Varnes Fort, World War II German cannons hidden in a cliff in Norway

@ElentirENG ES 10·28·2023 · 23:04 0

During World War II, Nazi Germany built a long line of coastal fortifications known as the Atlantic Wall.

Austrått Fort, a powerful World War II German artillery battery in Norway
Trondenes Fort: an old German battery in Norway with four colossal cannons

This line of fortifications began on the Atlantic coast of southern France, next to the border with Spain, and ended in northern Norway, running along the coastline of all the countries occupied by Hitler's armies. Norway was one of the most difficult countries to fortify, since it was the occupied country with the most kilometers of coastline. Furthermore, Norway is surrounded by small islands and fjords. In addition to large coastal batteries such as Austrått Fort and Trondenes Fort, the Germans planned other smaller batteries. In total, Nazi Germany built about 300 shore batteries in Norway.

One of those small batteries was Varnes Fort (designated HKB 22/978 Varnes by the Wehrmacht). It was located in the town of Farsund, in the extreme south of the country, on the shores of the North Sea and in an area of great strategic importance. It was equipped with four 105 mm K332(f) Schneider guns from 1936, which had a range of 16,000 meters. The battery was in an area of cliffs located on the south side of the mouth of a fjord.

Two of the guns were installed in a bunkerof the Regelbau R671 type, connected by tunnels to a command bunker, and the other two were in open positions. The Germans took 150 Russian and Dutch prisoners there for the construction of this battery. I have not been able to locate the start date of the construction of this battery, but at the end of the war, in 1945, it had not yet been finished and it did not participate in any combat. The two Schneider guns are still there, in their Regelbau R671 bunkers, 80 years later. A few days ago, Mobile Instinct published a video exploring this battery:

You can see some screenshots from the video here. Below these lines we see the battery command bunker.

One of the battery's two 105 mm Schneider guns. The tubes are not even sealed.

A view of the canyon from above. Fortunately there are not many signs of vandalism, perhaps because it is a battery located in a very remote place.

An image of the interior of this cannon. The barrel closure is no longer there, but part of the mechanism for loading the projectiles is still preserved.

In 2016, a Norwegian blog published an extensive report on this battery , I encourage you to see it.