During a meeting of the German General Staff in 1916, the army received a promise from the Navy for support and equipment to arm the the stronghold Sicherungsstelung Nord.
As mentioned elsewhere, the Germans were generally challenged for soldiers on both the Western and Eastern fronts.
Several of the medium-sized batteries were equipped with naval cannons and manned by naval gunners from the abandoned forts around Kiel. These forts and their guns were from the late 19th century.
The same picture as from Denmark, which acknowledged that forts, structures and guns from the 1880s and 90s were outdated based on the same considerations about the range of the artillery.
Guns at the “Odin”
Kiel was in dire need of an advanced defense up north, a defense the aging forts could not provide.
In addition to the medium artillery from the coastal batteries, the Navy supplied 6 pcs. of 24 cm guns as well as some naval guns in pivot mountings.
Not state-of-the-art, but guns from the two phased-out coastal armored ships of the Siegfried class, Odin (1894) and Frithiof (1891) who in 1914 were part of the Baltic Sea Fleet’s 6th combat squadron.
The guns were, in single and twin towers, respectively, the main gunshot of the ships.
It has been a matter of whether the shields covering the guns in the stronghold was the original armor shields that was used on the ships og whether new shields were made.
From the pictures above as well as other pictures of casemate towers, it can not be immediately determined.
On the ships, both main armament and casemate towers are barrel-shaped and with a relatively high profile, where the heavy guns photographed in the post have a very low domed profile.
Whether the shields are modifications of the original shield is difficult to ascertain.
Given that, the stronghold was a secondary position and based on the fact that Germany was in desperat need for steel resources elsewhere, a rebuilding of the towers might seem unlikely.
Battery 5, Genner
Heavy battery that was never constructed.
Two large holes in the ground were created, and a 214 meter long trench from the nearby local railway led to the construction site. On the east side of the road was a large pioneer magazine.
The battery probably should have been equipped with a gun of a caliber between 24 and 28 cm, probably a naval gun.
By nature, there are no pictures from the battery
Battery 9, Lerskov
Heavy battery that was completely finished and fitted with a 24 cm. naval gun.
The mount and the western accommodation bunker lay freely in the terrain, while the three eastern bunkers lay in the woods. The battery moat between the battery and the ammunition magazine had a 600 mm. ammunition railway. The plant was camouflaged.
Outside the road is an atypical double bunker, shaded with corrugated iron. It is supposed to be a sanitary room.
The railroad track for transport was 4.5 km. long and was connected to the Easten public railroad. Along the way, the track was led over 3 small streams with bridges of timber, steel and railroad tracks.
Battery 10, Andholm
The battery supposed to be mounted with a 24 cm. gun.
The battery is very similar to the battery in Rugbjerg Plantage, except that there was no gun mount at Andholm. There was only a large hole in the ground. This has previously led to the assumption that the battery was not finished.
However, this is not true, as the battery was to use a railroad gun. (B-Geschütze).
The railway led straight up to the hole, and a crane carried on the train, could now lift the cannon down on a split steel mount in the hole. Once the cannon was mounted, the train left again but could come back and pick up the gun if needed.
It was calibers from 21 – 38 cm. mounted in this way, but it was disproportionately time-consuming to move if the front was moving. For a line of defense, however, the technique was sufficient.
B-geschütze or Bettungs-geschütze was used because the Germans did not have special railroad artillery. The first E-geschütze (E = Eisenbahn) was put into operation in 1916
The plant was, as the only one, not blown up like the other heavy batteries. It was on private property, and the owner reportedly resisted blasting to preserve a memory of the time.
It is today, incl. the crater, basically as it was built.
Battery 11, Rugbjerg
The battery was completed, and was fitted with a 24 cm. naval gun.
An aerial photo from 1930 shows in particular the course of the transport railroad next to the battery. This track crosses the ammunition track, which meaning that the railroad has probably been disconnected.
There are pictures of the mounting of the cannon, recorded by a German-minded teacher on the spot.
Battery 15, Strandelhjörn
The battery was equipped with a 24 cm. naval gun, on a concrete emplacement.
In addition to the ammunition magazine with two openings for passing grenades, there is a very large blown building. The size of it interesting. It was a combined caponiere an command post
Only a large crater is left of the concrete mount today.
The large crater emerged as the 1100 kg of black powder only lifted the mount a few meters into the air, before falling back again. It had to blow up a second time.
Battery 18, Gammelskov
The battery was the only one of the heavy batteries fitted with two naval 24 cm. guns in armored towers. The guns had a range of 16.5 kilometers and a shell weight of 160-190 kilos.
With its 250 m long battery moat, the Gammelskov was the strongholds largest single plant.
There were two bunkers in the battery that were never finished. In the lack og these to bunker, the crew used charging magazines for accommodation. The 2 crew rooms was under construction, but were never finished.
The military railroad also stands out for its size, being split in two. One was probably used during the construction, while the other probably was used for carrying ammunition.
Battery 29, Drengsted
The Drengsted Battery should have been equipped with a railroad gun like the Andholm.
It was never mounted, but probably had to be cut off somewhere else in the case of English landing north. The plant was never completed as it was reportedly discarded by a general because of its flat land location. For the same reason, the battery ammunition bunkers were blurred like barn buildings.
The battery was subsequently used as an advanced air defense position for the Zeppelin base in Tønder.
Not all batteries could be built into the terrain. In Drengsted, the magazines were camouflaged with stained-glass windows the same width as the vent openings, buckets on the roof as ventilation and even a pipe as a chimney. Effects that should make the battery look like factory and breeding buildings.
Also in this battery needed large water drainage work to be done.
Battery 30, Mjolden
The battery was equipped with a 24 cm. naval gun and otherwise designed as the battery in the Rugbjerg Plantation.
There is virtually nothing left, except for a crater and the trace of the military railroad in the terrain. The cracked concrete pieces from the breeze were subsequently used as road fill.