Allied landing. The Atlantic Wall was equipped with coastal artillery batteries, command pillboxes, anti-tank positions, machine-gun and rifle pits, and also anti-aircraft batteries.

One of these old anti-aircraft batteries is in Fiemel, in Termunten, province of Groningen, in the northeast of the Netherlands, near the border with Germany. Its mission was to defend the German port of Emden (located nearby) from possible air attacks. The battery was assigned to Marine Flak Abteilung 256 (Marine Anti-Aircraft Detachment 256), based in the Dutch city of Delfzijl. According to the lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de website, this unit was formed in March 1942 and was part of the 6th Flak Regiment of the German Navy. Its first commander was Lieutenant Commander Hans Erdmann, and the last, appointed in October 1944, was Lieutenant Commander Werner Wolters.

The Fiemel Battery was equipped with four 128 mm FlaK-40 anti-aircraft guns, being the only position of this type in the Netherlands. This German position offered considerable resistance to the Canadian Army, which was forced to take it with the help of tanks, finally being able to liberate the province of Groningen on May 2, 1945, just a few days before the end of the war.

This battery was decommissioned after the war. It is currently owned by Het Groninger Landschap, which has restored it, putting up panels explaining its history in English, German and Dutch. Although it does not have its original guns, a sculptural replica of a FlaK-40 has been placed above the battery. You can see it in this beautiful video from LostintimeNL, published a year ago and flying over it with a drone, accompanied by the overture to "Egmont" Op.84 by Ludwig van Beethoven:

A few months ago,Maarten Grooters published this other video that allows us to better see the replica of the FlaK-40 that is on the battery:

If you ever go to this area and want to visit this battery, here is its location on Google Maps: