A major piece of coastal .

[cerberus]

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1712261#post1712261

Might be of interst folks , one of the last remaining intact guns of the Atlantic Wall , in Norway.

http://www.batterievara.no/

Still insitu in Norawy a tripple gun turret from Gneisenau and in Denmark a double gun turret from the same ship , the Danish guns have been fired in recent years.

These guns have got to be worth the cost of their up keep when you consider what goverments waste on an annual basis on daft schemes which are too PC question.

[OVERWATCH]

I read in some tome years ago that Hitler personally designed the concrete housings for those batteries. Unfortunately the book met with a sad fate and I cannot recall it's title. Is there any veracity to this claim?

As Patton pointed out, static defences are monuments to human stupidity, but these German coastal batteries were definitely very well built, despite heavy bombing and naval artillery, many of them on the Atlantic wall were still firing as late as D-Day plus seven iirc.

Some nice pics, thanks.

[cerberus]

I recently saw a bunker comlex near Ostende which has been restored and is as it was durring the war.
Brick built tunnels link the bunkers and deep concrete trenches allow for safe movement around them.
I think it important that they be preserved , we have an awful way of destroying and losing our collective history through neglect and indifference.

[Jimbo Gomez]

Next time you're in Flanders notify me will ya cerb.

[koch curve]

i may be a jew but i still love nazi arms


the big guns they created were nothing short of amazing

[OVERWATCH]

I recently saw a bunker comlex near Ostende which has been restored and is as it was durring the war.
Brick built tunnels link the bunkers and deep concrete trenches allow for safe movement around them.
I think it important that they be preserved , we have an awful way of destroying and losing our collective history through neglect and indifference.

I agree, mainly because the era of big static gun emplacements, especially coastal gun batteries, is at a permenent end. It is indeed important history in every sense; these coastal batteries are the apex and conclusion of over five hundred years of a branch of military science- which saw it's greatest usefulness in the 'Great War', and were finally made obsolete in WW2. Nowadays, almost all artillery is mobile.

As the defining moment of obsolescence after centuries of usefulness, it is indeed history which must be preserved- but also for other reasons as well.

[Felix the Cat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-30_Minuteman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_silo

[cerberus]

Next time you're in Flanders notify me will ya cerb.
I hope to get back again in the not too distant future , later part of next year if things work out.
The Belgian Army museum in Brussels - really something else - when the new galleries are openned you are going to have a really excellent Museum.
I was allowed a quick look at what is going on there and it is excellent.

Driving in Brussels - not for the faint hearted :bbbat:

http://users.pandora.be/alex.deseyne/NDL/Atlantikwall.htm
The complex I visited , it rcently hosted a conference on the Atlantic wall.
http://bunkersite.lcbunkers.com/
One of the better sites on the internet, Axis History has a long running thread on the Altantic Wall , some excellent input from folks the length of the European Coastline which puts the "wall" in context.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewforum.php?f=70&sid=b82f3a74997076b511b21c6ea4c5e33b
If I said this was real history it would owe nothing to David Irving , quite often it is those who take an interest in that which is neglected who make a positive contribution to recording history which is in danger of being lost.
you will find few better threads on any History forum anywhere on the internet.
EXCELLENT!

[OVERWATCH]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-30_Minuteman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_silo

Yeah lol...those things are in a whole different class imo.

[Jimbo Gomez]

LOL yes, I don't drive there either. Just use the bus or subway there.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

I was not aware that Belgium had a military museum...The Congolese war?

[cerberus]

Actually packed some with some amazing items , allow yourself at least half a day to go around it .
A lot of WW1 / WW2 items including a small collection of Allied and German tanks , they have a tank Museum at Kappelin just outside Antwerp. ( Think I got the spelling correct).

At present they have a dispaly section covering Imperial Russia which has to be seen to be believed , amazingly in itself.


Worth seeing.

[delete]

This really is a big gun.

http://www.batterievara.no/images/original/Storkanon_222_.jpg